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Nationals: Washington Faces Old Teammate Jordan Zimmermann

By Matt Holleran

WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 04: Jordan Zimmermann #27 of the Washington Nationals walks back to the dugout after being relieved in the ninth inning against the San Francisco Giants during Game Two of the National League Division Series at Nationals Park on October 4, 2014 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 04: Jordan Zimmermann #27 of the Washington Nationals walks back to the dugout after being relieved in the ninth inning against the San Francisco Giants during Game Two of the National League Division Series at Nationals Park on October 4, 2014 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /
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The Washington Nationals will conclude their three-game series with the Detroit Tigers by facing old teammate Jordan Zimmermann.

From 2012-2015, Jordan Zimmermann was a consistent staple in the Washington Nationals’ organization. The right-hander made two All-Star teams and played a big role in the Nationals reaching the postseason in 2012 and 2014.

In 2013 Zimmermann won 19 games, second-most in Washington Nationals history, and followed it up with a fifth-place finish in the National League Cy Young voting in 2014.

The now 33-year-old left Washington after the 2015 season and signed a five-year $110 million dollar contract with the Detroit Tigers. When Detroit signed him back in 2015, they were still a team in contention and believed Zimmermann could be a missing piece that would lead them to the World Series. So far, the contract has looked like one of the worst in recent baseball history.

Zimmermann has not won more than nine games in his first three full seasons in Detriot and has recorded an E.R.A. over 4.50 all thee years. In 2017, Zimmermann had a 6.08 E.R.A. and gave up 108 earned runs in 160 innings, most in the American League.

This season Zimmermann has struggled to stay healthy only letting him star eight games coming into Sunday. His production to this point of the season has looked a lot like what he did in 2017, giving up 27 runs in 39.1 innings to go with a 4.93 F.I.P and a 5.95 E.R.A.

The guy who has pitched for the Tigers the past four years has looked nothing like the All-Star level starter we saw in D.C. for the first seven years of his career.

How could anyone ever forget his absolutely dominant performance in Game Two of the 2014 NLDS against the San Francisco Giants? Zimmermann was one out away from finishing one of the most dominant pitching performances in postseason history before being pulled by Matt Williams, and well the rest of that story is history.

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It is tough to see the struggles Jordan Zimmermann has gone through since leaving the Nationals, but the decision to not bring him back seems like a great one. Zimmermann was an oustanding National for seven years, and it will be cool to see him back on a Major League mound Sunday afternoon.

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