After a lengthy 16 year major league career catcher Gregg Zaun has retired. The former Oriole followed in the footsteps of his uncle, 1983 World Series MVP Rick Dempsey and became a major league catcher.
The Orioles drafted Zaun in the 17th round of the 1989 draft. He played for multiple teams in the Baltimore farm system from 1990-1995 including Bluefield, Frederick, and Bowie. I remember personally watching Zaun catch for Bowie in 1993.
My cousin was a minor league prospect pitcher and Zaun was his catcher. I can remember Zaun being a pretty good hitter as he carried a .306 batting average that year in Bowie, which was his highest minor league average of any stint where he played at least a month.
Zaun’s great defensive work and decent hitting ability gave him the opportunity to make his major league debut for the Orioles on June 24th 1995. He had a brief 90 game stint spanning two seasons before moving on to Florida. From there he played for Texas, Kansas City, Houston, Colorado, and Toronto before returning to the Orioles for most of the 2009 season.
His leadership and veteran presence was instrumental in mentoring a young Matt Wieters for the beginning of his major league career. As a huge Matt Wieters fan I am grateful that a respected veteran catcher with the lineage of Rick Dempsey was there to improve Wieters’ game calling abilities.
Shortly after Wieters took over the everyday duties Zaun was traded to Tampa Bay. In 2010, his last season, Zaun was with Milwaukee but needed right shoulder surgery. He attempted to play another year in 2011 as he was in camp with the San Diego Padres on a minor league deal, but the shoulder injury has proved to be too much and has forced retirement.
But there is much to be proud of from a 16 year major league career that totaled 1,232 games. He finished with a career average of .252 (which is .252 higher than any of us), and hit 88 HR’s with 446 RBI and 23 SB. He peaked in 2006 with Toronto where he hit .272 with 12 HR in only 280 at bats. In comparison, those are better numbers than Matt Wieters (a future hall of famer) put up in his first full season. Congrats to Greg Zaun on a long and successful major league career. Maybe MASN broadcasting is in his blood?
Zaun is also responsible for one the single greatest websites ever: http://www.greggzaun.com/
BRING YOUR Z-GAME!
That is a bad ass site…great flash
For anyone looking for other great Zaun remembrances, Fangraphs ran a piece detailing Zaun’s 5 most valuable offensive plays in terms of Win Probability Added (WPA). Its a fun read:
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/z-game-in-the-limelight-the-best-of-gregg-zaun/
I never really understood why the Orioles let this guy go early in his career. He had the bloodline, he was a gamer, and seemingly fit in the Orioles mold. Still baffles me to this day.
Successful career? Greg Zaun? Am I drunk?
The offensive numbers aren’t the most impressive. But thats why I wrote that he hit .255 higher than any of us. Anyone who lasts 16 major league seasons has to be considered a success. Thousands of players have come and gone since he debuted. And he was highly successful on the defensive end. In my opinion even being drafted to the major leagues makes you a success because there are millions who never even make it that far. And then to last 16 years once you get there? 90% of Americans have probably never kept any kind of job for 16 years.
FG – I agree with you on 16 years being impressive, especially and I’m not ragging on him, to have those numbers and stick around. But what does that tell you? That the state of the “Catcher” position is taxing and extremely hard. Not many players want to play that position. However, it can be a quick ticket to the Majors if you do decide to catch.
Now I played “Catcher” and “1st” in my younger days, 30% as catcher but I do have to say my knees are shot as well as my back to this day…
I give him credit for lasting that long… Agree with you on most people not keeping a job for 16 years. Thats a sorry state also but thats a different story…
I don’t think I am disagreeing with anyone here but in my estimation during his career Zaun was the definition of a MLB average catcher. There are several MLB teams this year that would be better served with Zaun’s career rate statistics than those their catchers will put up this year.