SEATTLE — When you see a young catcher blasting 400-foot home runs, it’s easy to understand why the Seattle Mariners made Mike Zunino the third overall pick in the 2012 MLB draft.
And when Zunino strikes out multiple times in a game, oftentimes looking lost at the plate while hitting below .200, it’s easy to understand fans’ frustration with the Seattle catcher.
Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon knows that somewhere in between Tuesday’s two-homer game and that .188 batting average is the player Zunino can become.
“It hasn’t shown up in the box score yet, but he’s getting better,” McClendon said. “He’s getting better, and I think in the end he’s going to pay off. You’ll see a better hitter this year. … It’s not just the hits. There have been some at-bats where he’s put some real tough pitches in play, and that’s important as well. It’s coming.”
For now, patience with Zunino is the Mariners’ best, and really their only, way to go. Even if Zunino improves upon his 22 home runs in 2014, a club record for a catcher, he needs to get on base more and strike out less often to be a productive piece of the lineup. As maddening as some of those three-pitch strikeouts can be, it’s worth remembering the accelerated path Zunino took to the big leagues.
In 2013, Zunino’s first full season in the minor leagues, the Mariners cautioned about rushing him along too quickly. Then when injuries continued to mount at catcher, Zunino found himself making his major-league debut after just 443 minor-league at-bats.
There was raw power in Zunino, to be sure, but he needed more time to learn to become a complete hitter, time he didn’t get both because of injuries and because his game behind the plate is developed well beyond his years.
“It’s hard up here,” McClendon said. “The next step for Mike is understanding the competition, understanding who’s on the mound and who can do what to you. There’s some pitchers where you need to get off early on, and there’s some pitchers you can be patient with.
“But what you have to understand is that he’s relatively very young at this level. He hasn’t had a lot of at-bats. Even to this date, every day is a new day for him, a new experience. He’s learning pitchers, he’s learning this staff, it’s starting to slow down a little bit for him. … He’s 22 years old, and he’s got more big-league at-bats than he’s got minor-league at-bats. That’s tough, not many hitters can say that at that age. If you’re in the big leagues, most of the time you’ve probably got somewhere around 1,500 to 2,000 minor-league at-bats; I think he had 300; that’s tough.”
Yes, McClendon was exaggerating some, or just off a bit on his numbers. Zunino is actually 24, not 22, and he had just over 400 minor-league at-bats, not 300. But McClendon’s point doesn’t change. On a better team, one with better depth, Zunino wouldn’t have been in the big leagues in 2013, and maybe not have been to start last season either. Given more time to understand professional pitching, Zunino likely wouldn’t strike out so often or be fighting a losing battle with the Mendoza Line.
That’s all in the past, however, and Zunino, warts and all, is the best option for the Mariners right now and still a very promising piece of their future. He is also someone who is learning on the job, and making a lot of outs in the process.
“It’s tough and you’ve got to take each night as a learning experience and try to separate your frustration from what you can learn from,” Zunino said. “… I was able to get a couple of pitches to hit (Tuesday).
“It’s just building blocks. I’ll be the first to tell you that you’re not going to figure it out and turn it around like that,” he continued, snapping his fingers. “You’ve got to take at-bats for what they are and hopefully progress and go in the right direction. You want to think you can come here and produce right away, obviously, but when you hit those bumps in the road, you know you have to take them for learning experiences. You know there may be more hiccups than usual and the learning curve of learning yourself and the league is going to take a little while.”
What Zunino hasn’t done is allow his struggles at the plate to carry over to his duties behind it. Despite his inexperience, Zunino is well respected by Mariners pitchers for his ability to call a game, and is the best defensive catcher the Mariners have had in years.
“It takes a special player to do that,” McClendon said of Zunino’s ability to compartmentalize.
“There’s a lot of stuff that goes into catching,” Zunino said. “Obviously you’re responsible for helping the pitchers get through an inning, and if you take those struggles out there, it could turn into more. It could dictate a game if you’re not fully committed to calling a game and knowing and studying and trusting the reports and doing all of that. You could get to a point where the game’s on the line, and you can’t be thinking about your last at-bat, you have to be focused on helping your pitcher.
“It’s sort of been a good thing too, because I’ve been able to focus on that when the hitting hasn’t been where I want it, so I can feel like I’m productive and can help the team in other aspects.”
Zunino won’t hit .188 forever, nor will he hit prodigious home runs on a nightly basis. Eventually, McClendon and the Mariners are convinced, he’ll settle into something more consistent. In the meantime, patience is the Mariners’ only option.
Herald Columnist John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com
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