Bruce has been invited to MLB spring training!
He reports to Sarasota starting on February 11.

That's awesome, congratulations!

thats great news...

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
Bruce has been invited to MLB spring training!
He reports to Sarasota starting on February 11.

That's great! I have been to Orioles spring training twice, always a good time. If you get a chance to go I would highly recommend it.

I don't follow baseball as closely as I used to, but I can't imagine a better spot for a young pitching prospect than where he is currently at. He has an amazing opportunity for sure!

Very cool!

I knew he'd end up there after watching him pitch a few of his games for Bowie. I'm glad to have him. Hopefully we can keep him for a while!

-Rob

Good Luck Bruce!

‘Next level’: How an Elkridge gym helped Orioles prospect Bruce Zimmermann prepare for a critical season

By Jon Meoli
Baltimore Sun |
Jan 29, 2020 | 7:00 AM



Orioles pitching prospect Bruce Zimmermann works out at Route 1 Athletic House to prepare for spring training. Zimmermann grew up in Woodstock, played at Loyola Blakefield and spent his first two years of college at Towson University. (Kenneth K. Lam)

Across the street from Elkridge’s Route 1 Athletics, the bones of new construction loom over the facility’s warehouse. Inside it, they’re helping to build what could be the next Maryland-born pitcher for the hometown Orioles.

Bruce Zimmermann, the Woodstock native who will be part of a prospect-laden group of non-roster invitees at Orioles spring training next month, is using the facility to prepare for his first major league spring training — and the biggest season of his young life.

He’ll drive down to Sarasota, Florida, in early February looking to make a first impression on a major league coaching staff for an Orioles team that’s desperate for starting rotation options. Next time he’s back near his Ellicott City home, it could be in the home whites at Camden Yards.

“I don’t think I could be any more ready,” Zimmermann said.

“With the state of the organization, being in Triple-A, you realize how close you are to making the dream come true of playing in the big leagues and just knowing that if I have a good season this year, it all depends on how the cards fall,” he said. “Sometimes in baseball, it’s just the luck of being in the right position at the right time. I think the position I’m in is the most advantageous to making that final jump, so going into this offseason, it was about taking care of what I could take care of, putting myself in the best position as possible, and just letting the chips fall as they may.”



Orioles pitching prospect Bruce Zimmermann works out at Route 1 Athletic House to prepare for spring training. (Kenneth K. Lam)

Such confidence is well-earned, considering the growth Zimmerman saw from a similar program last year. A Loyola Blakefield graduate who pitched at Towson University before finishing his college career at Mount Olive (North Carolina), Zimmermann was a fifth-round draft pick of the Braves in 2017. He came to the Orioles in a deadline trade during the organization’s July 2018 teardown that sent Kevin Gausman and Darren O’Day to Atlanta.

He’d shown more promise than a typical senior signee in 2018 with the Braves’ Class-A affiliate and was quickly promoted to Double-A, but the preceding offseason wasn’t a focused one. When he wasn’t at Shropshire Sports Training getting specialized work, Zimmermann was at the local YMCA cobbling together workouts he remembered from college and his pro debut with Crossfit-themed months like “Squatober” and “Deadcember.”

When he heard of other local ballplayers training at Route 1, he looked into it. Plenty of factors brought him to the new gym: Zimmermann’s agent, the Ballengee Group’s Jeff Randazzo, owns MapleZone Sports Institute outside of Philadelphia. Zimmermann said their director of sports performance, Rob Rabena, has a similar training background to Route 1 owner Chris Hannigan, and the two can collaborate on what Zimmermann needs with Hannigan adjusting the workouts prescribed by Rabena at the player’s request.

The specialized training ahead of the 2019 season led to a breakout campaign for Zimmermann at Double-A Bowie, with a 2.58 ERA and a strikeout per inning with a 1.20 WHIP earning him a late-July promotion to Triple-A Norfolk and a spot on several offseason top prospect lists.

His bump in performance and the methods he used echo those of another out-of-nowhere left-hander in the Orioles organization who rode them to great heights in 2019: All-Star John Means.

“Any jump as you get older is something worthwhile," Zimmermann said. "It was very fulfilling to see that kind of jump happen after the work I was able to put in. I went from averaging 88 [mph on my fastball] to averaging 91, so it was enough of an increase to open more eyes, especially at the higher levels as a lefty.”

The basis of his training this offseason was largely similar, but informed by a trip out west for a week at the renowned Driveline facility outside Seattle that uses technology and biomechanics to enhance baseball players. Zimmermann and fellow Orioles farmhand Brian Gonzalez took the trip together early in the offseason, and Zimmermann, who already did some of the facility’s programs thanks to his college days, got some “fine-tuning” he said he needed.

With a little help from his agent and his family, he was able to make the cross-country trip that means had prevented.

“I realized that this offseason was probably the most important one yet,” he said. “I just looked at it directly as an investment, just like you would at a normal job going to get a certification or something to get a pay raise, get a promotion. It was definitely looked at as an investment and so far, it’s definitely paid off for me this offseason. I’m excited to see how it will implement this offseason.”

The assessment highlighted what he described as some mechanical aspects of his lower half that he hadn’t been able to identify himself on the mound, and his trainers have built a workout plan around the required adjustment. He said he also did some pitch design work on his off-speed pitches that he’d been struggling with.

“It wasn’t a total overhaul by any means or anything,” Zimmermann said. “It was kind of finding that next competitive edge that’s going to get me that next bump, basically. I think I was able to lock in on a few things that I’ve been able to work on since September and hopefully, it translates well to this season.”


https://www.baltimoresun.com/s...62rle4244-story.html

This message has been edited. Last edited by: chellim1,

I am happy for him. I hope he does well. I believe every person should have goals and work to accomplish them, and succeed.

flashguy

Congrats! 3 years ago one of my students turned down a $1million dollar signing bonus with the Braves. He wanted to go play ball at Auburn first. True story.

