Background
Born and raised in Cape Coral, Florida, Mike is the son of Greg and Paola Zunino.
Born and raised in Cape Coral, Florida, Mike is the son of Greg and Paola Zunino.
Mike played baseball at Mariner High School where he graduated in 2009.
Zunino was selected by the Mariners with the third overall pick in the 2012 Major League Baseball Draft. He is of Italian descent. Greg Zunino was drafted in the 31st round of the 1981 MLB June Amateur Draft.
He participated in the American Family Life Assurance Company All-American High School Baseball Game at Dodger Stadium in 2008.
Zunino accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, where he played for coach Kevin O"Sullivan"s Florida Gators baseball team from 2010 to 2012. He led the Gators to three consecutive College World Series appearances in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
Zunino was named to the Baseball America All-American team as a sophomore in 2011 and was named Southeastern Conference (Securities and Exchange Commission) player of the year. In 2010, he played with the Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox of the Cape Cod Baseball League.
Draft and minor leagues
He was selected by the Oakland Athletics in the 29th round of the 2009 MLB Draft, but did not sign and chose to attend college.
Three years later, Zunino was selected by the Seattle Mariners in the 2012 draft with the third overall pick. He signed with the Mariners on July 3 and was assigned to their short season Class A affiliate Everett AquaSox in the Northwest League. Zunino spent six weeks with the Aquasox in 2012, batting.373 with 10 HRs and 35 RBIs.
He was promoted to Double-A affiliate Jackson Generals on August 13.
Major League The Mariners promoted Zunino to the major leagues on June 11, 2013. He made his first major league start the next day and singled in his second at bat, on an 0-2 pitch.
On June 14, Zunino hit his first career home run on his third at battalion Against the Chicago Cubs on June 28, Zunino collected the first walk-off hit of his career.
On July 25, Zunino broke his hand and he had to spend time on the 15-day Doctor of Laws. He returned in early September, getting the bulk of the starts to end the season.
In 52 games with the Mariners, he hit.214/.290/.329 with 5 Human Resources and 14 Reserve Bank of India.
Zunino opened the 2013 season as a member of the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League.