Kyle Zimmer, RHP, USF - SSI pre-draft $0.02
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=== What's Lame About 'Im ===
There really isn't much. Whatever you throw in this canning jar, I can ink "QUIBBLES" onto the lid real quick.
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Zimmer is very early in his career, so like we say, there are some naive things in his delivery, as there are in Taijuan's. You could say that he doesn't connect his shoulderline with the center fielder like Appel does. I'm not wild about the "trueness" of Zimmer's head down the CL and he doesn't get very dynamic acceleration of the belt buckle. These things are also true of Taijuan Walker.
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One of the "knocks" on Zimmer, as it relates to being a 1-1 pick, is the idea that he doesn't profile as a Cy Young award winner. There's the dreaded #2 starter label. Siiiiggggghhhhhhh ... sometimes Dr. D sort of vibrates-resets in his chair while typing this stuff, like a holographic decoy in a Total Recall remake. Danny Hultzen of course was downgraded last year for precisely this (stupid) reason.
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I actually agree that Zimmer gives a vibe like he's going to max out at Jordan Zimmerman, Matt Garza, Gil Meche, Daniel Hudson level. Those being other 94-MPH right hand pitchers who can throw as many different kinds of breaking balls as they feel like. This kind of pitcher -- the 4-pitch guy with a good fastball -- frequently does settle in as a #2 type.
You know what, there have been studies showing that men react more alertly to CGI'ed and cartoon women who have such ridiculous curves, actually non-human curves, that they biologically would be poor candidates for breeding - waists too small to support a high number of children, etc. Psychologists puzzled a long time as to why men would biologically respond so well to female archetypes that were, after all, null matches for them. A woman with a 16-inch waist wouldn't be able to mother children well, but men respond. (The same is true with genders reversed.) What's going on?
Finally they decided what was going on: with these distorted figures, men can process at a glance, very frictionlessly, that they're looking at women. This triggers a primal, not intellectual response. Or so they say .... as you know, there's a parable coming. :- ) Buy it or don't.
Scouts, along with us baseball 'net rats, can process very frictionlessly that Justin Verlander could be a #1 starter. If a pitcher has some weapon that is simple and fast to understand - Verlander's 100 MPH fastball, or Clayton Kershaw's twin thunderbolt pitches, or whatnot, there you go. #1 starter, right?
We forget that half of the Cy Young candidates in baseball right now -- Jered Weaver, Cliff Lee, Dan Haren, etc etc -- are not easy to process as #1 pitchers.
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Which is all beside the point as it relates to an ammy draft pick. If you could draft a #2 starter, a TOR Matt Garza on Monday, um, well.
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=== Dr. D's Vibe ===
If Jack Zduriencik and Tom McNamara agree that Zimmer is this year's Hultzen, I'm going to cosign, with gusto.
For some reason fans seem to be more lackluster about Zimmer than the pros are; having had a chance to check Zimmer out this week I've got to take the pros' side of it. Here's a funny article that gives the sense of it. An NL scout whose team has a top-6 pick is blown away by Zimmer and "guarantees" that they're taking him if he's there. Hm. The Astros pick first, then four AL teams, and then the Cubs. Is this an SAT question?
My guilty pleasure in this draft is Kevin Glausman, but not far behind him would be Zimmer. Get a room, guys, a war room (any of you college kids get the reference?), and bring us back a Hultzen-level nab.
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My $0.02,
Jeff