| Gregg Zaun | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Zaun with the Baltimore Orioles in 2009 | |||||||||||||||
| Tigres de Quintana Roo | |||||||||||||||
| Catcher /Coach | |||||||||||||||
| Born: (1971-04-14)April 14, 1971 (age 53) Glendale, California, U.S. | |||||||||||||||
Batted: Switch Threw: Right | |||||||||||||||
| MLB debut | |||||||||||||||
| June 24, 1995, for the Baltimore Orioles | |||||||||||||||
| Last MLB appearance | |||||||||||||||
| May 20, 2010, for the Milwaukee Brewers | |||||||||||||||
| MLB statistics | |||||||||||||||
| Batting average | .252 | ||||||||||||||
| Home runs | 88 | ||||||||||||||
| Runs batted in | 446 | ||||||||||||||
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |||||||||||||||
| Teams | |||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Medals
| |||||||||||||||
Gregory Owen Zaun (/ˈzɔːn/; born April 14, 1971) is an Americanbaseball analyst,public speaker and a former professionalbaseballcatcher, currently he is the hitting coach for theTigres de Quintana Roo of theMexican League. He played for nine teams over 16 seasons inMajor League Baseball from 1995 until 2010, winning aWorld Series Championship in 1997. From 2006 to 2017, he served as an on-air personality withSportsnet in Canada.
Zaun, the nephew of former MLB catcherRick Dempsey, was a high school teammate ofMark Loretta. Zaun and Loretta attendedSaint Francis High School inLa Cañada, California, and graduated in 1989.[1] Zaun was recruited to playcollege baseball atUSC,UCLA,Loyola Marymount andOklahoma, but signed a letter of intent to play forTexas. However, he chose not to play for Texas upon learning that they had signed ajunior college All-American catcher. Zaun also played for theUnited States national baseball team at the 1989World Junior Baseball Championship in Canada.[2]
Drafted by theBaltimore Orioles in the 17th round of the1989 Major League Baseball draft, Zaun reached the majors with the Orioles in June 1995.[3][4] He was used primarily as a back-up early in his career. He batted .231 with onehome run and 13runs batted in (RBI) in 39 games with theOrioles in 1996 before being optioned on August 6 to theRochester Red Wings where he hit .319 in 14 games. He was sent to theFlorida Marlins on August 23 to complete a transaction from two days prior on August 21 whenTerry Mathews was acquired by the Orioles.[5] After winning aWorld Series with the Marlins in 1997, he became their starting catcher to finish out the 1998 season whenCharles Johnson and thenMike Piazza were traded. He then moved to theTexas Rangers prior to the 1999 season. He has also played with theKansas City Royals,Houston Astros, andColorado Rockies. He signed as afree agent with the Blue Jays prior to the 2004 season. Valuable in the line-up as aswitch-hitter, he set a career high in 2005 with 133 games.[6]
Prior to the 2006 season, the Blue Jays signedBengie Molina as the everyday catcher, making Zaun the backup.[7] Zaun started 2006 on theinjured list, withJason Phillips serving as Molina's backup during the first week of the year. Zaun hit a game-winning two-run homer off theTampa Bay Devil Rays'Jason Childers in his return on April 8.[8] Molina's struggles against right-handed pitchers causedJohn Gibbons toplatoon the two, with Molina generally starting against left-handed pitchers and Zaun playing against righties. On September 13, 2006, he hit home runs from both sides of the plate in the same game.[9] He was only the fourth Blue Jay in history to do this.
