Not long after Jerry Dipoto made catcher Chris Iannetta his first free-agent acquisition as Mariners' general manager, Dipoto made it clear that Mike Zunino, barring an injury to Iannetta or offseason acquisition Steve Clevenger, was going to start the season with Triple-A Tacoma.
How that's going so far?
Zunino entered Tuesday having homered for the Rainiers in his past five games. He had a .447 batting average (17 for 38) with three doubles, six homers, 15 RBIs and a 1.450 OPS in nine games. He was named Pacific Coast League player of the week Monday, then hit a pair of homers that night in the Rainiers' 11-6 loss to the Albuquerque Isotopes.