163 replies to this topic

[BSLZachEisner]

Hoping he can continue his hot start tonight!

[BSLChrisStoner]

@masnRoch

According to Statcast, Bruce Zimmermann has struck out 10 batters on his changeup this season, tied for the most in the majors with Seattle’s Marco Gonzales and the Mets' Carlos Carrasco. #orioles staff has 37 strikeouts on off-speed pitches, 2nd to the Mets' 40.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Orioles.com: Unpacking Zimmermann's '22 transformation into budding ace

[TwentyThirtyFive]

Slow down on the "budding ace" language

[BSLChrisStoner]

Slow down on the "budding ace" language

Yeah, I don't think that needs to be said.  If you end the year believing he belongs in a ML rotation, that's a big win.  
Enjoying his start right now, and he's definitely showing he belongs somewhere on a roster.  

For anyone that hasn't read Zach's article on Bruce, take a read. Merged into this thread on Page 6.

[TwentyThirtyFive]

Hes showing a pitch mix that will play as a ML starter. Encouraged by his performance so far. Not a waiting for him to turn into a pumpkin situation

[JeremyStrain]

Hes showing a pitch mix that will play as a ML starter. Encouraged by his performance so far. Not a waiting for him to turn into a pumpkin situation

Yep. It's kinda like I said in the Santander thread yesterday, adjustments will get made both ways, so we'll see how things go, but he's got a few pitches, and mixes them well. There's more than one way to pitch, don't have to blow 101 past guys with an 80mph curve.

 

Just enjoying watching how it goes, it's kinda like Means, no one was expecting much there either, but some guys just go do it. Jamie Moyer had a pretty fantastic career and no one ever picked him to dominate things.

[Mackus]

I think we need to frame what we're talking about.

 

If its "can Zimmerman be a back-end starter" then I think there is a chance.

If its "can Zimmerman be  a front-end starter" then I think he's got very long odds. 

 

20 good innings doesn't really change a guy's outlook.  If it it did, Mike Wright would be a #2 starter.  He had 60 passable innings last year.  I'd like to see him double that or more while improving the performance before I think there is much here.  Good news for him is that management couldn't give half a crap about this year's team, so the opportunity for him is wide open.  Its not like they're going to acquire guys that bump him out of the rotation.  Take the ball and show us what you can do.

[JeremyStrain]

I think we need to frame what we're talking about.

 

If its "can Zimmerman be a back-end starter" then I think there is a chance.

If its "can Zimmerman be  a front-end starter" then I think he's got very long odds. 

 

20 good innings doesn't really change a guy's outlook.  If it it did, Mike Wright would be a #2 starter.  He had 60 passable innings last year.  I'd like to see him double that or more while improving the performance before I think there is much here.  Good news for him is that management couldn't give half a crap about this year's team, so the opportunity for him is wide open.  Its not like they're going to acquire guys that bump him out of the rotation.  Take the ball and show us what you can do.

Right. I think he's shown he's got the tools to stick somewhere in the ML. Back of the rotation. Long RP. Something for sure. He'd have to keep beating the odds for quite a while before I'm ready to talk about top of the rotation, but who knows, it's been done. We all probably said the same thing about Means when he came up.

 

For pitchers once they've been around the league enough for there to be a more thorough scouting report than the loose stuff they get from the minors, and they start seeing teams a 2nd time is when you see the adjustments start to really take hold.

 

It's almost a catch 22, the better they do early, means more PA against specific hitters, which means they can adjust faster. The guys where they only see them once in a game, and then once again a month later take a longer time for hitters to get a real plan against them. It's part of the strategy of how to hide rule 5 guys in the long RP pen roles. If they were in heavy pen rotation and guys were seeing them 2-3x in a series every series, it's a lot different than seeing them once one series, and maybe not again for two more series a couple months later. The key will just be how does Bruce adjust and change when the hitters do, but the more pitches you have the better your odds there.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Balt Sun: Orioles Q&A: Bruce Zimmermann used rookie season injury to improve changeup, get off to strong start in 2022

[BSLChrisStoner]

Balt Sun: Bruce Zimmermann’s quality start wasted by Orioles’ anemic offense in 3-0 loss to Tigers

[BSLSteveBirrer]

Another pretty decent game for Zimmerman. I am getting more and more hopeful that he may be a rotation piece for the next good O's team. 

[BSLChrisStoner]

Balt Sun: Bruce Zimmermann’s struggles continue as Orioles drop series opener to Guardians, 6-3

[Pedro Cerrano]

The worm has turned.

[BSLSteveBirrer]

I wonder if teams are getting enough tape on him now that his lack of velocity is an issue.?

[BSLChrisStoner]

Balt Sun: Orioles starter Bruce Zimmermann felt he was tipping pitches. The fixes haven’t been easy to adopt.

[You Play to Win the Game]

It isn’t a tipping pitches issue. It’s a stuff and being able to throw to the corners issue. Stuff isn’t good enough, and on top of that he throws way too many hittable-with-strong-contact strikes. The silver lining is he’s “pitch efficient”. Someone compared him to Jordan Lyles yesterday. Good comparison, that’s his upside IMO.

[BobPhelan]

It isn’t a tipping pitches issue. It’s a stuff and being able to throw to the corners issue. Stuff isn’t good enough, and on top of that he throws way too many hittable-with-strong-contact strikes. The silver lining is he’s “pitch efficient”. Someone compared him to Jordan Lyles yesterday. Good comparison, that’s his upside IMO.

 

Compare his changeup in his first batch of starts to when he has struggled. Thats the difference IMO, he needs to get that back. Guy like him it can be a fine line when you don't have great stuff to fall back on when you lose a pitch.

[makoman]

It's definitely possible IMO he was tipping pitches. Even guys with fringey stuff shouldn't allow 9 HR in 10 innings, if you combine tipping with lackluster stuff that's a recipe for disaster.

 

Like Bob said he needs his changeup back, some guys might be able to work around missing their best pitch but he's the type of guy that needs everything going for him.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Back to AAA.