Right now it looks like Mike Zunino will catch between one
hundred and one hundred-ten games on the season.
Carlos Ruiz who the Mariners picked up from the Dodgers will
catch most of the remaining games. This will depend on how Zunino performs at
the plate for the Mariners.
Defensively we all know that Zunino can do the job however
will he be able to hit better than he has since coming up to the Mariners three
years ago. His rookie season he hit over
twenty home runs however his batting average was low and then he slumped in
2015. So much that at the end of August he was sent down to triple A and then
never returned in September. The Mariners decided to start him at Tacoma once
again at the beginning of 2016. This happened before spring training even had
gone underway.
Zunino had a pretty good season with Tacoma when he was
called up in July because of injury. He started off pretty good but slumped in
September. This year Scott Brosius Tacoma’s hitting coach has been promoted to
Seattle to be Edgar Martinez’s assistance coach. Although he will work with
other hitters I expect that Zunino will be his primary pupil. Everyone is
rooting that he can get back to hitting like in his rookie season.
This is a key season for Zunino because if he hits like he
did in 2015 I can see that the Mariners may trade him during the season and
after the season for sure. Dipoto and Servais both figure that he will have
times where he will hit well and other times that he will struggle which is OK
the deal is that he doesn’t struggle starting out the season and it continues
on.
Zunino is a great guy along with his good defensive ability
so everyone is rooting for him to succeed. The Mariners haven’t had a catcher
that has played for several years since Dan Wilson retired. Zunino has a lot of
power so he could hit a lot of home runs and doubles so it would be good if he
could hit around .250. The Mariners would accept a little lower than that as
well. They don’t want him hitting around or below .200.
We are all hoping Mike that we will see you here for many
years to come and become involved in a team that will go to the playoffs and
World Series in the rest of your career. Go M’s.
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