From the moment he signed a seven-year contract worth $126 million to be an "ace" for the San Francisco Giants, he was comically overpaid. His ERA in his first season was 4.53; in his second it was 5.15. Through his first five years with the team, his record was 43-61 with a 4.55 cumulative ERA despite having signed the richest contract for a pitcher in baseball history. In 2010, when the Giants won the World Series, he was left off the postseason roster entirely. In 2011, he only threw 53.2 innings with a 5.87 ERA. He showed up the next season with a revamped delivery to try and revive his career, but ditched it after getting beat up in spring training. He basically looked like a useless player making $18.5 million per season.
Then something kind of bizarre happened. His first 2012 start came against the Colorado Rockies in Coors Field, which should have spelled disaster. But he threw a complete-game, four-hit shutout in a 7-0 Giants victory. After four starts, his ERA was 1.67. On June 3rd, he came within two outs of another complete-game shutout. He finished the season with a 15-8 record (his first winning season with the Giants in six tries) with a respectable 4.15 ERA. His 32 starts were crucial for a team trying to deal with the complete implosion of Tim Lincecum.
Zito's resurgence continued into the playoffs. In the NLCS, the Giants were facing a 3-1 series deficit against the Cardinals. On the brink of elimination, playing on the road against an excellent St. Louis offense, needing three consecutive wins to reach the World Series, the Giants turned to Zito. Comeback season or no comeback season, there was almost no faith in Zito's ability to extend the series. He ended up defying the non-believers, pitching seven-and-two-thirds shutout innings en route to a 5-0 Giants win. San Francisco rode that momentum to complete the comeback and advance to the World Series.
However, the lengthy seven-game series meant that the Giants' best starters were unavailable for Game 1 of the World Series against the Tigers. Zito was left as their best option to face Justin Verlander, the league's most dominant pitcher, in a laughable mismatch. Of course, because this is baseball, Zito gave up just one run in five-and-two-thirds innings against an offense that included Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder, while Verlander was hit hard for five runs in just four innings. The Giants improbably won the game and, of course, the championship. Game 1 also produced perhaps the season's most surreal, impossible moment: with the Giants batting in the bottom of the fourth with two outs and a runner on second, Zito grounded a single through the left side, scoring a run and essentially ending Verlander's night. Zito not only outduelled Verlander on the mound -- he chased him from the game at the plate.
The Zito Ride isn't over just yet. In his first two starts of this season, he's thrown seven innings both times, without allowing a run. His ERA is 0.00. This is a guy who looked finished as a major league pitcher just a year ago. His average fastball velocity last season was second-worst in all of baseball (83.7 mph), just beating out R.A. Dickey (which doesn't even count). In an at-bat against Carlos Beltran last week, he threw five pitches; their velocities were 75, 80, 76, 71, and 84 miles per hour. He struck Beltran out. He's embraced this uniquely slow style of pitching and somehow, he's thriving with it. Just for good measure, he also has three hits, two runs scored, and an RBI in his seven plate appearances.
Since August 7th of last season, Zito has started 16 games, including three in the postseason and two this year. The Giants have won every single one of those 16 games. No pitcher in franchise history has had a streak like this since Carl Hubbell in 1936. This run, and the entire comeback, defies logic. If you were to travel back in time 365 days and tell someone that in a year, Barry Zito would be a more effective pitcher than Tim Lincecum, you would be shot on the spot for heresy. In all likelihood, this impossible resurgence will end soon. Even if it does, the impact it's had on Zito's career narrative cannot be overstated. His existence has always been defined by his onerous, laughable contract; now, finally, there's a positive legacy there, too. Barry Zito might always be a punchline, but the joke isn't as funny anymore.
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