Mike Zunino is an American professional baseball catcher for the Tampa Bay Rays of the American League (MLB). He was once a member of the Seattle Mariners baseball team.
The Oakland Athletics chose Zunino in the 29th round of the 2009 MLB Draft, yet he didn’t sign and decided to go to school.
Zunino acknowledged an athletic scholarship to go to the University of Florida in Gainesville, where he played for mentor Kevin O’Sullivan’s Florida Gators ball club from 2010 to 2012.
He drove the Gators to three continuous College World Series appearances in 2010, 2011, and 2012.
Zunino was named to the Baseball America All-American group as a sophomore in 2011 and was named Southeastern Conference (SEC) player of the year.
He was the second Florida Gator to win the SEC player of the year grant after Matt LaPorta did as such in 2005 and 2007.
In 2011, he played with the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox of the Cape Cod Baseball League.
In 2012, Zunino won the Golden Spikes Award, Dick Howser Trophy, and the Johnny Bench Award.
Mike Zunino Parents: Meet Greg Zunino and Paola Zunino
Mike Zunino is the son of Greg and Paola Zunino. Greg and Paola Zunino, met in 1983 when Greg played baseball professionally in Italy.
At that time Greg was playing for Fortitudo Bologna, he met his future wife, Paola, as she was playing softball as a catcher for the Italian national team.
Following a five-year stint in Italy, Greg and Paola returned to the United States where Greg found a new line of work in Cape Coral, Fla. as an area scout for the Cincinnati Reds and Paola started overseeing townhouses.
