Washington Nationals: Grading the offensive players

First baseman – Ryan Zimmerman

Contrary to popular belief, Ryan Zimmerman is indeed still alive and well. He hasn’t played for the Washington Nationals since May 9th but is finally nearing a rehab assignment within the next week.

The oblique injury couldn’t have come at a worse time for the face of the franchise. In his previous 16 games before landing on the DL, he was hitting .311 with four homers and 11 RBI.

However, despite that impressive few weeks, it doesn’t erase his awful start to the year. He was hitting .097 in his first 10 games, and .111 after 17 contests.

This year Zimmerman famously didn’t play a single inning in major league spring training. Whether he did so rightly or wrongly, he had to use the first 17 games as his pseudo-spring training as the first baseman got up to speed.

The offense has been nothing short of diabolical for the Nationals lately. And with Matt Adams lost for a few weeks with a broken finger, they need Zimmerman more than ever.

Given the slow start, we can’t put the grade that high as the OPS still sits at a poor .689. But with the hot streak, before he went down, this is one of the more likely grades to improve as the season progresses. C