Seattle Mariners catching prospect and 2012 third overall pick Mike Zunino hit his first career home run as a professional yesterday in the Everett Aquasox 11-2 win over Salem Keizer. Zunino was 2-for-5 in the game and now 4-for-11 in his three game career with a double and that home run. It will be interesting to see how long Zunino may stay at Everett, since Class A Short-Season ball is probably a step below the competition he faced at Florida.
35th 7th round pick Taylor Ard out of Washington State and 4th round pick Patrick Kivlehan also homered. A pitcher named Rusty Shellhorn got the win, so have fun with that.
A few levels up, Jackson beat Tennessee by a score of 10-8, with Stefen Romero refusing to cool down and going 2-for-3 with 2 R, 2 RBI, and a walk. Romero is now hitting .377/.425/.688 with 4 HR, 26 RBI, 7 BB and 7 K in 20 games for AA Jackson. It seems like only a matter of time now before Romero is called up to take a spot in the Mariners order to see what he can do at the big league level.
It was only a year ago that Kyle Seager was basically in the same place.