quote:

Originally posted by BigCity:
Congrats to Bruce! When I go to see him pitch can I tell him you are one of my invisible friends?
LOL

You bet!!

He had a great debut. He already has more major league wins than most of us will ever have...

Nice job by Bruce today. Glad to see him pick up his first win. Go O’s!

Local Zimmermann wows in front of family
April 10th, 2021
Joe Trezza

Last September, when Bruce Zimmermann debuted for his hometown Orioles in a fan-free Oriole Park, his family huddled in small groups scattered across the city, watching from afar due to the pandemic. Had those been normal times, Bruce’s older brother, Joe, said that the Ellicott City native’s debut “would probably double the normal attendance” at Camden Yards. That’s how deep the Zimmermanns' local ties run.

Part of the beauty of 2021 is the way it's already, one week or so into the regular season, providing second chances. Making what Zimmermann dubbed his “debut 2.0” Saturday, the lefty produced a quality start in front of a small army of friends and family before the O’s fell 6-4 to the Red Sox in 10 innings. More than three dozen family members were part of the 9,307 announced crowd at Oriole Park, including his parents Bruce Sr. and Marcie.

“We’re just very, very excited and very happy and very proud of him,” Marcie Zimmermann told MLB.com. “It's one of those things where you're still pinching yourself. We're still pinching ourselves.”

Bruce Sr. and Marcie traveled to Boston last weekend to watch Zimmermann earn his first big league win in person at Fenway Park, along with two of his sisters and three other relatives (Zimmermann is the youngest of five siblings). On Saturday, they were part of a much larger contingent that included friends and acquaintances from throughout Greater Baltimore, including Zimmermann’s high school buddies and at least four of his former Little League coaches. Zimmermann is the 28th Maryland native to play for the Orioles, and the 12th to start on the mound for them.

“It was everything I could’ve imagined. It was extremely special,” Zimmermann said. “You name it, they were out there supporting me. I definitely heard them throughout the night.”

They watched as Zimmermann struck out four while completing six innings of three-run ball, hurt most by Rafael Devers’ run-scoring single in the first and go-ahead solo homer in the sixth. The other run came at little fault of Zimmermann, scoring when the Orioles botched a run-down in the first inning.

Baltimore Orioles @Orioles

From fantasy to reality.

how it started ...

how it's going...



The O’s managed solo homers from Anthony Santander and Trey Mancini -- his first since beating Stage 3 colon cancer -- behind him, before rallying to take a one-run lead off Adam Ottavino in the eighth. But César Valdez’s first blown save sent the game to extras, and the decisive run scored on Dillon Tate’s wild pitch in the 10th.

“He gave us six really good innings to keep us in the game,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “That was an excellent job of pitching.”

It was an evening, even in a losing effort, a long time in the making. Never a top prospect, Zimmermann grew up rooting for the Orioles and was overlooked by scouts in high school, cycling through three colleges before the Braves made him a fifth-round MLB Draft pick out of the University of Mount Olive in '17. He arrived in the Orioles organization as part of the Kevin Gausman trade in '18, beating sizable odds to reach the Majors by late ‘20 and making two appearances down the stretch.

He then returned home to Ellicott City for the winter, determined enough to earn a place on the Orioles’ Opening Day roster that he gave himself daily reminders, in the form of post-it notes stuck to his bathroom mirror. Every morning, Zimmermann woke up and the notes were the first thing he saw.

The first one read: “Make the team out of Spring Training.”

The second?

“Be a starter.”

That’s exactly what happened. Zimmerman didn’t just pitch his way into the O’s rotation this spring, he opened the year as their No. 3 starter. When he phoned his parents from Florida to relay the news, they were driving over the Maryland/West Virginia border en route to visiting a friend, traversing windy, mountainous roads.

“We almost drove off the road,” Bruce Sr. said.

