All-Star catcher with his head down, batting average 0.177 after CLE’release’

All-Star catcher Mike Zunino (32) ended his relationship with Cleveland.

According to MLB.com, the official website of the Major League Baseball (MLB), the Cleveland Guardians released Zunino on the 22nd (Korean time). Zunino was treated as a designated for assignment (DFA) on the 17th, and a question mark was placed on his future. Cleveland’s 40-man roster includes three catchers: Cam Gallagher, David Fry, and Beau Naylor. With Naylor, a promising prospect, getting a chance to play, the need for Zunino has decreased.바카라사이트

Zunino joined Cleveland on a one-year, $6 million (7.8 billion won) short-term contract in December of last year. Expectations were high as a veteran hostess who would lead the young players, but the sluggishness in hitting was serious. He appeared in 42 games, and he had a batting average of .177 (22 hits in 124 at-bats) with 3 home runs and 11 RBI. He had a combined OPS of on-base percentage (0.271) and slugging percentage (0.306) of just 0.578. In his last 7 games as of the DFA day, his batting average was 0.095 (2 hits in 21 at-bats), less than 10%.

Zunino was a super-special prospect who was nominated third overall in the first round of the 2012 rookie draft. He received a whopping $4 million (5.2 billion won) for his joining contract alone. In the first round of that year, Carlos Correa was ranked first, and Byron Buxton (above Minnesota) ranked second. He entered the big leagues in 2013 with high expectations, but his jagged offense was always a problem. There are four seasons with over 20 homers, but batting averages in the 20% range have always been a problem.

Zunino’s MLB career (11 years) has a batting average of 0.199 (557 hits in 2798 at-bats), 149 home runs and 372 RBIs. He hit his first personal 30 home runs in 2021 and was also named 20th in the American League Most Valuable Player (MVP) voting. That year, he was also selected as an All-Star for the first time in his life and had a career high season, but the season ended early due to an injury last year (36 games, batting average 0.148). This season, when attention was focused on his transfer to Cleveland, poor performance caught his ankle again.