MB'09 Zimmerman

[SteveB]

Well i posted in our mock section that Zimmermans ADP has been all over the board. I have seen him drafted anywhere from 62-140 I guess that shows there is a lot of variance on projections for him. So i am just curious what others are anticipating from Zimmerman in 09 and why?

[Mojo Jojo]

i like zimmerman this upcoming year.

how much?....after wright, arod, longoria, aramis ram, probably beltre and maybe atkins. i would tier him with other potential breakouts alex gordon and maybe edwin encarnacion. obviously there are other 3b who could be more valuable...guys like chipper, glaus, lowell, etc but those guys are older and to me their downside outweights the upside from guys like gordon or zimmerman.

why?...
despite the shoulder injury, his line drive rate, batting average and contact rate all increased. if he is truly past any shoulder woes the power returns too.

[viper]

I have Nationals tickets and will be at 15 or so games this season. I have watched Zimmerman live and on TV for four years beginning with his September call-up. I have no idea how he is projected by the many sites but what I see is a great fielder who will never be anywhere above an average hitter unless the Nats get some sort of offense around him. And even if that happens, I am not sure. He will have ample opportunity by batting 3rd, 4th or 5th but he doesn't show me with that something special you want to see in a young hitter.

Now watch him go 30/110/.295

[ayebatter]

Last week he was 42nd @ MDC, 112th @ rotoworld, 76th @yahoo, 95th @ NFBC mock, 107th @ Fantasy Baseball Cafe mock. Here was taken at 62 because the person who did the taking (me),
did not believe he would last 'till pick 83 (my next pick), and a plethora of 3rd basemen were already off the board. Just goes to show ya, every draft has its own dynamics and rankings won't allow you play it the same way every time. So draft positions aside, Viper made the correct statement ( at least what I believe for '09).


Now watch him go 30/110/.295 , or thereabouts

[viper]

you have no idea how much I hope you are correct. Since it will be his second year of arbitration, I'm sure Ryan does too. If he can get to 110 RBIs, it would mean that Guzman and, I guess, Milledge, will have good season wrt OBP.

[Todd Zola]

The skills are certainly there. As others suggest, it is all about the playing time with Zimmerman. We are fairly optimistic and have him about the 80th overall hitter, adding about 20 pitchers and that pute him just outside the top-100.

Totally anecdotal, I have no basis for this other than it is something I monitor, sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't, but I like watching the offensive development of players with outstanding defensive skills, especially with respect to hand-eye coordination and reflexes as it makes intuitive sense that this may eventually translate into better contact skills, with Ozzie Smith and Omar Vizquel being the poster boys for the concept.

viper can speak to this having seen him live, but from what I have seen and scouting reports, Zimmerman falls into this class of defender.

[JP Kastner]

There is an old rec.sports.baseball.fantasy adage from the good ole days of the Internet. "Defense gets you to the Major Leagues. Hitting keeps you there."

[Bodhizefa]

He's not going to end up being David Wright II as we discussed on Mastersball a couple of years ago, but he's certainly a quality third baseman with mild to moderate upside. Too bad Jim Bowden hasn't gotten him any legitimate offensive help at all in the last few years.