Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 14, 1991 TAG: 9104140206
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN SMALLWOOD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
From unwanted high school senior to college baseball All-American to first-round draft pick, it's been a strange four years for Zimmerman.
"I guess you could call it a Cinderella story," said Zimmerman, 22, who was an all-state selection his senior year at Lincoln High in Brooklyn, N.Y. "Coming out of high school, I didn't get noticed at all. I wasn't even going to play [Division I] college baseball."
With no major-league or college team interested, Zimmerman, a Brooklyn native, had resigned himself to attending Brooklyn College, which was still a Division III program in 1987. But that summer, everything changed.
His summer-league team earned a trip to Denham Springs, La., to play in the Babe Ruth World Series. The team finished 1-2, but Zimmerman got the victory.
He said he still isn't sure what he did, but his performance caught the eyes of a few baseball scouts.
"Unless I suddenly got better overnight, I threw the same way I did in high school," said Zimmerman. "I think it was just that there I got a chance to get noticed by some scouts."
The Chicago Cubs offered Zimmerman a free-agent contract. Instead, He accepted a scholarship to the University of South Alabama.
He spent three seasons at South Alabama as a starter and a reliever. His junior - and final - collegiate season, he was 12-6 with five saves and a 1.59 earned-run average. He led Division I with 13 complete games and was selected an All-American.
In the June 1990 free-agent draft, the Pittsburgh Pirates used a supplemental first-round pick to draft Zimmerman. He was the 27th player chosen overall.
After a brief stint at Welland (Ontario) of the New York-Penn League, Zimmerman was assigned to Salem on July 13, 1990. He arrived in the morning and pitched for the Bucs that night.
In his Salem debut, he struck out three of four batters and saved a 3-2 victory over Lynchburg.
But everything didn't go that smoothly for Zimmerman. He had pitched 160 innings during the 1990 college season, and by the time he got to Salem his arm had about reached its limit.
"[The Pirates] just wanted me to get into some save situations," said Zimmerman, who recently was selected one of Baseball America magazine's Top 100 prospects.
Although his weary arm failed him on occasions, Zimmerman saved eight of nine opportunities for the Bucs. He struck out 24 in 25 innings.
"At times last season, I threw as well as I could," said Zimmerman, who finished with a 5.96 ERA. "At others, I didn't. This is my first long season, and I just want to be consistent."
Zimmerman pitched the ninth innning of Salem's 11-3 loss to Winston-Salem on Friday. He faced four batters with one strikeout and one walk.
"My arm feels great now," he said. "My goal is to make the major leagues. Hopefully, I'll be able to move up quickly."
Much of Zimmerman's success is riding on his slider, which is rated the best among Pittsburgh prospects.
"I do believe my slider is one of the best in the organization," he said. "I just have a lot of confidence in it. I feel batters can't hit it. I just have to throw it for strikes."
Zimmerman said he throws his slider in the 83-87 mph range, which is only about 6 mph slower than his fastball.
\ BUCSHOT: Saturday night's game between the Bucs and Winston-Salem Spirits was canceled because of poor playing conditions. The game will be made up as part of a double-header starting at 1 p.m. today.
by CNB