Bruce Zimmermann 2019

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, ChuckS said:

How often do any minor league pitchers go six innings plus?  It's rare.  I wouldn't hold that against them.  All of these guys are limited to around 5 innings a start. 

His stuff may not be dominant, but his 2.25 ERA and .207 BAA is.  

I say leave him in AA for another month.   If he’s still having consistent success then, promote him.   

[Frobby]

Solid game for Z-man tonight: 6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K’s.   ERA at 2.87.    

[Flash- bd]

Time to start taking him seriously as a prospect? If he's at 92-94, hitting 95-95 occasionally as reported, with good mound presence/pitchability and decent deception, should people like Lowther really be ahead of him? He's putting up similar/slightly better numbers than Akin did at Bowie at 23, at age 24, doesn't that put him somewhere in the 8-15 spot on our prospect list? Experts like Luke, who would you take, Sedlock or Zimmerman if you had the choice? 

[Ruzious]

7 minutes ago, Flash- bd said:

Time to start taking him seriously as a prospect? If he's at 92-94, hitting 95-95 occasionally as reported, with good mound presence/pitchability and decent deception, should people like Lowther really be ahead of him? He's putting up similar/slightly better numbers than Akin did at Bowie at 23, at age 24, doesn't that put him somewhere in the 8-15 spot on our prospect list? Experts like Luke, who would you take, Sedlock or Zimmerman if you had the choice? 

He had some reasonably good numbers while in the Braves system, but he wasn't taken seriously because his stuff was marginal.  Now, that his stuff has improved - perhaps dramatically so - it is time to take him seriously.  Where he should be rated is another question which others probably have a better idea than I do.    

[O'smagik]

Means was never rated that highly.  He posted Era's slight above 4 in Bowie, and then followed that with an Era of 3.50 in 110 in Norfolk.  Point being he (Zman) will get his shot.  And if he can continue to develop his change up while gaining another mph on his fastball, we could have another gem in the making.

[LookinUp]

2 hours ago, Flash- bd said:

Time to start taking him seriously as a prospect? If he's at 92-94, hitting 95-95 occasionally as reported, with good mound presence/pitchability and decent deception, should people like Lowther really be ahead of him? He's putting up similar/slightly better numbers than Akin did at Bowie at 23, at age 24, doesn't that put him somewhere in the 8-15 spot on our prospect list? Experts like Luke, who would you take, Sedlock or Zimmerman if you had the choice? 

I think the tweet about Sedlock's elbow issue changes this conversation a bit. 

Lowther is a bit of a special case. His results and spin rates tend to belie what you would expect just from his velocity numbers. I tend to doubt that Zimmerman's profile has improved enough to top Lowther's, but there are much better people to answer that question than me.

[Flash- bd]

2 hours ago, LookinUp said:

I think the tweet about Sedlock's elbow issue changes this conversation a bit. 

Lowther is a bit of a special case. His results and spin rates tend to belie what you would expect just from his velocity numbers. I tend to doubt that Zimmerman's profile has improved enough to top Lowther's, but there are much better people to answer that question than me.

What's the tweet about Sedlock's elbow issue? I didn't see it. 

 

Agreed that Lowther is a special case but until he's dominating AAA hitters or at the majors and succeeding I can't help but see Garrett Olson, whose deceptiveness or great fastball movement (forget if it was one or both) was supposed to make up for his lack of velocity. 

[Frobby]

13 hours ago, Flash- bd said:

What's the tweet about Sedlock's elbow issue? I didn't see it. 

 

Agreed that Lowther is a special case but until he's dominating AAA hitters or at the majors and succeeding I can't help but see Garrett Olson, whose deceptiveness or great fastball movement (forget if it was one or both) was supposed to make up for his lack of velocity. 

Hate to say it, but Olson is a logical comp for Lowther (or Wells for that matter).    

[cboemmeljr]

15 hours ago, Flash- bd said:

What's the tweet about Sedlock's elbow issue? I didn't see it. 

 

Agreed that Lowther is a special case but until he's dominating AAA hitters or at the majors and succeeding I can't help but see Garrett Olson, whose deceptiveness or great fastball movement (forget if it was one or both) was supposed to make up for his lack of velocity. 

Per @masnSteve he is experiencing elbow discomfort and will rejoin the rotation after the All-Star break.

 

https://twitter.com/masnSteve/status/1138871686395256832

[Yachtsman]

He threw a gem tonight. Complete game four hitter. No walks and 9 strike outs. That is serious pitching.

[Frobby]

When is the last time any Orioles minor league pitcher threw a 9 inning shutout?    It’s been a very long time, I suspect.   96 pitches, 73 strikes.    Hard to get more efficient than that.   

[ChuckS]

7 minutes ago, Yachtsman said:

He threw a gem tonight. Complete game four hitter. No walks and 9 strike outs. That is serious pitching.

Zimmerman is the one Double A starter I think we see in Baltimore this year. 

[Frobby]

By the way, if you had Zimmermann in the (fanciful) poll as to which player acquired in last July’s trades would have the best season in 2019, take a bow!

[Yachtsman]

13 minutes ago, Frobby said:

When is the last time any Orioles minor league pitcher threw a 9 inning shutout?    It’s been a very long time, I suspect.   96 pitches, 73 strikes.    Hard to get more efficient than that.   

I cannot recall the last time this happened anywhere in our system. 

[luismatos4prez]

12 minutes ago, Yachtsman said:

I cannot recall the last time this happened anywhere in our system. 

Y'all forgot about Chris Tillman. Threw two complete game shutouts in Norfolk in 2010. A no-hitter and a one hitter. That curveball was so good sometimes. https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=tillma001chr&type=pgl&year=2010

Very exciting to see Zimmerman putting up a start like this!