Athletics' Barry Zito Unmasked as The Rhino on The Masked Singer

Longtime Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Barry Zito came up just short of making the Masked Singer finals in a show that was broadcast Wednesday, the former Cy young Award winner's birthday. Since leaving baseball behind in 2015, Zito has been working as a singer/songwriter.

It had to be a bit of a weird birthday for former Oakland A’s Cy Young Award winner Barry Zito on Wednesday.

For one, the celebration of turning 42 had to be somewhat on the small side, given social isolation restrictions most of us are undergoing these days.

And two, he could turn on his television and see himself revealed on Fox’s reality show, the Masked Singer.

Zito, who spent most of his last professional season pitching Triple-A baseball in Nashville before being called up to the A’s for the final week of the 2015 season, has been living in Nashville and carving out a new life as a singer/songwriter since then.

It was in that role that he made the cut as The Rhino for most of Season 3 on the Masked Singer, which was down to four singers heading into next week’s finale. Zito/The Rhino was the odd man out and didn’t make the finals, but he said “I had such a great time; this show has stretched me out in so many ways.”

The segment was taped in advance, of course, back in February. It was part of a big week for Zito, whose third son, Rome, was born to his wife, Amber, three days the show was taped.

Zito was part of the A’s Big Three starting rotation beginning in the 2000 season along with Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder. In 2002, his second full season, Zito went 23-5 and won the Cy Young Award as the A’s went to the playoffs, the third time in the four-season stretch 2000-04 that Oakland made the postseason.

Although Hudson, and then Mulder would be traded away, Zito remained with the A’s through 2006, then signed a seven-year deal with the San Francisco Giants. Zito, who was 102-63 with a 3.58 ERA with the A’s, only had one winning season with the Giants, going 15-8 with a 4.15 ERA in 2012 as the Giants won the World Series.

Zito wasn’t on the Giants’ 2010 postseason roster when San Francisco won winning the World Series, but in 2012 Zito won his Game 1 start (one run in 5.2 innings), beating Justin Verlander to set up a four-game San Francisco sweep of the Tigers.

As a musician, he has released an EP, No Secrets, in 2017, in which six of the songs were either written or co-written by Zito, whose father, Joe, was a conductor and arranger for Nat King Cole. And a decade ago when he was still pitching, Zito started doing some work with a band headed by his older sister, Sally, the Sally Zito Project.

Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3

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