Gregg Zaun

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**Gregg Zaun**

Toronto Blue Jays — No. 9
Catcher
Bats: Switch-hitter	Throws: Right
Major League Baseball debut
June 24, 1995 for the Baltimore Orioles
Selected MLB statistics (through October 1, 2006)
Batting average	.253
Home runs	62
RBI	323
Former teams
Baltimore Orioles (1995) Florida Marlins (1996-1998) Texas Rangers (1999) Kansas City Royals (2000-2001) Houston Astros (2002) Colorado Rockies (2003)

Gregory Owen "Gregg" Zaun (born April 14, 1971 in Glendale, California) is a Major League Baseball player with the Toronto Blue Jays. A catcher, his plate-blocking ability and hustle have made him a fan favourite in Toronto.

Drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 17th round of the 1989 Amateur Draft, Zaun reached the majors with the Orioles in June of 1995. Used primarily as a back-up early in his career he was traded to the Florida Marlins in 1996 also won a world series ring with the Marlins in 1997, and from there to the Texas Rangers prior to the 1999 season. He has also played with the Kansas City Royals, Houston Astros and Colorado Rockies. He signed as a free agent with the Blue Jays prior to the 2004 season.

In 2004, the Blue Jays were the first team to make Zaun, at 33, a starting catcher. Valuable in the line-up as a switch-hitter, he set a career high in 2005 with 133 games.

Prior to the 2006 season, the Blue Jays signed Bengie Molina as the everyday catcher, making Zaun once again the backup. Zaun also started the 2006 season on the disabled list, with Jason Phillips serving as Molina's backup during the first week of the year. Zaun hit a game-winning two-run homer off the Tampa Bay Devil Rays' Josh Childers in his return on April 8. Molina's struggles against right-handed pitchers caused John Gibbons to platoon the two, with Molina generally starting against left-handed pitchers and Zaun playing against righties.

Zaun did some television broadcasting with Rogers Sportsnet for the 2006 baseball playoffs.^[1]

Because the Toronto Blue Jays actively pursued Rod Barajas of the Texas Rangers as the club's new starting catcher during the 2006 off-season, 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".^[2] Negotiations with Barajas went as far as an offer conditional on a routine physical, but eventually fell apart for reasons yet to be disclosed. After turning down a reported $6.5 million 2-year offer from the Blue Jays a week earlier,^[3] Zaun officially accepted a 2-year, $7.25 million contract offer to return to the Toronto Blue Jays as its starting catcher on November 28th, 2006. The new contract deal also included a 3rd year option, guaranteed based on appearances.^[4]The signing came after Zaun was rumoured to have been courted by the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees, both in backup roles.

[edit] Trivia

Gregg is the nephew of former catcher Rick Dempsey.
His walking-to-the-plate music is "Limelight" by Rush (whose frontman, Geddy Lee, is a regular attendee at Blue Jays games.)
On September 13, 2006, he hit home runs from both sides of the plate in the same game. He is only the 4th Blue Jay in history to do this.