The Guardians have their catcher, agreeing to a one-year, $6 million deal with Mike Zunino on Tuesday, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. The club has not confirmed.
Set to turn 32 years old just before Opening Day, Zunino is looking to rebound from a lost 2022 season. He played in only 36 games for the Rays last year and produced a .499 OPS with five home runs before he was shut down in June following surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome in his left (non-throwing) arm.
Zunino had a career year with the bat in ‘21 as he bashed 33 homers and led all catchers (minimum 300 plate appearances) with a .559 slugging percentage. He finished third at the position with a 134 wRC+, earned his first All-Star Game selection and even received an MVP vote.
The third overall pick in the 2012 Draft by the Mariners, Zunino has four 20-homer seasons on his résumé and is consistently among the leaders in max exit velocity. Conversely, he has been near or at the top in strikeout rate in multiple seasons and owns an 85 OPS+ since joining Tampa Bay prior to 2019. Zunino played in 263 of a possible 546 regular-season games during that four-season span and struck out in nearly 40 percent of his 789 at-bats.
Zunino’s first six seasons in the Majors came with Seattle. Debuting in 2013, he put together a .207/.276/.406 slash line with 95 homers and an 89 OPS+ through 1,885 at-bats before a trade sent him east.
Behind the plate, Zunino compiled 52 Defensive Runs Saved between 2014-21, third most among all backstops with at least 5,000 innings played. Yet he accrued a minus-two DRS in his injury-marred ‘22 season. He has also recorded below-average caught stealing percentages — 22% and 20% — in each of the past two years.