Zimmerman healthy, hitting
Nationals slugger, finally healthy, ends three years of misery
Nationals stalwart rebounds after three miserable seasons
For the better part of a decade, Ryan Zimmerman dutifully accepted the nebulous designation as face of the Washington Nationals, even if his expression often resembled that of a Buckingham Palace guard.
Stoic and solid has been Zimmerman’s brand since the Nationals spent their first draft pick in Washington on him in 2005, into the opening of a new ballpark and eventually out of the dark years toward a spotlight shared with Bryce Harper, Jayson Werth and others.
Yet as the Nationals soared toward a franchise apex — with three playoff appearances in the last five seasons — Zimmerman sank into a professional valley, his body betrayed by injury, his batting average plummeting to .218 in 2016, fans and analysts alike growing certain the $48 million he was due through 2019 would amount to a sunken cost.
For Zimmerman, three seasons of misery provided the ultimate test of separating physical failure from mental wellbeing.
“It definitely messes with you,” he acknowledged. “You have to stay positive. You have to continue to work and learn new things and adapt to stay healthy. I think, over the last two or three years, I’ve learned
a lot about my body and myself.
“And hopefully I don’t have to go through it anymore.”
Certainly, baseball will humble Zimmerman again. But right now, he has renewed hope, thanks to a five-week stretch that has him atop the National League leaderboard in almost every offensive category.
Entering Wednesday, Zimmerman was the NL Triple Crown leader (a .410 average, 13 home runs, 34 RBI in 32 games) and led in slugging percentage (.855), hits (48) and on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) at 1.304. The small but growing sample isn’t fooling Zimmerman — “I’m not going to hit .430, I can tell you that; it’d be cool if I did” — but it certainly offers proof of his value.
Zimmerman, 32, has produced 2.2 Wins Above Replacement (WAR), a 180-degree shift from the -1.1 WAR player he was in 2016. The prior two years were no better. His career OPS was .829 through 2013, but it fell to .790, .773 and .642 from 2014 to 2016.
The correlation was obvious: Injuries limited Zimmerman to 61, 95 and 115 games in those seasons. From a broken thumb to plantar fasciitis to a severe hamstring strain to rib cage and wrist injuries, Zimmerman took blows up and down his body.
“Twenty to 26 or 27, that was pretty sweet,” says Zimmerman, tracing a path of good health dating from his 2005 major league debut through a 33-homer, 106RBI season in 2009 to the Nationals’ first playoff berth in 2012.
He had one more solid season in 2013, a year that saw him get married in January and he and wife Heather welcome their first child by year’s end.
The ensuing three years tested a skill Zimmerman was determined to master — separating work and home life. Off the field, the Zimmermans welcomed another daughter in June 2016 while overseeing the growth of their charitable foundation that benefits multiple sclerosis research.
On the field, everything went haywire, just as Zimmerman was entering the heart of a six-year, $100 million extension.
“Whether I’m doing great here or bad here, I try and be the same at home,” said Zimmerman, who has bounced from third base to the outfield to first base the last few seasons. “I’m not a big pouter. I’ve been pretty lucky with my career — getting called up at a young age, being able to play here for a long time already.
“To feel sorry for yourself would be pretty selfish on my end.”
Says teammate Daniel Murphy, “He’s the same guy every day, and that’s some of the highest praise I can give in this game. It’s easy to ebb and flow with whether you’re playing well or not playing well. And he’s very consistent, the kind of human being he is when he shows up.”
Entering 2017, Zimmerman had reason to be discouraged. He was healthier in 2016, yet his numbers still cratered.
Some of it could be ascribed to bad fortune — Zimmerman’s batting average on balls in play was an unlucky .248. Meanwhile, Murphy applied adjustments to his swing and launch angle and produced the finest of his eight seasons, leading the NL with 47 doubles and finishing second with a .347 batting average.
Zimmerman watched but insists he made no major adjustments.
“To say I sat down this offseason and completely changed my mind-set or approach or swing that I’ve had for the last 15 years — it’s pretty hard to do in the middle of your career,” he said. “You look at my video and swing (year to year), I’d say it’s pretty similar.”
The numbers belie that a bit. Zimmerman’s launch angle on batted balls, according to MLB’s Statcast, is 11.8%, up from 7.6% last year and 7.8% in 2015.
And he’s hitting the ball very hard, ranking first in the major leagues with 19 “barrels” (a launch angle/exit velocity combo in which results produce a minimum .500 average and 1.500 slugging percentage). And 53% of his batted balls have an exit velocity of at least 95 mph, also tops in the majors and up from 46% last year.
Zimmerman is pleased the numbers are in his favor but doesn’t yet swear by them.
“Some guys have completely bought into this stuff and try to use it as much as they can,” he said. “Some combine it with old school stuff. And some guys hate it to the point they won’t pay attention to it.
“As we get more technology, we have more at our disposal. We’ve had it for a decent enough time now where the sample size is starting to get big enough that you can take some stock in it.”
Zimmerman’s 2017 sample is still small. And left unknown is the impact of Adam Eaton’s erasure from the Nationals lineup after a season-ending knee injury. Still, the club remains atop the major leagues in runs — their 202 runs entering Wednesday were 30 more than the next-closest NL club — and Zimmerman will occupy an enviable spot in the lineup around sluggers such as Harper, Werth and Murphy.
While he’s no longer the most recognizable National, he has succeeded in powering his way back into their core.
“It’s fun to be a part of,” he said.