Because the Blue Jays actively pursuedRod Barajas of the Texas Rangers as the club's new starting catcher during the 2006 offseason, it was assumed that Zaun would be exploring free agency as signing Barajas would mean Zaun would be maintained as a backup. Meanwhile, negotiations between Zaun and the club deteriorated, as Zaun claimed that the Jays offered "slightly better than back-up money for playing every day".[10] Negotiations with Barajas went as far as an offer conditional on a routine physical, but eventually fell apart for undisclosed reasons.[11] After turning down a reported $6.5 million two-year offer from the Blue Jays a week earlier,[12] Zaun officially accepted a two-year, $7.25 million contract offer to return to the Blue Jays as their starting catcher on November 28, 2006. The new contract deal also included a third-year option, guaranteed based on appearances.[13] The signing came after Zaun was rumored to have been courted by theBoston Red Sox andNew York Yankees, both in backup roles.[11]
Arguably his most famous play with the Jays was hitting a game-winning grand slam in the bottom of the 13th inning off of Tampa Bay Rays closerTroy Percival, on September 6, 2008, with two outs in the inning, wiping out theRays, 7–4.[14] Zaun hit only the second game-winning grand slam in Jays history but it was the first that occurred in extra innings, and even more spectacular was that his team was losing at the time, due to an RBI single byDioner Navarro to put the Rays up, 4–3, before the slam at the top of the 13th.
On January 22, 2009, Zaun signed a one-year deal with theBaltimore Orioles.[15]
Zaun was claimed off waivers by the Tampa Bay Rays GMAndrew Friedman in exchange forRhyne Hughes on August 7, 2009.[16][17] On August 16, Zaun hit a pinch hit grand slam home run against his old team, the Blue Jays, in the eighth inning offBrandon League on a 3–2 fastball.[18] On November 12, 2009, Zaun was granted free agency.
On December 4, 2009, Zaun signed a one-year contract with the Milwaukee Brewers for $1.9 million.[19] After suffering a severe injury, Zaun's 2010 season—and, as it turned out, his MLB career, ended on May 20.[20] After the season, Milwaukee declined his contract option, and he became a free agent on November 2.[21]
In January, Zaun signed a minor league deal with theSan Diego Padres, with an invitation to spring training.[22] However, noting that he still had not recovered from his previous injury enough to play regularly, he chose to retire on March 7, 2011.[23]
In 2007, Zaun was included in theMitchell Report following a 20-month investigation into the use of performance-enhancing drugs by former SenatorGeorge Mitchell. In the report,Kirk Radomski claimed he soldDeca-Durabolin andWinstrol to Zaun in 2001, after a referral fromJason Grimsley. Radomski produced a cheque from Zaun for $500. Mitchell also explained that formerMontreal Expos bullpen catcher Luis Perez claimed to have supplied Zaun with steroids in 2002. Zaun declined to be interviewed for the report.[24]
On February 15, 2008, Zaun responded in detail to the allegations made in the report after issuing a denial as soon as it came out.[25] Zaun vehemently denied taking performance-enhancing drugs, stating that he owed Grimsley $500 and that Grimsley re-wrote the cheque to purchase drugs for himself.[25] Zaun explained, "I can say, with 100% certainty, that the cheque was not to buy performance-enhancing drugs. It's obvious to me what parts of the cheque are my writing".[25]
Zaun started his broadcasting career after the Blue Jays closed out their 2006 season. Throughout the playoffs, Zaun would offer his thoughts on how the teams and players were doing, and how he thought they could improve.
After his retirement, on March 14, 2011, Zaun signed a two-year contract with Rogers Sportsnet to become their studio MLB analyst.[26] He also served as a part-time analyst onSportsnet Radio Fan 590 and theBlue Jays Radio Network. As part of his duties he blogged on his website 'zauntourage.com'[27] (now defunct).
On May 10–11, 2011 Zaun filled in as the color commentator on theNESN broadcast of aRed Sox series against theBlue Jays when the normal broadcaster,Jerry Remy was ill.[28]
On November 30, 2017,Rogers Communications announced Zaun's employment had been terminated after an investigation into complaints of improper conduct from several female employees.[29] Zaun issued an apology in response to the allegations on December 4.[30]
On March 30, 2023, Zaun was hired to serve as the catching/hitting instructor for theGlacier Range Riders of thePioneer League.[31]
On February 21, 2024, Zaun was announced as the manager for theLexington Legends of theAtlantic League of Professional Baseball.[32]
On January 2, 2025, Zaun was hired to serve on the coaching staff of theTigres de Quintana Roo of theMexican League.[33][34]
