Before any stats have a chance to stabilize, one of the few things in the early days of an MLB season that might give a glimpse into the future for teams or players is if and how the injury bug decides to bite. Mike Zunino was placed on the 10-day DL Friday, and his strained oblique takes a bite out of the Mariners.
Mike Zunino’s strain extends to the Mariners
Saturday’s Say Hey, Baseball looks at strain and proof.
Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Zunino is coming off a career-best year with 3.6 WAR and 25 home runs. It took the four years prior to 2017 for him to reach the top third of catchers after once battling for the title of baseball’s top catching prospect with Travis d’Arnaud. Adding offense to excellent framing abilities in 2017, the do-it-all prospect finally began to perform like a do-it-all starter.
Zunino’s BABIP also rocketed last year though, over .100 points from a career average of .251 to a career high of .355. This season he aims to prove whether that BABIP tells the tale of a one-off season in which he grabbed as much of his potential as he will, or that his success is replicable.
Starting any endeavor with a muscle strain is Not Great, but a “prove it” season has to be up near the top. While Zunino works to come back to do that, he leaves a hole behind the plate that the available replacements, two rookies with a combined 29 plate appearances in the majors, might struggle to fill. Mike Marjama, who’s known more for his bat than his glove, started Opening Day and went hitless. After Zunino’s DL move, David Freitas was called up from triple-A. Neither is likely to measure up defensively, though Freitas could come closer than Marjama, catching 30.2% if base-stealers in triple-A in 2017.
It could be only 10 days before Zunino is allowed to have a shot at baserunners again and be on his merry way to another productive season. But strained obliques rarely make things that easy. The injury has a relatively high likelihood of recurrence and a slippery healing process. Zunino and the Mariners, with rookie backstops in hand, are holding their breath for a speedy return.
- Look, maybe you don’t look to baseball as an almighty revealer of all things true and holy. That’s fine. You should. But that’s fine. Here , Grant Brisbee looks at the three (3) truths our old pal baseball revealed on Opening Day.
- We’ve been treated to capital-b baseball for two whole days. Maybe it’s nerve receptor overload after the sensory deprivation of the offseason. But things have gotten wild, already notching a 17-inning game and an almost-perfect game. In one of the many displays of capital-b baseball, Jesse Winker and Billy Hamilton collide as Winker makes the catch.
- Beltre, meet Beltre. Beltre is a baseball player. Beltre is also a giraffe, who I believe could also move on-deck circles to his preferred location if he wanted.
- The Tigers and Pirates played for 13 innings. It was enough to drive Whitney McIntosh to the depths of the internet.
- Good thing Gregory Polanco put Whitney out of her misery with a three-run bomb.
- The Marlins? They’re over. That’s canceled, and it only took one inning.
- The greatest Opening Day in Mariners history is what that was. The best. Ask anyone.
- Johnny Cueto wiggled his way back into conversation with a historic win over the Dodgers.
- It’s Joe Panik versus the world, or at least the Dodgers.
- The Braves lost, sure, whatever. But so did the Freeze and I don’t know how Atlanta will recover.
- During that Braves game, Kurt Suzuki also left early after being hit by a pitch. Yikes.
- Yeah, Josh Osich is a thing. But is he a thing?
- David Price is good. David Price was good against the Rays.
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