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Former Pointer gets big-league call: Zimmermann to start for Nationals

Just 23 months ago, Jordan Zimmermann led the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point to a third-place finish in the NCAA Division III World Series.

A junior that season, Zimmermann was named the most outstanding player of the tournament after pitching a complete-game one-hitter and batting .615 in four games.

On Monday night, the hard-throwing right-hander is scheduled to make his major-league debut for the Washington Nationals against the visiting Atlanta Braves.

The struggling Nationals (1-10) might be inclined to push their young talent faster than a more successful organization. However, that cannot diminish the work of Zimmerman, who has posted remarkable numbers to make the jump from UW-Stevens Point to the big leagues in less than two years.

“I’ve not been surprised by the fact he has had success,” UW-Stevens coach Pat Bloom said last week. “What has surprised me a little bit is the degree to which he has been dominant at each level and even in spring training this year.”

Zimmermann, a native of Auburndale who was the 67th overall pick by Washington in the 2007 first-year player draft, posted a 15-5 record with a 2.74 earned run average in the minors. He had 205 strikeouts and only 65 walks in 187 innings.

He was a nonroster invitee in spring training and posted a 1-1 record with a 3.14 ERA in five appearances.

“He’s just concerned about his pitches and his execution,” pitching coach Randy St. Claire told reporters during spring training. “And he executes everything.”

Zimmermann allowed no runs on six hits and struck out 16 in his first 12 1/3 innings during spring training. He closed with a bad outing—five runs in two innings against the Cardinals—but, according to Bloom, his former pitcher was ill that day.

The book on Zimmermann hasn’t changed: power pitcher with outstanding control.

What the book can’t detail is Zimmermann’s temperament, which is flat line.

“I think without question, it helps him not only compete at that level but it also has helped him in his adjustment at every level of professional baseball,” Bloom said. “He does not get caught up in the numbers. He does not get caught up in what the other pitchers in the rotation are doing.

”He is solely focused on his next start and in going out there and providing his team with a chance to win. It sounds simple and it sounds almost impossible to believe, but that is truly his approach. . . . He is just all business.

“At the same time, it’s not a job to him. It’s not overbearing for him to go out and put forth his best effort every day in practice and work to develop his pitches and really round himself out as a professional. He really has fun in that competitive environment and there is something about the challenge of competing at that highest level that brings out the best in Jordan.”

Zimmermann, who turns 23 on May 23, was named the No. 1 prospect in the Nationals’ organization earlier this year by Baseball America magazine.

Bloom was impressed and understandably proud. Zimmermann was oblivious.

“He had come into my office because he wanted to do a bullpen session that day,” Bloom said. “I offered my congratulations and held out the issue so he could see his name and the No. 1 next to it. He looked at me and said: ’What’s this?’ ”

Bloom smiled and said: “It says that you’re the top prospect in the Nationals’ organization. It’s kind of a big deal.”

Zimmermann’s reaction? OK.

“That’s typical Jordan,” Bloom said. “He takes everything in stride and he truly is a selfless player. Individual accolades are nice but to him they mean nothing without significant team accomplishments.”