Zaun shuts season down
GLENDALE — The following are updates on area Major League Baseball players.
Gregg Zaun (St. Francis High, 1989) Milwaukee Brewers catcher: Zaun will undergo season-ending surgery on Tuesday to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder.
He sustained the injury in April in a plate collision and went on the disabled list May 21, while still hoping treatment and rest might be enough the get him back on the field this year.
Now, the 39-year-old veteran is contemplating the possible end of his career.
“I’m not in a situation anymore where I need to play. I don’t need to play. I don’t need to play Major League Baseball to validate myself as a person,” Zaun told the Associated Press on Wednesday. “Do I want to play? That’s a different story. It’s too uncertain to tell. I’m really upset about having surgery and my season being over.”
Zaun, who signed with Milwaukee as a free agent this offseason for $1.9 million, said his goodbyes to teammates and members of the Brewers’ organization on Wednesday night at Miller Park before the team’s game against the Chicago Cubs. He now has a summer of rehabilitation ahead of him and he said he is hopeful he can be back to full strength by December.
Zaun’s current contract includes a $2.25 million option for 2011 with a $250,000 buyout, but Zaun said he remains undecided about playing and that he may try his hand at broadcasting if his playing days are indeed over.
“My goal for the whole situation is I want to be ready to throw to bases before Christmas,” Zaun told the Associated Press. “I want to be ready to go to spring training 100 percent healed, healthy and know that my arm’s in shape.
“If I don’t believe in my brain, in my heart that I could catch four or five days in a row if I had to for a ballclub, then I’m not even going to sign with a ballclub. I might, might be ready for the next stage of my career.”
When he went on the DL, Zaun was batting .265 with two home runs and 14 runs batted in. A 16-year big league veteran, Zaun is a career .252 hitter with 88 homers and 446 RBIs.
Freddy Sanchez (Glendale Community College, 1998) San Francisco Giants infielder: One of the hottest hitters in baseball at the moment, Sanchez finally encountered a rough stretch Wednesday. The former Burbank High standout went hitless in five plate appearances in San Francisco’s 6-3 road loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday evening.
Sanchez, who missed the first part of the season because of a shoulder injury is batting .338 (25 for 74) with five doubles and nine runs batted in. In 20 games, he’s scored 12 runs.
Sanchez had his 11-game hitting streak snapped during the Giants’ 3-0 win against the Reds on Tuesday.
San Francisco (32-26) is in third place in the National League’s West Division.
Marco Estrada (Glendale Community College, 2003) Milwaukee Brewers relief pitcher: Estrada was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Friday because of a fatigued right shoulder.
The move is retroactive to June 1, which was the same day the Brewers had optioned Estrada to Triple-A Nashville before recalling him in order to place him on the DL.
In comments made to the Associated Press on Friday, Milwaukee Manager Ken Macha said he was surprised to learn of the move because Estrada had never spent time getting treatment for the shoulder since joining the Brewers on May 18.
“Ask him every day if he was fine and he said, ‘Absolutely,’” Macha said. “I don’t think his velocity was affected. It wasn’t like we looked out there and said, ‘This guy’s throwing 88.’”
Whether injured or not, Estrada had struggled recently, allowing four runs in one inning of work in his last appearance against the Florida Marlins on May 31. On the season he is 0-0 with a 9.53 ERA.
The Brewers are 24-34 for fourth place in the National League’s Central Division.
Trevor Bell (Crescenta Valley High, 2005) Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim relief pitcher: Bell had a slim ERA of 2.55 heading into Tuesday’s game at the Oakland Athletics, but saw it nearly double over the course of two rocky innings of relief in which he gave up four earned runs on six hits, one of which was a two-run home run by Jack Cust.
Bell, who had compiled a streak of 8 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings prior to Tuesday, is 1-1 on the season with a 4.50 ERA.
Entering Wednesday night’s game, the Angels were 32-29 and in second place in the American League West Division.