In a rather quiet spring training for the Nationals, one of the biggest storylines for the team leaving West Palm Beach was the unique decision by Ryan Zimmerman to play only in one spring training game.  Zimmerman instead preferred to get his work accomplished on the back fields, in games consisting of predominantly minor leaguers.  Certainly the fans that traveled to watch the team were disappointed to miss the “Face of the Franchise”, but also left themselves questioning the wisdom of this decision.

Ryan Zimmerman believes spring training is too long and there is merit to this, as the multiple weeks are more important to stretch out starting pitchers than getting hitters prepared for the opposing pitchers.  And Zimmerman has struggled with injuries the past several years, except in 2017, when he was one of the top first baseman in baseball, so he felt that playing in a more relaxed environment would be more conducive to staying healthy.

Unfortunately through the first 13 games of the season, this experiment looks like a bigger bust than Homer Simpson’s “The Homer”, as Zimmerman is batting .103/.186/.231 with 11 strikeouts in 39 at-bats.  He appears to be out of rhythm at the plate, avoiding fastballs in the strike zone and swinging at breaking pitches in the dirt. Furthermore, he has looked shaky defensively at first base, failing to make a couple plays in the field, and has not looked spy on the bases.

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Which goes back to his decision to essentially avoid facing major league quality pitching all spring in order to protect himself from injury.  Manager Davey Martinez is new to the organization and a first-time manager, so he is in a difficult position to challenge Zimmerman on this unusual decision in February or move him down in the order before May 1^st.

If I can digress a moment – A few years ago I was at a minor league game watching a big league player on a rehab assignment, and I was sitting next to an experienced scout.  I asked him his thoughts on the value of these rehab games for established major leaguers and he responded “good for their confidence but how can you prepare for big league stuff against guys in A-ball?”

This leads back to my point – While I do not believe this slump will have a large effect on his overall production in 2018, Zimmerman’s decision to avoid spring training games is perhaps the biggest reason Washington is currently 6-7 and in 4^th place in the division.  Without question, it is early, but Washington will continue to struggle offensively until Zimmerman rounds into form or is dropped in the batting order.

*Originally published at MASNSports.com on 4/13/18