Seby Zavala

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Bernardo Sebastian Zavala

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Biographical Information[edit]

On July 31, 2021, playing for the Chicago White Sox, Seby Zavala became the first player in major league history to hit his first three homers in the same game. They came in a 12-11 loss to the Cleveland Indians and he hit a homer to all three fields. His first long ball came off Triston McKenzie to center field in the 3rd, then followed that with a grand slam to left, against McKenzie again, in the 4th. He completed his historic day with a two-run blast to right against Bryan Shaw in the 7th. He was 5-for-40 in 17 career games before the game, and 4-for-28 for the season. He was one of the heroes of the "Field of Dreams Game" against the New York Yankees played in a temporary ballpark erected in a cornfield in Dyersville, IA: he hit a two-run homer off Andrew Heaney in the 4th, then in the 9th, after the Yankees had mounted an improbable four-run comeback in the top of the 9th to take an 8-7 lead, he worked a walk off Zack Britton with one out and came to score when the next batter, Tim Anderson, hit a walk-off two-run homer.

In 2022, he played 61 games for the White Sox, hitting .270 with 2 homers and 21 RBIs for an OPS+ of 101 - very good production for a back-up catcher. However, he couldn't keep this up in 2023, as his batting average fell to a woeful .155 in 66 games. He did bang 7 homers, but his OPS+ was just 37. On September 6th, he was claimed off waivers by the Arizona Diamondbacks and went 5 for 14 in 7 games for them, and also pitched in a game for the first time of his major league career, a common occurrence for a back-up catcher in this day and age. On November 22nd, he was traded to the Seattle Mariners alongside P Carlos Vargas in return for 3B Eugenio Suarez.

Further Reading[edit]

  • Scott Merkin: "Zavala makes HR history with first 3 jacks", mlb.com, August 1, 2021. [1]

Related Sites[edit]

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