Eying the schedule, that was when Zimmermann’s hope of a “debut 2.0” in front of fans at Camden Yards became a reality. Flash forward to Saturday, and he prepared for the event like a native would, stopping for a morning meal at his favorite bagel spot -- THB Bagels in Canton -- before heading to Oriole Park. Zimmermann shouted out the local joint after the game, after living out the type of childhood dream that few get to realize.

“It was an outpouring of support that a hometown kid could only dream of having at the ballpark behind him,” he said. “I tried to take in the moment as much as I could.”

https://www.mlb.com/orioles/ne...t-in-front-of-family

Really cool. I have been following this thread since day 1, pulling for Bruce all the way!

Bruce Zimmermann shines in long relief as Orioles rally past Yankees, 10-6, to end four-game skid

Baltimore Sun | May 16, 2021

Despite having not pitched in a game for over a week, left-hander Bruce Zimmermann’s work with Triple-A Norfolk had lined him up to contribute to the Orioles’ pitching plans for Sunday.

He did so in a big way, providing 5 ⅔ innings of long relief as the Orioles rallied from an early four-run deficit in a 10-6 victory over the New York Yankees to end a four-game losing streak. Zimmermann, a Loyola Blakefield product who grew up an Orioles fan, became the franchise’s fourth Maryland-born pitcher to earn a win at Camden Yards in front of a season-high crowd of 11,070.

“Bruce Zimmermann won us the game by really only giving up one run there through 5 ⅔ and holding it right there for us,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “It was a great comeback for our guys.”

Having been optioned to Triple-A two weeks earlier after lasting fewer than five innings for the third straight start, Zimmermann returned Sunday after the Orioles (17-23) optioned infielder Ramón Urías. Entering with Baltimore trailing 4-2 in the second, he retired 10 of the first 11 Yankees he faced, with Aaron Judge’s fourth home run of the series accounting for the only blemish. Seven of Judge’s 12 home runs this season have been off Baltimore pitching.

The Orioles’ offense struck for four unanswered runs as New York’s only other base runners against Zimmermann came on a fifth-inning walk and seventh-inning single. When manager Brandon Hyde turned to Tanner Scott with two outs in the seventh, Zimmermann exited to a standing ovation.

Against a Yankees lineup loaded with right-handers, Zimmermann relied heavily on his changeup. He threw each of his four pitches at least a mile per hour harder than he had on average this season, according to Statcast. Although Zimmermann made only one start while with Norfolk, the Orioles kept him on schedule to play a role in Sunday’s series finale.

“I think it definitely helped,” Zimmermann said. “Gave me time to kind of step back and really identify some things that I wanted to focus on to do better up here, but obviously work on down there. I think it was great just to get down there and work on those things, also knowing I was hopefully coming back up to help the team. Just getting those innings in down there, some side work down there specifically targeting some things was definitely a huge benefit.”

After a strikeout to strand Zimmermann’s runner, Scott allowed two base runners to open the eighth, but Paul Fry followed with a double play and strikeout. César Valdez surrendered a run in the ninth but managed to record the final three outs to avoid a sweep.
Opening act

Zimmermann’s lengthy outing didn’t qualify as his third quality start of 2021 because the first inning belonged to right-hander Adam Plutko. Hyde elected to use Plutko as an opener with the first eight members of New York’s lineup being right-handed, and the strategy backfired.

A leadoff walk and two singles quickly loaded the bases, though Plutko seemed positioned to minimize the damage when he allowed a run-scoring double play. But Gary Sánchez and Clint Frazier followed with back-to-back home runs.



The Orioles' Bruce Zimmermann pitches against the Yankees in the sixth inning Sunday. (Kenneth K. Lam)

Plutko had worked mostly as a starter with the Cleveland Indians but had yet to pitch in that role since Baltimore acquired him in a trade late in spring training. The four runs he allowed in Sunday’s one-inning start exceeded the three against him in 21 ⅓ frames of relief as an Oriole.

Zimmermann, though, said he would be open to a similar arrangement for his next outing.

