People who know me will probably
tell you that I don’t like to admit to being wrong. And when Patrick told me
that Mike Zunino could play in a Mariner uniform in 2013 after we drafted him I
told him he was crazy. Now the hard part, Patrick could possibly, maybe, be
right. Zunino has been the best hitter in the Mariners system since he was
signed and he conveniently he plays catcher, a position the M’s have room for.
The Mariners catcher in 2013?
If you didn’t infer from that last
sentence I don’t think Miguel Olivo will not be a Mariner next year. Something
about his 26.3% K rate and his 1.5% BB rate make me think the man
affectionately called Mike Olive is done. And in his place we have John Jaso,
who is awesome but struggles against left handed pitchers, and Jesus Montero,
who does not have a future behind the dish, unless it’s a dish of pasta (Get
it? It’s funny because he is slow.) Those two could platoon next year but I
don’t think that is the answer for the future. Hence the need for Zunino.
Zunino was
drafted as a sure thing behind the plate. He wasn’t projected to be a star but
was going to have above average defense and power for his position. That is
always a good thing, especially at catcher where offense is scarce. Zunino,
like Danny Hultzen, has performed differently than scouts projected him to. We
all know how good he was at Everett, earning him a call up to Jackson (A jump from
A- to AA). In 15 games, a super small sample size, he has a triple slash line
of .333/.386/.588. Incredible numbers, especially from a catcher in his first
season of pro ball and generating some talk that he could break camp with the
M’s.
This is pretty
much unheard of and as Dave Cameron of USS Mariner pointed out, Thurman Munson
was the last catcher to make the MLB in his second last year. Munson played in
the 1970’s so this is very rare. Something we are overlooking is that Zunino
has only played half of one season in pro ball. And as we have seen from Danny
Hultzen, AAA is not something that can be overlooked. And while Zunino has
showed no signs of slowing down, we need to take his results with a grain of
salt. I don’t like to consistently repeat what other writers have said but in
the words of Jeff Sullivan, Zunino hasn’t flopped yet.
He is going
to be playing in the Arizona Fall League once Jackson’s season is over and that
should get him some more at bats against quality pitchers. We should not plan
on Zunino making the team out of Spring Training and the team should bring in a
cheap alternative to backup Jaso and maybe Montero. But if he continues to
perform in Tacoma, we will see him next year. And that is absolutely a good
thing, besides the fact Patrick theoretically could be correct.
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