Italian / American Player of the Day: New Jersey's Own Vincent Mazzaro

Vincent Michael Mazzaro was born on September 27, 1986 in Hackensack, New Jersey. He grew up in the shadow of the Meadowlands & Giants Stadium, attending East Rutherford High School where he pitched his high school to two straight championships.

In 2005 the right handed pitcher was drafted by the Oakland A’s in the third round. After winning 9 games twice at A ball he was promoted to AA where won 12 (12-3) with a 1.90 ERA in 2008. He was promoted to AAA in the Pacific Coast League going 3-3 then making the A’s big league staff in 2009.

He made his MLB debut in June and won his first start, pitching into the 7th inning in Chicago allowing no runs on 3 hits. He won his next start against Baltimore as well, this time pitching into the 8th inning allowing no runs on 5 hits, with 4 strike outs, in Oakland. From there he struggled losing his next eight decisions, before winning at Kansas City & Baltimore in early August. He closed out his rookie year at 4-9 with a 5.32 ERA. He set a strange record that season, having four plate appearances without recording a single at bat. In each case he safely sacrificed. The old record of three PA belonged to former Mets pitcher Dwight Bernard.

In 2010 he began the year 2-0 although his ERA was near five in early June. He had a good July winning four straight decisions lowering his ERA to 3.45. But then again he suffered a rough losing streak, dropping 7 of 8 games & was 6-8 with a 4.29 ERA before getting sent back down to the minors in early September.