Seattle Mariners Catcher Mike Zunino Showing Improved Plate Discipline
Mike Zunino is hitting better than he ever has and, more importantly, his plate discipline is much improved. You can bet the Seattle Mariners are happy.
Seattle Mariners catcher Mike Zunino is hitting .269/.398/.642. Sure, it’s a small sample size of just 83 plate appearances, but it’s kind of mind-boggling to see those numbers next to his name. Zunino has hit for power before, with a career-high 22 home runs in 2014, but he’s never had respectable batting average or on-base percentage as a Major League player.
In his first three big league seasons prior to this year, Zunino hit a combined .193/.252/.353. His batting average dropped from .214 to .199 to .174 and his on-base percentage did the same, from .290 to .254 to .230. When the Mariners axed GM Jack Zduriencik last August, they also sent Zunino down to AAA.
The move seemed to bring some life to his bat, as he hit .317/.349/.585 in a small sample of ten games. Still there were big red flags in that short stint. Zunino struck out eight times and didn’t draw a walk. This was one of the main reasons he’s struggled so much to hit at the big league level. He swings at too many pitches out of the strike zone.
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Prior to this year, Zunino struck out 32 percent of the time in the Major Leagues and walked just five percent. It’s very difficult to be successful with those ratios. A recurring theme of Zunino at-bats was watching him repeatedly swing and miss on sliders low and away. He had negative pitch values on sliders in each of his first three seasons.
In the offseason, the Mariners signed Chris Iannetta to a one-year, $4.25 million contract, with a club option for 2017. They also traded for Steve Clevenger. The plan was to start Zunino back at AAA and go with Iannetta and Clevenger at the big league level.
Zunino went to AAA Tacoma and hit better than he had in years. More importantly, his plate discipline improved significantly. When Steve Clevenger suffered a broken right hand on a foul tip on June 29th, Zunino was called up to the Mariners. He had 2 homers and 3 RBI in his first start, but was sent back to AAA a few days later. Apparently, the Mariners thought he needed more time. They activated Jesus Sucre from the DL. This was an odd move because Jesus Sucre is a terrible hitter and Zunino had just had that two-homer game. In 11 minor league seasons, Sucre has hit .258/.294/.340. Sucre played in just three games over the next couple weeks.
This version of Mike Zunino is a really good ballplayer.
— Colin O'Keefe (@colinokeefe) August 19, 2016
On July 20, Sucre was sent down and Zunino was recalled from AAA. Since he’s been back, he’s started 21 games to Iannetta’s nine. He’s always been highly regarded defensively and now his bat seems to have arrived. It’s early yet, but the key indicator for Zunino is plate discipline. In 83 plate appearances with the Mariners this year, he’s struck out 24 percent of the time and walked 12 percent of the time.
The best news for Mariner fans is that he has cut his O-Swing Pct. from 33.7 percent last year to 27.0 percent this year. O-Swing Pct. is the percentage of pitches a batter swings at that are out of the strike zone. League average this year is 30 percent. Zunino is swinging at bad pitches less often than the average hitter. If he can maintain this newfound improvement in plate discipline, Zunino can become the player the Mariners hoped he would be when they drafted him with the third overall pick of the 2012 draft.