After Three Years, Zuniga Finds His Way Out of San Jose

There was no need to ask Tony Zuniga if he knew the way to San Jose. The way out was where he got lost.

After four seasons playing in the San Francisco Giant organization, the last three with Class-A San Jose, Zuniga has moved on.

Zuniga, 25, who played at Saddleback High and Rancho Santiago College, is hitting .303 with four home runs and has driven in 22 runs in his first season with double-A Shreveport.

Not bad for a guy who seemed grounded in the California League.

“The three years spent in San Jose was a learning experience,” Zuniga said. “I don’t know why I was stuck there. I really didn’t hit for average the first two years. That may have been the reason.”

It certainly was a factor. But there were extenuating circumstances.

Zuniga, an 11th-round draft pick in 1996, came to the Giants as a shortstop. He was moved to second base for two seasons, then swung around the horn to third base a year ago.

He moved up quickly at first. In 1996, Zuniga hit .299 and drove in 35 runs in 69 games with Bellingham, a Class-A short-season team.

He then jumped to the California League, considered a top-level Class-A league. Players normally spend at least part of their second season with a mid-level Class-A club, but at the time the Giants didn’t have such a team in their system. Instead, they had two teams in the Cal League, San Jose and Bakersfield.

Zuniga was a bit overwhelmed.

“I didn’t realize it would be that big of a difference, but it was,” he said. “I didn’t see the ball real good and I lost my confidence.

“I was getting in my own head. It was the first time I ever struggled in my life. I wasn’t mature enough baseball-wise as far as being mentally prepared.”

He meandered through two seasons, batting .183 and .244, before figuring things out.

Zuniga played 136 games for San Jose last season, batting .270 with 10 home runs and 66 runs batted in, both career highs.

“I started swinging at better pitches, being more selective,” Zuniga said. “My walks were up. I guess I was a lot more patient.”

It paid off.

Zuniga’s nine-game hitting streak, which was snapped Thursday, helped Shreveport to six consecutive victories last week. Zuniga drove in runs to fuel big innings in three of those victories.

“They just don’t throw fastballs at you here,” Zuniga said. “You get curves and off-speed pitches and changeups. Other than that, I haven’t noticed a whole lot of difference.

“I’ve been fortunate. The guys in front of me have been getting on base and I’ve been hitting the ball when they are in scoring position.”

There is certainly incentive to do that.

“I am sick of A-ball,” Zuniga said.

TOUGH-LUCK PITCHER

Luke Hudson is pitching better than ever . . . and has little to show for it.

Hudson, who played at Fountain Valley High, gave up only four earned runs in his first three starts for Salem, a Colorado Rocky Class-A team. Yet, he lost all three.

He had a bright and shiny 2.04 earned-run average, but was hurt by errors and lack of support. Salem scored four runs in those three starts.

As if to tease Hudson, the Avalanche scored 15 runs in a game against Wilmington two weeks ago. The next day, Salem scored one. Guess which game Hudson pitched?

Hudson, a fourth-round pick out of Tennessee in 1998, finally solved his problem.

He just doesn’t allow any runs. He threw seven shutout innings on April 30, lowering his ERA to 1.44. The Avalanche mustered enough offense for a 2-1 victory over Wilmington.

“I got the monkey off my back,” Hudson told the Roanoke Times.

Saturday, Hudson threw a three-hit shutout against Myrtle Beach, dropping his ERA to 1.06. He had nine strike outs and one walk. The Avalanche provided two more runs in a 2-0 victory.

As for the lack of support, Hudson said, “These things happen sometimes in baseball. It’s a funny game.”

Yeah, but was he yucking it up after those first three starts?

QUICK TURNAROUND

Josh Hochgesang has made a rapid adjustment to professional baseball. But then, there was a lot of room for improvement after his first professional season.

Hochgesang hit .155 with one home run in 21 games for Vancouver, the Oakland Athletics’ short-season team in the Northwest League.

Those numbers seemed out of character. Hochgesang, after all, hit 46 home runs in four seasons as Stanford’s third baseman. He had 16 in 1999 and nearly helped the Cardinal reach the College World Series title game.

Hochgesang, a Sunny Hills High graduate, was drafted in the seventh round last June.

This season, he looks more like his old self. Hochgesang is hitting .289 for Class-A Visalia. He is tied for second in the California League with seven home runs and has driven in 19 runs.

Hochgesang hit for the cycle and drove in five runs on April 29. He had a streak of 11 games in which he scored at least one run, but it was snapped Friday.

ERIC THE RED-HOT

As the weather heats up back East, so does Eric Valent, an outfielder for double-A Reading.

Valent, who played at Canyon High and UCLA, had a 19-game hitting streak snapped Saturday, which left him two games short of the Reading club record. He had seven doubles, four home runs and 20 RBIs during the streak.