Several years ago our Seattle Mariners took a catcher from the University of Florida (his choice of school could have been a clue) with the #3 pick in the draft. This catcher was going to be special; he could command a pitching staff and had RAW power. On paper, Mike Zunino was a unicorn for the catching position, he had a glove and bat that were scouted as plus skills. After being drafted in June, we saw our first glimpse of our top prospect by September, and it looked like Jack Z had finally hit on a high draft pick.

Mike has gone from a can't miss to a, "God I wish he'd just hit .240 and cut back on strike outs." I began to refer to him as Mike "0-2 Count" Zunino. It got to a point I felt like I could get him out by peppering the outside corner with my 75+ mph fastball and an 0-2 breaking ball. He flailed at breaking balls like the 9 hitter who's parents made him play back in 7th grade summer ball. Zunino became a disappointment and Jack Z was fired; he was on his way to bust territory, and early this year was replaced by a 38 year old catcher and a guy named Tuffy. I wanted him run out of town and rid our organization of having to wait for him to arrive.

Zunino became the butt of a lot of jokes on my Twitter account for about a year. He could do nothing right in the box and it was my way (and other fans as well) of dealing with our lineup's easy out. Although I kept joking about his failures, deep down I felt a little bad. By all accounts, Mike Zunino is a great human being; someone young athletes should look up to. It's probably just the whole Gator look, but he reminds me of Tim Tebow; bad at his position, but an exceptional person. Unfortunately for Mike and Tebow, in sports low level play leads to hatred from fans. Not hate in the normal sense of the word, but hate nonetheless. I didn't want to see Mike suffer an injury or fall out of baseball completely, I just wanted him to finish his career away from Seattle and let someone who could go the other way with a pitch take his AB's in the lineup.

Sports hate is funny. It's something that we all have, and in tense moments it rises and causes us to yell at inanimate objects like TV's or car radios. I hate Mike Trout. I hate Jose Altuve. I hate Kobe Bryant. I hate Tome Brady. I think hate is the wrong word; it describes the feeling, but not the intent. I don't want Mike Trout to stop robbing homeruns, just against the Mariners. I don't want Altuve to stop leading the league in batting average as one of the Seven Dwarves; just go 2 for 12 in his series against the M's. I want Tom Brady to fail, but who doesn't, he's a cheater. As a Mariner fan my pessimism and the last 16 years have brought my sports hate to our own team. Mike Zunino took the brunt of my sports hate toward the Mariners. It was easy, he looked lost.

As April turned to May, everything I had said about Mike Zunino, the baseball player, on Twitter and to friends was true; he had hit a career low and was headed to Tacoma. I pondered on whether DiPoto should have just thrown him into the Taijuan and Ketel Marte deal just to free up space on the 25 man roster. Something happened down there in Tacoma. And no not like in 2016 when he came back from Tacoma and mashed for a month before reverting back to what we saw in April of this year. He was laying off the outside pitches and wasn't missing fastballs when he got them. Mike Zunino is currently hitting around .220-.230 with 15-16 HRs and had the month of Junino. The average isn't great, and he still strikes out a bit, but if this is what we get from Zunino in the box from here on out, and mix it with his Gold Glove caliber defense, I will be happy to call Mike Zunino our catcher. It isn't flashy; it isn't all star caliber; it isn't what he was "supposed" to be, but it's what he has become, and is serviceable for an MLB catcher these days.

My sports hate for Mike Zunino has faded recently (he's still young, there's time for it to return), and I'm left wondering who to reallocate it towards. Another Mariner? Double up on Odor? That evil ginger in Anaheim, Calhoun? Well there's still time to figure that out, but from now on Zunino has my trust, as a fan (for whatever that counts), to be the general of our defense and keep becoming consistent at the plate; even if it's .230 with occasional 2B and HRs consistent.

visit for info bctariharsivi.blogspot.com