NO ZIMM in lineup no extra infielder on bench for roster. ive been doubting you all spring Harper but i am officially smelling bs. also if he has a slow april this whole experiment will be a disaster
would be a cute trick to go from no real injury news all spring, to having no murph, zim, or eaton on opening day. glad we're lined up to at least see 2/3 on the field to start the year. fingers crossed on Zim, but he has historically been a slow starter...
Which leads me to Zimm's gonna give it a go 'til Murph is ready and then the plantar fascitis diagnosis will arrive, and he'll go on the shelf for awhile.
The Mariners have signed Jayson Werth to a minor league deal. He will report to extended spring training and, according to the mlbtr article, will accept an assignment to Seattle's AAA club.
Well Zim has had around 40-60 AB's in Spring Training every year. But his April success is dismal over his career (aside from last year):
2012: .224/.324/.345 - 1HR, 9K, 58AB 2013: .226/.311/.358 - 1HR, 14K, 53AB 2014: .393/.438/.714 - 6HR, 6K, 28AB (got hurt on 4/12 and was out until June) 2015: .217/.277/.380 - 2HR, 18K, 92AB 2016: .219/.301/.301 - 1HR, 19K, 73AB 2017: .420/.458/.886 - 11HR, 20K, 88AB
Not sure what to draw from this except if his health (plantar fasciitis) is what has made him a slow starter, then I am all for him resting during ST. Again, we'll see how he looks after the first month of the season, but if he sucks, I wouldn't be so quick to blame it on the lack of reps in ST. Although again, never in his career has he entered the season with only 2 live-game AB's under his belt... I guess we just trust a veteran who knows his body. One this is for sure, Zimm's season-end outcome is very reliant/indicative of a hot start. But the guy got so many fastballs thrown his way last year, I have a hard time believing the league didn't notice. We'll see...
I've watched Zim every year of his major league career, closer than I've watched any other player until Harper broke in. Here's my speculation, which is just as baseless and subjective as any other take:
As noted by Ole PBN, he almost always needs a month's worth of at bats to get into his zone. Like clockwork, by the time it hits June/July and he's healthy, all of a sudden he's beaming every single ball in the zone (much more so when he was younger too). When he's locked in, it's like he gets zero soft contact, everything is a screamer to the gaps. But with how complicated his swing is, it takes him awhile to get the timing down and applicable to the current pitching.
My theory is that he believes he's going to need that month at game speed no matter what, that the spring training stuff won't accurately simulate what he needs to get that timing right. So rather than spend the energy and focus (or worse, start tinkering) because of ST results, he figures he'll just go keep his body in shape, keep swinging, and wait for the real show to start getting that timing down.
I'm all for trying out an alternative approach rather than continuing to bang our collective heads against the wall every April. He needs swings much more than games I think.
NO ZIMM in lineup no extra infielder on bench for roster. ive been doubting you all spring Harper but i am officially smelling bs. also if he has a slow april this whole experiment will be a disaster
ReplyDeleteIt wouldn't exactly be very hard to get an infielder from Syracuse to Cincinnati in two days.
ReplyDeletewould be a cute trick to go from no real injury news all spring, to having no murph, zim, or eaton on opening day. glad we're lined up to at least see 2/3 on the field to start the year. fingers crossed on Zim, but he has historically been a slow starter...
ReplyDeleteWhich leads me to Zimm's gonna give it a go 'til Murph is ready and then the plantar fascitis diagnosis will arrive, and he'll go on the shelf for awhile.
ReplyDeleteThe Mariners have signed Jayson Werth to a minor league deal. He will report to extended spring training and, according to the mlbtr article, will accept an assignment to Seattle's AAA club.
ReplyDeleteWell Zim has had around 40-60 AB's in Spring Training every year. But his April success is dismal over his career (aside from last year):
ReplyDelete2012: .224/.324/.345 - 1HR, 9K, 58AB
2013: .226/.311/.358 - 1HR, 14K, 53AB
2014: .393/.438/.714 - 6HR, 6K, 28AB (got hurt on 4/12 and was out until June)
2015: .217/.277/.380 - 2HR, 18K, 92AB
2016: .219/.301/.301 - 1HR, 19K, 73AB
2017: .420/.458/.886 - 11HR, 20K, 88AB
Not sure what to draw from this except if his health (plantar fasciitis) is what has made him a slow starter, then I am all for him resting during ST. Again, we'll see how he looks after the first month of the season, but if he sucks, I wouldn't be so quick to blame it on the lack of reps in ST. Although again, never in his career has he entered the season with only 2 live-game AB's under his belt... I guess we just trust a veteran who knows his body. One this is for sure, Zimm's season-end outcome is very reliant/indicative of a hot start. But the guy got so many fastballs thrown his way last year, I have a hard time believing the league didn't notice. We'll see...
I've watched Zim every year of his major league career, closer than I've watched any other player until Harper broke in. Here's my speculation, which is just as baseless and subjective as any other take:
ReplyDeleteAs noted by Ole PBN, he almost always needs a month's worth of at bats to get into his zone. Like clockwork, by the time it hits June/July and he's healthy, all of a sudden he's beaming every single ball in the zone (much more so when he was younger too). When he's locked in, it's like he gets zero soft contact, everything is a screamer to the gaps. But with how complicated his swing is, it takes him awhile to get the timing down and applicable to the current pitching.
My theory is that he believes he's going to need that month at game speed no matter what, that the spring training stuff won't accurately simulate what he needs to get that timing right. So rather than spend the energy and focus (or worse, start tinkering) because of ST results, he figures he'll just go keep his body in shape, keep swinging, and wait for the real show to start getting that timing down.
Happy Opening Day Everybody!!!!
ReplyDeleteNats signed Carlos Torres... mehhh... better than a healthy Benoit
ReplyDeleteI'm all for trying out an alternative approach rather than continuing to bang our collective heads against the wall every April. He needs swings much more than games I think.
ReplyDelete