Kyle

Zimmer

Zimmer overcame numerous injuries in the early stages of his professional career to make 83 relief appearances in the majors over a three-year stretch with the Royals before being released last November. The 30-year-old righty inked a minor league contract with the Reds back in mid-March and has been cut loose after posting a bloated 6.90 ERA, 1.97 WHIP and 29/28 K/BB ratio across 30 innings (33 appearances) this season for Triple-A Louisville.

No real surprises among the latest round of cuts from Reds’ major-league camp this spring. Their camp roster is down to 43 players. Zimmer is the most prominent name by a considerable margin. The 30-year-old righty figures to get a shot in Cincinnati’s bullpen at some point this season.

The former top prospect was released by the Royals prior to the lockout. Now 30-years-old, Zimmer registered a 4.83 ERA, 1.41 WHIP and 46/30 K/BB ratio over 54 innings with the Royals in 2021. It’s unclear if the Reds plan to keep him working out of the bullpen, or if they’ll attempt to transition him back to a starting role.

Zimmer had been designated for assignment last week when the team was clearing some space on the 40-man roster. The former top prospect looked good in a relief role during the shortened 2020 season but didn’t pitch well in 2021. He’s never been the same following multiple shoulder issues.

Zimmer is unlikely to be scooped up off waivers after posting a respectable 4.83 ERA, 1.41 WHIP and 46/30 K/BB ratio across 54 innings this past season. The 30-year-old righty has been limited by injuries throughout his career, but made a career-high 52 relief appearances last year.

Zimmer missed a couple weeks with neck/trap spasms. He has a 4.83 ERA over 41 innings this season.

Zimmer has been on the shelf since August 4 with a neck/shoulder issue. The hard-throwing 29-year-old righty reliever holds an underwhelming 4.83 ERA, 1.34 WHIP and 40/24 K/BB ratio across 41 innings this season.

It’s unclear how long he might be sidelined, but this doesn’t sound like an overly serious issue. Zimmer, 29, leaves behind a 4.83 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, and 40/24 K/BB ratio in 41 innings of work for Kansas City.

Zimmer was able to generate three whiffs on his slider during the frame while getting a swing and a miss on the only four-seam fastball that was offered at. The right-hander has been successful this season out of the Kansas City bullpen and now carries a 2.40 ERA and 1.03 WHIP this season over 30 innings. Zimmer was used as the Royals opener on June 18 as well, allowing three hits over two scoreless innings, so it’s possible that this could become a semi-regular thing.

It sounded like Jackson Kowar would get the bulk assignment tonight, but the Royals instead turned to Kris Bubic after Zimmer and wound up using six pitchers to beat the Red Sox. Zimmer, who has a 2.03 ERA in 26 2/3 innings this year, figures to continue to work primarily as a reliever.