Editing Barry Zito (section)

===Drafts and minor leagues===
Zito was taken by the [[Seattle Mariners]] in the 59th round (1,586th overall) of the [[1996 Major League Baseball draft|1996 Major League Baseball (MLB) draft]], and in the third round (83rd overall) by the [[Texas Rangers (baseball)|Texas Rangers]] in [[1998 Major League Baseball draft|1998]], but did not sign with either team.<ref name="minors"/> In the [[1999 Major League Baseball draft|1999 draft]], he was selected by the [[Oakland Athletics]] with the ninth pick of the first round, and signed for a $1.59 million bonus.<ref name="minors">{{cite web |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=zito--001bar |title=Barry Zito Minor League Statistics & History |work=[[Baseball-Reference.com]] (Minors) |access-date=October 17, 2013}}</ref><ref name=cube>{{cite web |url=http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/Z/Barry-Zito.shtml |title=Barry Zito Statistics| work=The Baseball Cube| access-date=September 15, 2007| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070922072411/http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/Z/Barry-Zito.shtml| archive-date= September 22, 2007 | url-status= live}}</ref>

In 1999, Zito began his professional career with the [[Visalia Oaks]], Oakland's [[Minor league baseball|A]] team. He went 3–0 with a 2.45 ERA in eight starts. He struck out 62 in {{frac|40|1|3}} innings.<ref name="minors"/> Zito was promoted to the [[Midland RockHounds]] and went 2–1 with a 4.91 ERA to finish the [[Double-A (baseball)|AA]] schedule.<ref name="minors"/> He then got one start for the [[AAA (baseball)|AAA]] [[Vancouver Canadians (PCL)]], allowing a lone run with six strikeouts in six innings.<ref name=cube/>

Zito began the 2000 season in AAA with the [[Sacramento River Cats]] (the Canadians franchise had moved to Sacramento). He pitched {{frac|101|2|3}} innings in 18 starts, going 8–5 with a 3.19 ERA, 91 strikeouts, and 41 [[Walk (baseball)|walks]].<ref name=cube/>