Zunino hopes reconfigured swing bears fruit

TAMPA, Fla. -- The Mariners’ organization is all Mike Zunino knew. It’s the organization that drafted him with the No. 3 pick in the 2012 MLB Draft out of the University of Florida, and the club he experienced the first six seasons of his big league career with.

As a catcher, Zunino had the Mariners’ terminology engraved in his brain, working with basically every pitcher that pitched for the organization over those six seasons. But once he got traded to the Rays during the offseason in 2018, the veteran catcher was about to be exposed to a change for the first time in his professional career.

Zunino spent all of last spring trying to build a rapport with the Tampa Bay pitchers. He joined in on every meeting, he wanted to catch every live batting practice and bullpen session and he spent extra time trying to pick the brains of the pitchers.

The approach to building good relationships was normal for Zunino, who has developed a reputation for being a good defensive catcher over his seven-year Major League career. And while Zunino falls short of making excuses for his struggles at the plate, he does admit that adjusting to a new organization was a bit more challenging than he thought.

“It was more difficult than I anticipated,” Zunino said. “It takes a lot, whether it’s terminology or pitchers' meetings or whether it’s terminology and hitters' meetings -- just having those relationships, they just continue to grow even to today. It really takes you quite a bit of time to get on the same page with everybody.”

The 2019 season was the worst offensive campaign of Zunino’s career. He hit a career-low .165 and finished with just nine home runs, the fewest since he hit five during his rookie year. His underlying numbers weren’t much better either.

Zunino’s barrel percentage (11.6), average exit velocity (88.6 mph) and expected batting average (.194) were the lowest since his rookie season. His Sweet Spot percentage (26.8) was the lowest of his career.

Those struggles were enough for Zunino to acknowledge that he needed to make some changes at the plate. After signing a one-year, $4.5 million deal with the Rays over the offseason to avoid arbitration, Zunino worked with hitting coach Chad Mottola and assistant hitting coach Ozzie Timmons to reconfigure his swing.

The catcher worked on his body positioning and fixing his lower half while also slightly shortening his swing, and the hope is that it will cut down on swings and misses.

“We have some knowledge on some new swing changes and some new thoughts that were coming, and I’m confident that these are going to be something that really help me,” Zunino said. “The ultimate goal is to get better every day and feeling good here, and being able to put it into competition this spring has been fun.”

Only time will tell if being more comfortable will ultimately help Zunino perform better, but Rays manager Kevin Cash, who is a former catcher and can relate to some of the adjustments, believes Tampa Bay will get a better version of Zunino in 2020.

“We can sense a more comfortable [Zunino] so far, which is a good thing,” Cash said. “Give him a lot of credit. He’s worked really, really hard with Chad and Ozzie in the cage trying to simplify and work to remain consistent at the plate. I think we’re going to see some good results out of him.”

Grapefruit League notes
The Rays earned a split in their first split-squad day of the spring. Tampa Bay beat Detroit, 6-3, at Charlotte Sports Park. Willy Adames hit his first homer of the spring, a two-run blast in the second inning. Wander Franco, the game’s top prospect per MLB Pipeline, replaced Adames in the sixth inning and went 0-for-1 in his first Grapefruit League action. Tyler Glasnow tossed a scoreless first inning in his first start of the spring. Aaron Loup and Oliver Drake both threw a clean inning in relief.

In the game at George M. Steinbrenner Field, the Rays lost to the Yankees, 7-1. Matt Quatraro served as the manager in the game and Brandon Lowe played four innings in left field. Daniel Robertson continued his solid start to the spring, going 2-for-3 with a run scored.

Up next
The Rays travel to West Palm Beach to play the Nationals for the first time at FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches on Friday, with first pitch set for 1:05 p.m. ET. Ryan Yarbrough is scheduled to make his second start of the spring. Trevor Richards and Jalen Beeks are also set to pitch for the Rays.

Franco is expected to start at shortstop and hit leadoff. Stephen Strasburg, the 2019 World Series Most Valuable Player, will start for the Nationals.