Gregg Zaun

Playing career

Zaun was born in Glendale, California, and is the nephew of former MLB catcher Rick Dempsey. In high school, he was a teammate of Mark Loretta at Saint Francis High School in La Cañada, California, graduating in 1989. He was recruited to play college baseball at USC, UCLA, Loyola Marymount, and Oklahoma, and signed a letter of intent to play for Texas, but chose not to attend after learning the school had signed a junior college All-American catcher.

Zaun also played for the United States national baseball team at the 1989 World Junior Baseball Championship in Canada. Drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 17th round of the 1989 Major League Baseball draft, he reached the majors with the Orioles in June 1995. Used primarily as a backup early in his career, he batted .231 with one home run and 13 RBI in 39 games with the Orioles in 1996 before being optioned to the Rochester Red Wings on August 6, where he hit .319 in 14 games.

Professional career

He was sent to the Florida Marlins on August 23 to complete a transaction from two days earlier when Terry Mathews was acquired by the Orioles. After winning a World Series with the Marlins in 1997, he became their starting catcher to finish the 1998 season after Charles Johnson and then Mike Piazza were traded. He moved to the Texas Rangers before the 1999 season and also played for the Kansas City Royals, Houston Astros, and Colorado Rockies. He signed as a free agent with the Blue Jays before the 2004 season.

Valuable 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 the backup. Zaun started 2006 on the injured list, with Jason Phillips serving as Molina's backup during the first week. Zaun hit a game-winning two-run homer off the Tampa Bay Devil Rays' Jason 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 lefties and Zaun against righties. On September 13, 2006, he hit home runs from both sides of the plate in the same game, becoming only the fourth Blue Jay in history to do so.

Post-playing career

Zaun got his start in broadcasting by sharing his analysis during the 2006 playoffs, right after the Blue Jays finished their season. Following his playing retirement, he inked a two-year deal with Rogers Sportsnet on March 14, 2011, to work as a studio MLB analyst. He also pulled part-time duty on Sportsnet Radio Fan 590 and the Blue Jays Radio Network, and kept a blog on his now-defunct site, zauntourage.com. On May 10 and 11, 2011, he stepped in as color commentator for NESN during a Red Sox-Blue Jays series when Jerry Remy was out sick.

Rogers Communications fired Zaun on November 30, 2017, after an investigation into misconduct complaints from several female employees. He issued a public apology on December 4. During a 2025 podcast, he owned up to what he called his "unacceptable behavior" but argued he didn't deserve to have his "life ruined" and "career taken away." On March 30, 2023, he became the catching and hitting instructor for the Glacier Range Riders of the Pioneer League.

On February 21, 2024, he was named manager of the Lexington Legends in the Atlantic League. On January 2, 2025, he joined the coaching staff of the Tigres de Quintana Roo in the Mexican League, was promoted to interim manager on May 18 after C.J. Retherford was let go, and was himself fired on July 18. On October 13, 2025, he was announced as the manager of the Kelowna Falcons in the West Coast League.