Awesome!!

Yeah...I think I snapped my hernia seeing that dead lift photo.....

He’s gonna like Sarasota. Hopefully, you make the trip

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
Bruce has been invited to MLB spring training!
He reports to Sarasota starting on February 11.

Bruce got a nice mention in a recent MLB.com report:

The club announced Tuesday that blue-chippers Yusniel Diaz, Zac Lowther, Alex Wells, Rylan Bannon and Mason McCoy will join Rutschman among 23 non-roster invitees the Orioles will welcome to Sarasota, Fla., next month, a group that also includes rising southpaw Bruce Zimmerman. They’ll compete alongside No. 4 prospect Ryan Mountcastle, No. 8 Dean Kremer, No. 11 Keegan Akin and No. 13 Ryan McKenna, who were added to the 40-man roster in November...

https://www.mlb.com/news/oriol...-non-roster-invitees

Spring training looks like fun!

https://mobile.twitter.com/mas.../1230873609888989185

There you go, Chris Davis doing what he does best. Missing the ball.....

Best of luck to him.

I have a feeling we’ll be hearing more about him this year. Good luck Bruce!!

Bruce pitched two innings today, and aside from giving up a dinger to one of the Braves, he pitched pretty darn well. Wish I could have watched him, but I was on a Delta flight this afternoon.

Link to MASN article

Go O’s!

Thanks, 2Adefender. A bit of a rough start... but he wasn't rattled down after that first pitch.

Here's the article.

Zimmermann makes debut (O’s win 4-3)

SARASOTA, Fla. - Bruce Zimmermann used to dream about slipping on an Orioles uniform while growing up in Baltimore.

The fantasy didn’t include a first-pitch home run, but it’s spring training and wouldn’t kill the moment.

Zimmermann replaced starter Asher Wojciechowski today in the top of the third inning on an overcast and windy day at Ed Smith Stadium. Bryce Ball, sitting at the bottom of the Braves’ lineup, greeted him with a shot to deep left-center field.

Baseball can be heart-warming and harsh within seconds.

ed smith stadium.jpgAn infield hit later in the inning was followed by a 5-4-3 double play. The kindness had returned.

“When it’s like that, first pitch in my first spring game in my first spring training, it was like, well, move on to the next one, kind of put it behind me,” he said. “The guy put a good swing on it. The same thing you do in a normal outing if that happens. You just put it behind you and you try to get back in the dugout as quickly as possible.”

Facing his former organization, Zimmerman, 25, came back out for the fourth and gave up a bloop single to Travis d’Arnaud before inducing a fly ball and another 5-4-3 double play.

The home run seemed even less significant.

“I was watching Wojo and they were being aggressive on first-pitch fastballs, so we knew we had to hit a good spot in general, but just missed it a little and the guy put a good swing on it,” he said. “After that it was just settling back in. One swing, one run, but after that it was about getting the clean inning done and getting the guys back in the dugout.”

Zimmermann’s fastball touched 94 mph and he mixed in his other stuff while facing a legitimate Braves lineup. He built up his pitch count by throwing in the bullpen after he came out.

“It’s awesome,” he said. I mean, obviously growing up as an Orioles fan this is everything that I could have dreamed for and this is another step in the process. But being down here with the guys and getting introduced to the culture, meeting the guys who are up there day to day, it’s been great so far and I’m looking forward to continue building on that.

“It wasn’t any nerves, but I’m not used to coming straight out of the ‘pen like that, so I should have given myself a few more moments to sit down before I went in. But other than that, once I settled in that first inning and then going back out for the second was just like business as usual.”

Business that was broadcast on MASN, with family and friends able to view it.

“I know there’s a lot of people watching,” he said. “I was getting a lot of texts yesterday and stuff saying good luck, and this morning. I know some of my friends will probably give me hell for giving up a first-pitch home run, but besides that I know it’s a lot of support and love from my family and friends back home and I appreciate that.”

Zimmermann wanted the Braves to bring their A team. No soft spots in the lineup, which speaks volumes about him as a competitor.

“That was fantastic,” he said. “I was kind of hoping because I know they do split squads obviously in spring training, so I was hoping some of them would still come over because they’re so close in (North Port). So it was definitely exciting and got a lot of really good experience from those guys. Obviously those are some of the youngest, most talented guys in the game, so there’s always something you can learn from that. It was just a great learning experience for me.

“I just want to show them what I can do, that I can contribute to the team, especially hopefully in a starting role. Being able to take innings and go out there and compete every five days and help gives us a chance to win.”

Manager Brandon Hyde watched Zimmermann throw live batting practice on the stadium field and also a couple of bullpen sessions. That was pretty much the extent of his exposure to the Loyola Blakefield graduate.

“Judging by our hitters’ reactions to his stuff, they were all very impressed,” Hyde said earlier today. “He’s got life to his fastball. I saw a good breaking ball in his live BP, also.”

Who doesn’t enjoy flipping through the pages of a good local story? The kid who grew up rooting for a team that later traded for him.

“I just think playing in the big leagues, no matter where you grow up, is a huge deal. Pretty cool if you’re a local kid,” Hyde said.

“I think that he’s going to get a real opportunity to show what he can do in this camp, and there are a lot of people who are really high on him, so we’ll see.”

https://www.masnsports.com/sch...g-wojciechowski.html

I don't get MASN anymore since I gave up satellite for Hulu. But I did get to see him pitch while at the gym this morning since they run the game the day afterwards. He looked good to me.