Mariner Catcher Mike Zunino

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.