Jordan Zimmermann Ready for the Washington Nationals' Rotation

(Above photo cortesy senatorsfansunite' s flikr page)

He played high school baseball in Auburndale, WI, a small, isolated hamlet north of Green Bay. His time on the mound was truncated by the long Wisconsin winters, limiting both innings pitched and the opportunity to hone his craft.

Oh sure, he was two-time conference player of the year, but we’re talking about a part of Wisconsin where Blenker, Milladore, and Marshfield are the major metropolitan areas.

And yes, he was second team all-state his senior year, but none of this impressed the baseball scouts. He wasn’t drafted in the 2004 Major League amateur draft, and didn’t even get a sniff at a Division I scholarship offer.

With nowhere else to go, he attended Division III Wisconsin-Stevens Point, where athletic scholarships are couched in the form of Student Loans and Pell Grants.

I didn’t even know there was such a thing as Division III baseball. Did you?

After three years of pitching on muddy mounds in blizzards and ice storms, he declared himself ready for the major leagues.

And Jordan Zimmermann, the kid from Auburndale, who had to attend the proverbial “local college” because no one wanted him, was picked by the Washington Nationals in the second round of the 2007 amateur draft.

And he’s been penciled in, however lightly, into the 2009 Washington Nationals’ rotation.

What? That just can't be.

To be fair, Zimmermann dazzled the opposition at Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He went 10-0, 2.08 in his final college season and led his team to the Division III championship where he was named the series’ Most Valuable Player.

It’s not like the Nationals tried to draft a polar bear and missed.

How did all the scouts miss him?

Well, they didn’t.

Zimmerman had a fastball in high school that topped out at 85-87 mph. By the time he had a chance to go to college and was introduced to college conditioning (yes, even Division III conditioning), he began to pitch in the low 90s. By his junior year, he was regularly hitting 94-95 mph.

Most teams looked at Zimmermann and saw his limited playing time and one really good year at the lowest level of collegiate baseball and thought him as a mid to low round project.

At best.

The Washington Nationals, however, were just a year removed from that barren wasteland that was Major League ownership, and had to take chances.

Bud and his boys stripped the minor league system of players like Cliff Lee (22-3, 2.65, 2008 Cy Young), second baseman Brandon Phillips (.261-21-78), outfielders Grady Sizemore (.268-33-90, 38 steals) and Jason Bay (.286-31-101) and received nothing in return.

Nothing.

With a minor league system still considered the worst in all of baseball, Nationals’ general manager Jim Bowden had to make high risk / high reward choices.

And that would be Jordan Zimmermann.

The kid was happy to be drafted by the struggling Nationals. “I was excited,” began the right-hander. “My agent said it was a great team to get drafted by. He said ‘This is a good fit for you.’”

He started his minor league career at the lowest level a college player can begin, the short-season New York-Penn League.

The kid from northern Wisconsin dominated from the get go.

In 11 starts, Zimmermann went 5-2, 2.38, striking out 12 per nine innings while walking just three. He allowed just 1.19 base runners per inning.

He was promoted to high ‘A’ Potomac in 2008, and was even better, going 3-1, 1.65, fanning 10 per nine innings while walking just two. His base runners per nine innings looked like a typographical error: 0.84.

He was promoted early in the season to ‘AA’ Harrisburg of the Eastern League, a circuit stocked with baseball’s top prospects.

Not a problem for the kid with ice in his veins. Wisconsin ice.

In 20 starts, Zimmermann went 7-2 with a 3.27 ERA. His strikeouts dipped a bit to one per inning and his walks jumped just a bit to one every three innings and his base runners per nine innings went up to 1.20.

But his numbers went from unbelievable to just amazing, which is still pretty impressive for a kid from Division III.

And they were good enough to land him on the Eastern League All-Star team.

And the numbers were good enough, by the way, for the Bible of Baseball, Baseball America, to name Zimmermann the number one prospect in the Nationals organization.

Zimmermann was asked last summer by a Washington Times reporter what his pitching style was like. Zimmermann said that “I like to get ahead with my fastball. Late in the game I like to start guys out with the curve ball and put them away with the slider. I'm developing a changeup right now; it needs a little work, but it's coming around.”

And what’s keeping him from the major leagues at this point? “The changeup,” said Zimmermann. “I’ve got to keep working on the changeup.”

He was a fan of the Milwaukee Brewers growing up and enjoyed watched Ben Sheets pitched, modeling a little of his style after him.

No one is sure where Zimmermann will land in 2009, but Nationals.com Bill Ladson believes that the 22 year-old will have to pitch himself out of, and not into, the rotation come Spring Training.

And that’s a pretty good place to be for a kid that no one wanted just a couple of years ago.