Barry Zito

However, Zito would rebound nicely and by August, he was putting up good pitching numbers. Zito was named Pitcher of the Month in August. He went 5–1 with a 1.02 ERA. Zito would win Pitcher of the Month again in September, going 6-0 with a 1.89 ERA. During those last 2 months of the season, Zito went 11–1 with a 1.32 ERA, best in baseball over those last 2 months.

The Athletics made the postseason and played the Yankees in the American League Division Series. Zito pitched in Game 4 against Mike Mussina and the Yankees. He went 8 innings, striking out 6, walking 1 and allowing an earned run. But Zito took the loss when the Yankees won the game, 1–0. The Yankees would end up taking the series, 3–2. Read Less

Zito's character, a pitcher, faced assault charges after hitting a Marine with a ball during the annual Navy-Marine all-star baseball game. Read Less

Despite being a stalwart of the starting rotation all season, he was left off the Giants' roster for the post season. Nevertheless, he won his first World Series ring as a member of the full roster. Read Less

Zito is known for his idiosyncrasies, and his offbeat personality. He created the charity Strikeouts for Troops which provides money to hospitals for soldiers wounded in military operations. Read Less

He threw arguably one of the best games of his career, throwing a complete game shutout and giving up just 4 hits in the 7–0 Giants victory. It was his first shutout since 2003 as a member of the Oakland Athletics. In a June 3 home game matchup with the Chicago Cubs, Zito pitched 4-hit shutout ball into the ninth inning for a 2-0 Giants win and brought his season ERA below 3.00. In earning the win, Zito earned his 150th career win, becoming the 246th pitcher to hit the mark. Zito had his hand in the Giants' second road shutout win of the season when he pitched 7 innings, allowing 3 hits and recording 4 strikeouts, in a July 17 game versus the Atlanta Braves. The win pushed his season record to 8-6. Zito would go on to finish the season with a 15-8 record, his most wins in a season with the Giants, while sporting a 4.15 ERA. Read Less

It was his first postseason win since 2006 and according to Zito himself, was the biggest win of his career. That same day, Zito became the subject of the Twitter hashtag #rallyzito, which, behind the efforts of Giants fans, was trending worldwide on the social networking site.

Zito's fastball has hovered between 84 and 88 mph. He augments it with a circle changeup and a curveball that he uses as a strikeout pitch. His curveball was voted the best in the Major Leagues in a player poll conducted by ESPN The Magazine. Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees once stated that he had never seen anything like Zito's curveball, commenting: "It's such a high one, and it drops three to four feet. You might as well not even look for it because you're not going to hit it."

Since mid-2004, Zito has added a two-seam fastball and a cutter-slider hybrid to his arsenal. In the 2009 season, this cutter-slider became a prominent part of his repertoire, being used more frequently than his changeup. Zito's diminished velocity at the start of the 2007 season (his fastball velocity slowed to 83–85 mph) and loss of command are the key reasons for his recent struggles, as he more often got behind in the count and had to rely more on his fastball. During the 2009 season, Zito made changes to his delivery, lowering his arm slot from an over the top angle to a three quarters delivery. Read Less

Addressing his finesse pitching style, Zito said, "My fastball is set up by my offspeed, that's no secret. So if I can command my fastball to both sides of the plate and throw most of my offspeed for strikes, I'll get them to miss the barrel. That's what I'm going for."

Zito is known for his idiosyncrasies and his offbeat personality. He has earned the nicknames "Planet Zito" and "Captain Quirk".

At his introductory press conference with the Giants, Zito said he liked the way his uniform number 75 looked, because the 7 and the 5 are like a "shelf" to hold the name "Zito" up. Read Less