It’s a contract year for Detroit Tigers pitcher Jordan Zimmermann, a five year, $110 million pact signed in November of 2015 that’s been largely underwhelming.
But he has every intention of bouncing back this year, with the added goal of staying healthy.
“Every year’s big,” Zimmermann said last week during the Tigers Winter Caravan, “but you want to finish this year and the last year of the contract on a high note and give them something to be proud about.”
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“Obviously the last few years haven’t been good for me,” he said. “The plan is to give everything I’ve got and hopefully it’s a good year and I stay healthy.”
Since Zimmermann went 9-7 with a 4.87 ERA and 1.38 WHIP, he’s yet to toss a winning season, or feature an ERA below 4.50. His 6.91 ERA last season was the highest for a Major League pitcher in a season with at least 23 starts.
He’s added the sinker to his arsenal of pitches, and he’ll be honing that new skill heading into the 2020 campaign.
“I have the whole spring to be working on that,” he said, “and it’s going to be a good pitch for me to use if I can get the ball to move a little more than throwing a straight four-seam fastball.”
For manager Ron Gardenhire, Zimmermann is one of the leaders of the team, and wants him to finish strong in what could be his last year with the Tigers.
“He’s a leader in this clubhouse. All the pitchers go to him. There’s a lot of different ways to help the ballclub out, and he does it in a lot of different ways. We’d like to see him have a great year. It’s his last year here. This guy’s been a horse for a long, long time, and he’s a classy guy. He’ll help us. We think he’s going to be fine.”
– – Quotes courtesy of Jason Beck of MLB.com – –
