Clay Pflibson Zavada (born June 28, 1984) is a former professional baseball

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

who pitched in

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), ...

for the

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. The ...

in 2009. He is noted for his Rollie Fingers

moustache A moustache (; en-US, mustache, ) is a strip of facial hair grown above the upper lip. Moustaches have been worn in various styles throughout history. Etymology The word "moustache" is French, and is derived from the Italian ''mustaccio'' ...

Early career

Zavada attended

Illinois Valley Community College Illinois Valley Community College (IVCC) is a community college in Oglesby, Illinois. The college serves a district encompassing all of Putnam and parts of Bureau, LaSalle, DeKalb, Grundy, Lee, Livingston, and Marshall counties. The colle ...

and then transferred to

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) is a public university in Edwardsville, Illinois. SIUE was established in 1957 as an extension of Southern Illinois University Carbondale.Butler 1976, p. 18 It is the younger of the two major inst ...

. Playing with the

Mobile BayBears The Mobile BayBears were a Minor League Baseball team based in Mobile, Alabama, United States. The team, which played in the Southern League, served as the Double-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres (1997–2006), Arizona Diamondbacks (2007–2 ...

in the spring before his debut, Zavada struck out 18 in 17 and 1/3 innings with an ERA of 2.60, limiting batters to a .169 average.http://www.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090522&content_id=4882786&vkey=news_ari&fext=.jsp&c_id=ari

Arizona Diamondbacks

Clay Zavada was originally drafted to the

in the 30th round of 2006 out of

. Zavada left baseball after the death of his father in the winter following his first pro season. Upon receiving his business degree, he returned to play baseball for the Southern Illinois Miners, an independent team. Zavada was called up to the Diamondbacks for the first time on May 13, but was returned to Double-A baseball

the next day to make room for debut starter Bryan Augenstein. He was recalled on May 21, and made his Major League debut the next day. In his MLB debut, Clay entered the game in relief of starter

Max Scherzer Maxwell Martin Scherzer (born July 27, 1984) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Detroit Tigers, Washington Nationals, and L ...

and threw a perfect seventh inning, defeating his rookie opponent Christian Martinez, who was also making his major league debut for the

Florida Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The fran ...

. After failing to make the team in 2010 and struggling in AAA, Zavada had Tommy John surgery and missed the entire 2010 season. He pitched in the minor leagues from 2011 to 2013, but did not return to the Major Leagues.

Gary SouthShore RailCats

In 2013, Zavada played for the

Gary SouthShore RailCats The Gary SouthShore RailCats are a professional baseball team based in Gary, Indiana, in the United States. The RailCats are members of the American Association of Professional Baseball, an official Partner League of Major League Baseball. The Rai ...

of the

American Association of Independent Professional Baseball The American Association of Professional Baseball is an independent professional baseball league founded in 2005. It operates in the central United States and Canada, mostly in cities not served by Major League Baseball teams or their minor lea ...

Personal life

Baseball-Reference.com Baseball-Reference is a website providing baseball statistics for every player in Major League Baseball history. The site is often used by major media organizations and baseball broadcasters as a source for statistics. It offers a variety of advan ...

ranks Zavada's mustache as the seventh-best in history.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zavada, Clay 1984 births Living people Baseball players from Illinois Major League Baseball pitchers Arizona Diamondbacks players Missoula Osprey players Mobile BayBears players People from Streator, Illinois Illinois Valley Community College alumni SIU Edwardsville Cougars baseball players South Bend Silver Hawks players Southern Illinois Miners players Reno Aces players Memphis Redbirds players Gary SouthShore RailCats players San Antonio Missions players