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November 16, 2006

Player Profile

Barry Zito

by Marc Normandin

Sound the trumpets: ESPN.com's Rumor Central can quiet the Barry Zito trade rumors they have been so fond of for the past few seasons. Untraded to the end, Zito is at long last a free agent, and has roughly zero chance of not finding himself in another team's uniform come spring training. What is a bit more up for debate is just how productive Barry Zito actually can be in his post-Oakland years, and whether or not he will be worth the assumed risk that will go hand-in-hand with the massive contract offers he's sure to entertain.

Barry Zito was drafted ninth overall by the Oakland Athletics in the 1999 out of the University of Southern California at age 21. That season in college, Zito had 154 strikeouts in 113.2 innings, and earned Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year honors. He was previously drafted by the Mariners in 1996 and then the Rangers in 1998, but declined to sign with either, as I’m sure both clubs have tried to forget every time Zito has taken the hill against them in one AL West stretch drive after another.

Zito would start his professional career at High-A Visalia, but found himself in Triple-A Sacramento before year's end:

               IP    K/9     BB/9   K/BB   HR/9   H/9   RA
Visalia (A+)   40.1  13.84   4.91   2.82   0.67   4.69  2.90
Midland (AA)   22.0  11.86   4.50   2.64   0.41   9.00  6.14

Besides the above, Zito also threw six innings-–with six batters whiffing and only two walks-–at the Triple-A level, and followed that up by posting a 2.40 ERA in three postseason games. The strikeout rates are quite tasty, and the K/BB ratio doesn't look too bad until you see that he allowed between 4.5 and 5 hitters to reach via the free pass per nine innings pitched. The low RA in Visalia appears to come almost entirely from his almost nonexistent hit rate. With all that out of the way, it's an impressive performance for a 21-year-old in his first taste of pro ball.

For the 2000 season, Zito started out in Triple-A Sacramento before earning a promotion to the major league club' he hasn't pitched an inning in the minors since.