Bernardo Sebastian Zavala (born August 28, 1993) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professiona ...

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catcher ...

for the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

(MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

and

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. ...

Amateur career

Zavala attended

Bishop Amat High School Bishop Amat Memorial High School is a co-ed Catholic high school serving the San Gabriel Valley in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and was founded in 1957. The campus is located in La Puente, California, approximately east of do ...

La Puente, California La Puente ( Spanish for "The Bridge") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city had a population of 39,816 at the 2010 census and is approximately east of downtown Los Angeles. History The original inhabitants of th ...

and played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) syste ...

. He missed the 2013 season due to

Tommy John Surgery Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, colloquially known as Tommy John surgery (TJS), is a surgical graft procedure where the ulnar collateral ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with either a tendon from elsewhere in the patient's ...

. He was selected by the

in the 12th round of the

2015 Major League Baseball draft The 2015 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft was held from June 8 through June 10, 2015, to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order is the reverse order of the 2014 MLB season standings. As the Diamondbacks f ...

Professional career

Chicago White Sox

Zavala made his professional debut in 2015 with the

Arizona League White Sox The Arizona Complex League White Sox are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, competing in the Arizona Complex League of Minor League Baseball. The team plays its home games at Camelback Ranch in Phoenix, Arizona. The team is comp ...

and he spent the whole season there, batting .326/.401/.628 with four home runs and 35 RBIs in 35 games. He spent 2016 with the

Kannapolis Intimidators Kannapolis () is a city in Cabarrus and Rowan counties, in the U.S. state of North Carolina, northwest of Concord and northeast of Charlotte and is a suburb in the Charlotte metropolitan area. The city of Kannapolis was incorporated in 1984. T ...

where he batted .253 with seven home runs and 49 RBIs in 93 games and 2017 with Kannapolis and the

Winston-Salem Dash The Winston-Salem Dash are a Minor League Baseball team in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. They are a High-A team in the South Atlantic League and have been a farm team of the Chicago White Sox since 1997. The Dash began playing their home games a ...

where he posted a combined .282 batting average with 21 home runs, 72 RBIs and an .851 OPS in 107 games between the two teams. After the 2017 season, he played in the

Arizona Fall League The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an off-season sports league owned and operated by Major League Baseball (MLB) which operates during the autumn in Arizona, United States, at six different baseball complexes. Arizona Fall League rosters are fi ...

. Zavala was invited to spring training by the White Sox in 2018 and started the season with the

Birmingham Barons The Birmingham Barons are a Minor League Baseball team based in Birmingham, Alabama. The team, which plays in the Southern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox and plays at Regions Field in downtown Birmingham. The current ...

. On November 20, 2018, the White Sox added Zavala to their

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, and ...

to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. He returned to the

Charlotte Knights The Charlotte Knights are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. They are located in Charlotte, North Carolina, and play their home games at Truist Field, which opened in 20 ...

to begin 2019. On May 25, 2019, he was called up from Charlotte following an injury to

Welington Castillo Welington Andrés Castillo (born April 24, 1987), nicknamed "Beef" after Beef Wellington, is a Dominican former professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Seattle Mariners, Arizona Diamondbacks, B ...

. He made his major league debut that day versus the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area ...

. Zavala did not make an appearance for the White Sox in 2020. Zavala was assigned to Triple-A Charlotte to begin the 2021 season. On July 6, 2021, Zavala was recalled by the White Sox after

Yasmani Grandal Yasmani Grandal (born November 8, 1988) is a Cuban-born American professional baseball catcher for the Chicago White Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for the San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Milwaukee Bre ...

was placed on the 10-Day IL. On July 31, 2021, in his 18th major league game, Zavala became the first player to hit his first three home runs in the same game, doing so in a 12–11 loss against the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive ...

. He hit his first two off of

Triston McKenzie Triston Andrew McKenzie (born August 2, 1997) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Cleveland Guardians of Major League Baseball (MLB). He was drafted by the Cleveland Indians with the 42nd overall selection of the 2015 Major League ...

with one of them being a Grand Slam then hit his third off of Bryan Shaw. On April 7, 2022, Zavala was sent outright to Triple-A

. On June 12, 2022, Zavala's contract was selected and he was called up to the major leagues following another injury to Yasmani Grandal. In 66 games for Chicago in 2023, Zavala batted .155/.207/.304 with a career–high 7 home runs and 16 RBI. On September 4, 2023, Zavala was

designated for assignment Designated for assignment (DFA) is a contractual term used in Major League Baseball (MLB). A player who is designated for assignment is immediately removed from the team's 40-man roster, after which the team must within seven days, return the play ...

by the White Sox.

Arizona Diamondbacks

On September 6, 2023, Zavala was claimed off waivers by the

. Zavala appeared in 7 games for Arizona down the stretch, but was ineligible to be included on the team's postseason roster due to being acquired after September 1.

Seattle Mariners

On November 22, 2023, Zavala along with Carlos Vargas were traded to the

in exchange for

Eugenio Suárez Eugenio Alejandro Suárez (born July 18, 1991) is a Venezuelan professional baseball infielder for the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Detroit Tigers and Cincinnati Reds. Suárez was an All-Star in 2 ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zavala, Seby 1993 births Living people People from Fort Cavazos Baseball players from Bell County, Texas Major League Baseball catchers Chicago White Sox players Arizona Diamondbacks players San Diego State Aztecs baseball players Arizona League White Sox players Kannapolis Intimidators players Winston-Salem Dash players Birmingham Barons players Charlotte Knights players Glendale Desert Dogs players