Back to Triple-A

Catcher Mike Zunino has hit twenty home runs for the Seattle Mariners so far this season, but his season should have been spent with the Rainers. Zunino’s rapid rise through the Mariner’s farm system made it appear as if he were destined for greatness, while in reality it may have jeopardized his development as a hitter.

Zunino’s aggression at the plate is a reason for his impressive power numbers; however it’s also responsible for his atrocious walk and strikeout totals. According to FangGraphs.com, the catcher has the fourth worst walk-to-strikeout ratio in all of baseball. This season for the Mariners, Zunino has drawn a walk for every 9.3 times he struck out. During his junior and final year at The University of Florida, Zunino walked for every 1.5 strikeouts. While walks and strikeouts clearly don’t have direct effects on each other, this statistic (walks/strikes) helps to illustrate Zunino’s issue with plate discipline in the big leagues.

In addition to his dreadful discipline, Zunino ranks near the bottom in most hitting metrics for his position. For catchers with at least two hundred plate appearances this season (there are thirty seven), Zunino fails to crack the top 30 in on-base percentage and on-base plus slugging percentage. Aside from turning fly balls into home runs at a rate above the league average, Zunino possesses few discernible skills while up to bat.

Zunino played all of 115 games in the minors before getting called up to the Mariners in 2013. He hit well, playing in the lower levels of the farm system in 2012. Once he made it to Triple-A affiliate, the Tacoma Rainiers, in 2013 his struggles began. His strikeout rate rose compared to the past year and he failed to match his previous production.

Instead of giving Zunino more time to develop and improve, the Mariners called him up 52 games into the 2013 season and he’s never been back to the minors. Zunino still needs to develop at the plate, and after a year and a half in the majors it’s apparent that that’s not happening against the best pitchers in the world. Zunino should have been demoted earlier to work on his over aggression at the plate, but now it’s too late in the season to do that as the Rainiers’ season is over.

Zunino will get credit where credit is due, and the work he has done behind the plate this season has been terrific. FanGraphs.com rates him as one of the league’s top defensive catchers and Statcorner.com has him as the second best pitch framer in the majors.

As important and valuable as those skills are, we all remember Brendan Ryan, the defensive wizard at shortstop who struggled mightily at the plate. If Zunino doesn’t change his ways he may turn out to be a reincarnation of Jose Molina, who’s known for his power hitting, but struggles to get on base.

Zunino wasn’t drafted with the third overall pick to be an offensive black hole, but that’s what he is. Hopefully Zunino will continue to develop his bat in Tacoma next year.

Even if he may be the best option at catcher within the organization at the moment, it doesn’t justify sacrificing future dividends. The Mariners must look to the future with Mike Zunino and let him to develop — it will pay off down the road.