“It didn’t really change my mindset,” he said. “I was coming in and I was prepared to go the starter amount of innings and get back to bearing down in the zone. Definitely don’t have an issue with that. It was kind of nice to come in and go at them right away.”
Rally caps

The Orioles quickly went to work erasing their early deficit. Trey Mancini worked a two-out walk and scored when Ryan Mountcastle doubled just fair into the right-field corner. Pedro Severino followed with an RBI single.

“Hand it to our club to answer there in the first inning,” Hyde said. “You’re down two games to nothing to the Yankees, you go down 4-0 against that kind of offense in the first inning, it showed a lot of character of our guys to hang in there, score a couple to keep us there. They score again, we answered again, and we had good at-bats throughout the game.”

https://www.baltimoresun.com/s...xop7aj6by-story.html

Thanks for posting the update. I love baseball and I have enjoyed following your nephew's career. I wish him great success!

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
When manager Brandon Hyde turned to Tanner Scott with two outs in the seventh, Zimmermann exited to a standing ovation.

Don't know why, but that gave me goose bumps. Must have been amazing for Bruce!

quote:

Originally posted by joel9507:

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
When manager Brandon Hyde turned to Tanner Scott with two outs in the seventh, Zimmermann exited to a standing ovation.

Don't know why, but that gave me goose bumps. Must have been amazing for Bruce!

Yes, it was.
Especially just coming back after being sent down to Triple-A Norfolk to work on some things.

Bruce interviewed yesterday on Baltimore radio:

Hey chellim, quite to my surprise, one of my kids (coached him for a few years when he was pre-high school age) made his debut pitching for the Mariners this week. His name is Logan Gilbert, and I think he's going to be pretty good with some time and experience. He got beat up a bit by the Indians in his first outing, but the Tribe is on a hitting high at the moment, so he really faced some good batters.

You know, you never handle your luggage in the show, somebody else carries your bags. It was great. You hit white balls for batting practice, the ballparks are like cathedrals, the hotels all have room service, and the women all have long legs and brains.

f2– When and where did you play? Any good stories?

Duh!! I’ve never seen the whole movie

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Sigfest,

quote:

Originally posted by Sigfest:
f2– When and where did you play? Any good stories?

Dude, that's a direct quote from Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) in the movie Bull Durham.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
Hey chellim, quite to my surprise, one of my kids (coached him for a few years when he was pre-high school age) made his debut pitching for the Mariners this week. His name is Logan Gilbert, ...

Very cool, bigdeal.
As you know, it's very exciting when someone you have coached as a little kid keeps taking it to the next level. I watched that with my bro-in-law (big) Bruce who coached B (little Bruce) through little league. It was fun.

I coached too, my daughter's softball team. That was fun too. Now, even though she's more interested in hiking, kayaking, and other outdoors stuff she is still playing softball in a co-ed work-related league.

Pitched 5 innings. Gave up 2 runs in the first and only allowed one base runner after that. 5 innings 2 runs 2 hits 2 walks 7 strike outs.

The hottest rookies of the past two weeks.
https://www.mlb.com/news/2021-...okies-through-june-8

He has really matured in the last 4 years. He looked like a kid in 2017, now he looks like a stud, a sure enough Big League pitcher. Must be fun.

^^^ Yep.

Bruce pitches today at 1 pm eastern, @ TB Rays.

For those wondering... Bruce's rehab is going well and he is pitching again and making progress.

This has been going on since Jun 18:

Baltimore Orioles place LHP Bruce Zimmermann on IL, Jun 18, 2021

BALTIMORE -- The Orioles put left-hander Bruce Zimmermann on the 10-day injured list with left biceps tendinitis Friday.

He threw a full Bullpen and will do a couple of innings at AA and then a couple of innings at AAA before his return to the Orioles rotation. So he's still about 10 days from returning if all continues to go well.

Bruce continues to work hard during the off-season...

