’Cats let Zunica be self
Manager compares his 1st baseman to Boggs, only with more power
Tri-city Valleycats manager Pete Incaviglia said first baseman Brad Zunica reminds him of a certain Hall of Famer — only with more power.
“Imagine Wade Boggs with pop,” said Incaviglia, who played against Boggs during their big-league careers. “That’s what he is. He’s got the approach of a really good hitter that actually has tremendous power. His ceiling is off the charts. He could be really, really special. I think he’s one of the best hitters I’ve come across in 15 years of doing this (independent-league managing).”
Which raises the question of what exactly Zunica, 25, is doing playing in the independent Frontier League instead of the majors or at least Triple-a in affiliated ball. He only signed with the Valleycats after being released in Double-a by the San Diego Padres on June 14.
He batted .167 in 17 games for the San Antonio Missions. He’s hitting .381 with three homers and seven RBIS in 16 games for the Valleycats (21-22), who defeated Equipe Quebec 7-1 on Friday night before 2,016 fans at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium for their fourth consecutive victory.
Tri-city pitcher Austin Cline allowed three hits over six innings with eight strikeouts. Oscar Campos went 3-for-4 with three RBIS to raise his average to .364.
Before the game, Incaviglia talked hitting outside the cage during batting practice. Incaviglia said he’s encouraging Zunica to be himself — a wellrounded hitter with home-run power — rather than swinging for the fences.
“Yeah, that’s one thing that’s big for me as a hitter,” Zunica agreed. “I don’t need to try to hit home runs. Whatever I’m doing, if I’m making more con
tact or whatever, putting good swings on the ball and having good at-bats, the home runs are going to come and my power will play. But it’s more of a comfort for me to know he’s just going to let me be myself and not put any excess pressure on me.”
That wasn’t always the case in the Padres organization, according to Zunica, who said San Diego was trying to mold him into another Cody Bellinger, the Dodgers’ All-star outfielder who hit a career-high 47 homers in 2019.
Both are big left-handed hitters. Zunica stands at 6-foot-6 and 245 pounds, compared to Bellinger at 6-4 and 203 pounds.
“I was trying to hit like Cody Bellinger, and in my eyes, he’s a lot more athletic than I am, a lot more quick-twitch (muscles),” Zunica said. “He’s just a one-of-akind hitter. You don’t make clones. If that was the case, they’d be everywhere, and they’re not.”
Zunica did hit between 14 and 18 home runs in four consecutive minor league seasons from 2016 to 2019. But he also struck out at least 100 times all four seasons and only batted .243 in six years in the Padres’ system after being drafted in the 15th round out of a Florida junior college.
“It’s not like they want to see (me) fail,” Zunica said. “But yeah, it was kind of like ‘We’re going to do this and that you don’t really have any say. You’re going to follow our plan and that’s how it is.’ It is what it is.”
Zunica, raised in the Chicago suburb of Frankfort, sprained his left thumb in his Valleycats debut on June 20 and missed seven games. He has impressed coming back as the cleanup hitter and Incaviglia believes the best is ahead for him.
“If Brad gets with the right (MLB) organization, it wouldn’t surprise me to see him in the big leagues,” Incaviglia said. “You’re watching a major league hitter. I’ve seen big-league hitters all my life and he’s a Major League Baseball player.”
Note: Outfielder Willy Garcia sat out Friday with a sore left shoulder . ... Left-handed pitcher Trevor Damron, an Ohio native, went on the inactive list.