Back again is the never-ending topic of Ryan Zimmerman’s 2018 spring training, which has turned into part folklore, part conspiracy theory, part inaccurate assessment.
Zimmerman took two at-bats in formal spring training games last season. He spent most of his time working on the back fields, where he took dozens of at-bats and participated in basic fielding drills. The premise for him was simple: he wanted to protect his body heading into his age-34 season. Instead of traveling around Florida to take swings largely against minor-league or inferior pitching, he stayed behind. Then he started poorly, which led to a false causation-correlation leap around Zimmerman.
Zimmerman said Wednesday on 106.7 the Fan’s “Grant and Danny” that he was “banged up a little bit” in spring training. He went on to say “I wasn’t injured, I had some things going on.”
This became clear during a season when an oblique injury lingered and limited Zimmerman. A mysterious calf injury came into the mix, too. He played 85 games — most in April, August and September — and ended up with a respectable .823 OPS.
Zimmerman, like a lot of athletes, doesn’t always provide the truth about his health. Which led to some confusion and projection about what was happening with him throughout the middle of the season.
But, not playing in spring training became a strange fable in this case. Those hunting for a reason why Zimmerman started slow (.191 in April) attached the performance to what he did -- or did not -- do at the Nationals’ facility in West Palm Beach. History shows us that’s a silly notion.
Zimmerman is among the streakiest hitters in baseball. His starts exemplify that. A sample of his April OPS is as follows:
2013: .669
2014: 1.152 (just 28 at-bats)
2015: .657
2016: .602
2017: 1.344
2018: .642
This is how Zimmerman works at the plate. He’s great one month, bad the next, then arrives at the end with quality numbers (if healthy).
April is the second-worst month of his career by OPS. Obviously, Zimmerman has fully participated and barely participated in spring training games during his 14 years in the major leagues. That decision has no evidential influence on his results in April.
Zimmerman went on to tell Grant and Danny he will play a few games this spring but will not play most. As we’ve seen with him, nothing is more crucial than his health. He’s trying to preserve it.
He also has one other enormous issue hanging over this season: it could be his last. Zimmerman is on the books for an $18 million club option in 2020. If he doesn’t produce this season at an upper-tier level, it’s unlikely that option is picked up. In general, it’s unlikely that option will be picked up as is. And that decision won’t have anything to do with where Zimmerman swings during February in Florida.
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