Oriole of the Day: Bruce Zimmermann served as most successful rookie starter despite being hit hard
By Nathan Ruiz
Baltimore Sun |
Feb 01, 2022

Spring training is scheduled to begin later this month, but each passing day makes an on-time start feel more doubtful.

It’s been about a month since The Baltimore Sun’s Oriole of the Day series began, and despite what seems to be progress toward a new collective bargaining agreement, the league and players are reportedly far enough apart that this lockout might not end before Orioles pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report to Florida. In the meantime, The Sun will continue to evaluate each member of Baltimore’s 40-man roster, looking back on their 2021 seasons and looking ahead to a 2022 campaign that hopefully begins not too long from now.

With a strong spring training, Bruce Zimmermann pitched his way into the third slot in Baltimore’s rotation, surpassing other rookies in the process. He was the most effective of the Orioles’ bunch of first-year starters but missed much of the latter half of the year with arm and ankle injuries.

Number to know: 3.89. Zimmermann, an Ellicott City native, had the lowest ERA at Camden Yards among the eight Orioles who made at least five starts there; John Means (4.62) was the only other who managed to keep that mark below 5.00. In his final four outings at home, Zimmermann never allowed more than two earned runs, going at least five innings and striking out at least six batters in three of those appearances.

What was good: Both of Zimmermann’s breaking balls were effective pitches off his low-90s fastball. His slider limited batters to a .225 average and .250 slugging percentage — with no extra-base hits allowed to right-handed batters — and his curveball was even better at .139 and .167. None of the 14 home runs he allowed came on either pitch. Based on Statcast’s run value, they were two of the Orioles’ six best pitches this year, which is all the more impressive when considering he was unable to throw them while on the injured list for more than three months.

What wasn’t: Zimmermann’s fastball, though, was statistically one of the worst in the league. Among pitchers who threw at least 400 four-seamers, Zimmermann produced the highest slugging percentage against (.711) and second-highest batter average against (.392) with his, according to Statcast. When using expected metrics based on exit velocity and launch angle, Zimmermann’s fastball was worst in both expected batting average (.367) and expected slugging percentage (.686). That pitch alone goes a long way in explaining way he allowed the third-highest xSLG of all pitchers who threw at least 1,000 pitches total.

Looking ahead to 2022

Likely 2022 role: Starting pitcher or swingman

What’s projected: Zimmermann was the best of the Orioles’ rookie starters in 2021, but in truth, he didn’t pitch well enough to guarantee himself a rotation spot in 2022. He certainly could have another strong spring and lock up a spot, but it’s also possible he gets outpitched and ends up instead working out of the bullpen or Triple-A Norfolk. Although projection systems Steamer and ZiPS both see Zimmermann getting at least 20 major league starts, they differ on how effective they’ll be. Steamer projects him as Baltimore’s most valuable pitcher behind Means, whereas ZiPS expects him to be somewhere in the middle of the pack, with an ERA practically a full run above Steamer’s figure.

A step forward: Zimmermann landed on the IL amid the best stretch of his season, having completed five innings in four straight outings for the first time in his career. He didn’t pitch five major league innings total the rest of the year. A bout of biceps tendinitis put him on the IL in mid-June, and just as he was getting set to return, he suffered a right ankle sprain that delayed his return until the final week of the season. Given the progress he was showing in the middle of the season, it’s possible that a fully healthy year would’ve allowed Zimmermann to have likely already secured a rotation spot.
Three up, three down

This series is ordered based on the WAR, as measured by FanGraphs, each member of Baltimore’s 40-man roster produced in 2021. The past three players featured in the series were Dillon Tate, DJ Stewart and Tanner Scott. The Orioles due up next are Tyler Nevin, Zac Lowther and Jordan Lyles.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/s...654urxjfi-story.html

Thanks for keeping us updated. I’m not much of a fan or follower, but it’s been pretty entertaining to follow your nephew. Thank you for sharing this with us.