OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Two seasons ago, Jeff Zimmerman was out of organized baseball, faxing major league clubs pleading for a chance to try out. Now Zimmerman is in the spotlight as an All-Star and a bullpen ace for the Texas Rangers.
“If you had asked me about making the All-Star team two years ago, I would have just laughed,” he said. “I didn’t even make the all-star team when I was pitching in the independent Northern League in ’97.”
Now he’s 8-0 with a 0.89 ERA for the AL-West leading Rangers. He got the win in Wednesday’s 7-4 victory over the Oakland Athletics, pitching 2 1-3 innings to tie a club record with his 16th straight scoreless appearance.
Zimmerman, who has struck out 46 and walked only nine in 50 1-3 innings, has the lowest ERA and has allowed the lowest batting average (.110) in the major leagues.
Fellow Texas reliever and All-Star John Wetteland said Zimmerman’s numbers are hard to believe.
“Like 99 percent of the rest of baseball, I hadn’t heard of him before this year,” Wetteland said of his setup man. “Now, sometimes we look up there and he’s got Super Nintendo numbers or Little League numbers.”
It has not been an easy route to the majors for Zimmerman.
He played two seasons at Texas Christian, then spent 1994 pitching in France. He was a starter for the Canadian national team in 1995 and 1996 in hopes of pitching in the Olympics, but Canada failed to qualify.
Zimmerman was selected in 1997 for the Canadian team scheduled to play in the world championship qualifying tournament, but that was canceled.
So the right-hander went to Winnipeg of the Northern League, where he went 9-2 as a starter and led the league with a 2.82 ERA. In 1998, he was signed by the Rangers as a free agent and was made a reliever. He went to Single-A Charlotte, then was promoted to Double-A Tulsa.
He came to spring training this year as a non-roster invitee, and has turned into a top middle reliever. He has become the first Texas pitcher to begin his major league career with eight straight victories, and the Rangers are 28-5 in games in which he has appeared.
“I can’t think of anyone who came on the scene with less publicity and did as much,” Texas manager Johnny Oates said. “These things happen — not often, maybe once in a lifetime, and this is my once.”
Zimmerman, 26, has not allowed a run in his last 19 2-3 innings, the second longest streak in Rangers history.
“You look at hitters’ faces, and you can see they’re wondering, `How can he throw a slider at 2-and-0, how can he paint the plate on a 3-and-2 count?’ ” Oates said. “He exemplifies pitching instead of throwing.”
Oakland’s John Jaha, who also was selected to the All-Star team, was one of Zimmerman’s victims Wednesday. He struck out looking in the eighth inning.
“He has one of the best sliders I’ve seen this year,” Jaha said. “He’s got movement on everything he throws and he’s throwing 93-94 miles per hour. He’s one of the best pitchers I’ve faced.”
Though middle relievers rarely are chosen for the All-Star game, AL manager Joe Torre said he couldn’t ignore Zimmerman’s statistics.
“I was just hoping to get my teammates’ respect as a competitor,” Zimmerman said. “But to have Joe Torre of the Yankees show that same respect is unbelievable. This is the ultimate pinnacle to me.”