ZuuuuumBall Time!
and the fans go wild :: aaahhhhhhhhh ::

.

Worst-Case Scenario

Would be for Zunino to strike out 17 times in a row, get sent back to AAA, and benefit from getting a look at what he'll be facing.

Yes, Egbert, logically speaking, there are worse things.  He could:

  • Snap at an Eric Wedge comment, head-butt the manager, and be traded the next day
  • Get caught betting against Joe Saunders
  • Get hit in the throat by a flying shard of his own corked bat

But you don't live your life based on precautions taken against mountain lions that drop down from the porch roof onto you as you step out of your front door.

The actual DWN scenario is for Zunino to pull some kind of Miguel Olivo, post-Freddy version, and go back to the minors humbled.  But Zunino's makeup rules out an Olivo-type emotional implosion.

.............

Lemme compare it to martial arts.  There are any number of 4th-degree black belts who have never been in a single actual fight.  Guess who I'd want on my side?  A "sensei" like that, or an ex-military brown belt who has been in twenty bar fights?

If you are a shotokan student, after your FIRST fight (or even tournament match), you are incomparably better able to defend yourself.  And you practice differently!  After a single fight, you know what you are up against.  You throw out 900 things the sensei talked about, and you start focusing on what works.

That first fight is worth more than the next 9,000 that follow it.  I don't care how badly you get beaten up.  You had a look.  Now you can go to work.

Mike Zunino goes back down to AAA, having been beaten up?  In my book he is then ready to start learning.

.

UP Scenario

Catcher is a defensive position.  Had Jesus Sucre, with that wonderful pitch framing, and game management, and throwing arm, been able to hit for a 75 OPS+ he'd have been our catcher the rest of the year.

Mike Zunino takes charge defensively, and even defends himself at the plate, then Zuumball has begun on June 12, 2013.  End of story.

............

Zunino had quite a whiff-fest going there at Tacoma.  And even the last 10 days, his EYE is only 0.25.  Thass' a proh-blaim, Edgar.

But!  His last 10 days, Zuumball hit .262/.303/.503 and he'd adjusted back.  

The scouts were telling Zduriencik that Zunino is ready to face ML pitching now.  (Zduriencik said this yesterday.)  That isn't the end of the discussion -- but why, oh why, should it be worth zero?  Dr. D's question is, "WHY are they saying that?"  Presumably because they see him defending himself against ML weapons at this point.

...........

Zunino's prorated 200K, coming in the PCL, are scary.  No doubts there.  The most likely scenario, let us say 70%, is that he is going to need to go back down.

But dialing the swing up to 11 is a choice.  It is possible that Zunino will reign in his ambitions and go for more contact.  That's a factor.

-Edit to add, check out Gordon's brilliancy about "sense of danger."  Just so!

...........

It will probably take a while to translate.  Mike Zunino has shown us that his Power Index (PX) is in the 160 range -- Zunino's sheer baseball PWR is not comparable to Kendrys Morales' or Raul Ibanez', but is comparable to Ryan Braun's, Matt Kemp's, Nelson Cruz', and Prince Fielder's.

We didn't realize, when drafting Zunino, that he was going to have a shot to be one of the 20 highest PWR players in baseball.  

A potential Mike Napoli bat with a Jason Varitek defensive game, I'm psyched.  (Or you want to talk real UP scenarios, let's talk Gary Carter.)  Even if we'll be seeing it en embryo.

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Comments

1

A ripped single to center on a two strike pitch and a wasting of a would be base-stealer by about 8 ft.
Oh, I think he's catching and calling a shutout, too.
Well, crud....he obviously can't play at this level. :)
moe

2

And the hit was also on a low-and-away breaking ball from a guy that had 10 Ks - yeah, he has trouble with the curve, all right :-)

3

you aren't using the fact that Zunino once hit an offspeed pitch to dismiss the notion that he has difficulty with offspeed pitches. Brendan Ryan hits home runs sometimes, y'know. :-)

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