Ryan Zimmerman may be coming back for another season.
In today’s current MLB landscape, it is becoming rarer and rarer for players to play their entire careers with one team. This is due to numerous factors, be it players being lured away in free agency by more money or the opportunity to win now.
There are only a handful of players in the league who have built their legacy with one team with Joey Votto and Ryan Zimmerman coming to mind. For Zimmerman, he just finished his 16th season with the Nationals.
Drafted fourth overall in 2005, Zimmerman was the National’s first-ever draft pick. He is the franchise all-time leader in games played, runs scored, hits, total bases, doubles, homers, RBIs, and at-bats.
Entering this off-season it was unclear if Mr. National was going to return for another season or if he was finally going to hang up his cleats. Today, that the fanbase was finally given some clarity on the situation.
Earlier today Ryan Zimmerman went on The Junkies, a popular morning D.C. sports radio show on 106.7 The Fan to discuss his career plans.
"“So we’ll see some more, but yeah I’m enjoying some time off. I’m enjoying that, but I still definitely am planning on playing. But we’ll see what happens so no decisions either way yet.”"
The Nationals should be elated at the fact they might have the face of their franchise back for another season. With the possibility of the universal DH being implemented, Zimmerman would thrive in an offense-only role. At this point of his career, the rigors of an entire season are too much for his body.
Last year he hit .243, with 14 homers, 46 RBIs, and an OPS of .756 in 256 at-bats. No longer the threat he was once, Zimmerman can still thrive in a platoon role and would be a solid option at DH.