Not quite ready to give it up
Zimmerman returning to baseball after a year away
Last summer, as baseball readied to return amid the coronavirus pandemic, Ryan Zimmerman chose to stay home.
He considered that Major League Baseball had never done this; that he had a newborn son; that his mother, Cheryl, has long battled multiple sclerosis and is at risk. Then Zimmerman watched the schedule start and finish with a few hiccups in between.
Then in mid-December, he grabbed a bat and plotted his return.
“The biggest thing for me when I made that decision was the unknowns,” Zimmerman explained in a video call with reporters Saturday, less than 24 hours after he signed a one-year, $1 million deal to play a 16th season with the Washington Nationals.
“The situation was still so new and fresh, and a lot of people have kind of asked me, ‘Well, not much has changed.’ But I think that’s kind of wrong. I think a lot of things have changed. We know so much more about the whole situation that everyone’s in right now.
“With the amount of success they had with the tough situation and environment that they were in last year, we’re now months ahead of where we were. So just my confidence in, first of all, safely being able to do it. And second of all, [MLB] kind of having more experience and making it as normal as you can be in a situation like this.”
Zimmerman added vaccines to that answer. He hopes fans will be in stadiums sooner than later. His decision to return
— even with the virus still rampant across the country — was rooted in seeing MLB complete a season and weather a handful of outbreaks. He was also antsy, and he believes he has some baseball left.
The 36-year-old will back up Josh Bell at first base. He expects his workload to mirror what was planned for 2020, when the Nationals had him, Howie Kendrick and Eric Thames to cycle through the position. And he feels that sporadic starts, and regular pinch-hit appearances, should keep him healthy and productive in the twilight of his career.
“You’ll be able to map out the weekly schedule, see who we’re playing, see who the projected pitchers are for the other team,” Zimmerman said. “I’m kind of looking forward to getting into late-game situational thinking along with [manager Dave Martinez]. So there’s things that I’ve never really thought about or gotten into in the game of baseball because I’ve always been trying to play every day.”
Last season, Zimmerman watched the Nationals when he could. He texted friends on the team to stay in the loop. Otherwise, he unplugged and glimpsed the other side.
And by doing so Zimmerman realized what he missed.
“Me coming back this year was in no means for like a victory-lap sort of thing,” Zimmerman said. “This is about coming back because I still think I can play the game at a high level.”