diff --git a/go/vt/vtctl/grpcvtctldserver/query.go b/go/vt/vtctl/grpcvtctldserver/query.go
index 100e71b92c5..2aba4d3f15f 100644
--- a/go/vt/vtctl/grpcvtctldserver/query.go
+++ b/go/vt/vtctl/grpcvtctldserver/query.go
@@ -190,6 +190,13 @@ func valueToVTTime(s string) (*vttime.Time, error) {
 		return nil, nil
 	}
 
+	// Handle MySQL's zero/NULL timestamp (0000-00-00 00:00:00)
+	// This is what MySQL returns for NULL datetime values when the connection
+	// is not configured to return SQL NULL values.
+	if len(s) >= 10 && s[:10] == "0000-00-00" {
+		return nil, nil
+	}
+
 	gotime, err := time.ParseInLocation(sqltypes.TimestampFormat, s, time.Local)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
diff --git a/go/vt/vtctl/grpcvtctldserver/query_test.go b/go/vt/vtctl/grpcvtctldserver/query_test.go
index 6073d3bc395..65bfb1fb31c 100644
--- a/go/vt/vtctl/grpcvtctldserver/query_test.go
+++ b/go/vt/vtctl/grpcvtctldserver/query_test.go
@@ -122,6 +122,16 @@ func TestValueToVTTime(t *testing.T) {
 			value:    "",
 			expected: nil,
 		},
+		{
+			name:     "MySQL zero timestamp",
+			value:    "0000-00-00 00:00:00",
+			expected: nil,
+		},
+		{
+			name:     "MySQL zero timestamp with microseconds",
+			value:    "0000-00-00 00:00:00.000000",
+			expected: nil,
+		},
 		{
 			name:      "parse error",
 			value:     "2006/01/02",