Bradley Zimmer

After his first two seasons, Zimmer looked like he was a little more contact away from developing into a dual power and speed threat, or at least a solid stolen-base contributor without sacrificing too much power. However, he's been unable to drive the ball with the same authority since undergoing shoulder surgery in 2018. Zimmer's rehab cost him the first half of 2019 and last season's delay did him no favors. This is more glass-half-full perspective than cogent analysis, but Zimmer deserves a normal season where he's healthy before giving up hope he can get back on track. In his favor is a Cleveland outfield devoid of solid regulars, so he should be afforded a chance to win a job. Last season's career-low 28.0 K% offers some reason for optimism. However, Zimmer needs to get back striking the ball with authority. The allure of cheap speed is tempting, but the wait-and-see approach is advised.

It wasn't long ago Zimmer was all the rage, offering cheap speed without sacrificing too much power. Sure, strikeouts were a concern, but who isn't fanning nowadays? A shoulder injury in 2018 interrupted Zimmer's development and after a brief nine-game stint at the end of last season, Zimmer is a forgotten man. Prior to his MLB visit, Zimmer played a little at rookie ball, Double-A and Triple-A, slashing a combined .359/.444/.641 with three steals in 13 games. Obviously, at 26 years of age, he was old for the levels, so take the results with a grain of salt, but his numbers were ample to earn a look in the spring. There are openings at both corner outfield spots, so if Zimmer can improve on his career 32.6 K%, he has a chance to carve out significant playing time and provide steals at a bargain price.

Zimmer’s season ended prematurely when he succumbed to a labrum injury to his throwing shoulder just after the All-Star break. That surgery comes with an 8-to-12-month estimated recovery timetable, putting his 2019 season very much in doubt. The long layoff from facing major-league pitching is the last thing Zimmer needs as he is still trying to find himself as a big-league hitter. Over the first 450 plate appearances of his career, there has been too much swing and miss wrapped around the big flies and shows of athleticism around the basepaths. Zimmer is an excellent defender with his tools, but this shoulder injury was a major setback at an inopportune time. At best, he is a stash if your league allows you to draft and replace injured players before the season starts.

Zimmer burst onto the scene in mid-May, collecting eight homers and 13 steals in his first 66 career games, but cooled to the point of being ice cold before a broken hand ended his season. He went 0-for-36 to begin August and finished with a .196/.275/.318 line and 33.5 percent strikeout rate after the All-Star break. The floor is low as we haven't seen him make the adjustments, but the ceiling is high, especially with stolen bases on the decline league-wide. Team context is important with Zimmer, as he will have one of the game's best lineups around him, or behind him -- he saw time atop the order when things were going well. More risk-averse fantasy players will want to invest elsewhere, but a gamble on Zimmer could pay off big in standard leagues. He's not expected to face any restrictions due to the hand injury in spring training.

Zimmer easily passes the initial eye test -- he stands 6-foot-4, 185 pounds, the ball is loud off his bat and he runs extremely well. However, the strikeout numbers show the one glaring hole in his game. In his age-23 season, Zimmer fanned a total of 171 times, with 56 strikeouts coming in 150 plate appearances with the Indians' top minor league affiliate (37.3 percent K%). He helped himself offset some of that swing-and-miss with a 14 percent walk rate, but that strikeout total is still hard to stomach given the total absence of power at Triple-A. Contact has always been a big problem for Zimmer, and it's unreasonable to expect much immediate growth in that department. Thus, a batting average in the low-.200s during his initial run in the majors is possible (if not likely), and that puts a hard ceiling on his short-term upside. He should at least debut this season.

It was pretty apparent midway through the 2015 season that Zimmer had no business falling to the Indians with the 21st pick in the 2014 draft. He slashed .308/.403/.493 with 10 home runs and 32 steals in 335 plate appearances at High-A Lynchburg before receiving a promotion to Double-A. The 22-year-old center fielder struggled against Eastern League pitching, but he still finished with a .273 average, 16 homers and 44 steals in 127 games across the two levels. There are questions about whether Zimmer will be able to stick in center field, given his 6-foot-5 height, but he moves well enough to stay up the middle in the short term. A hairline fracture in his foot canceled the Indians’ plans of sending Zimmer to the Arizona Fall League, but he should be ready to go for the start of the 2016 season. Cleveland’s deficiencies in center field could cause them to fast track Zimmer to the big leagues sometime this summer if he gets off to a hot start at Double-A, and at the very least he will be part of the outfield mix entering 2017.

Zimmer was the 21st pick in the 2014 draft, and finished the year with a three-game stint at Low-A Lake County after playing 45 games with short-season Mahoning Valley. The 21-year-old outfielder figures to move fast through the Indians’ system, as is typical of college bats drafted in the first round. His short-season numbers were pretty ridiculous (four home runs, 11 steals, .401 OBP), but it’s hard to put much stock into those given the small sample and the quality of competition. At 6-foot-4, 185 pounds, he has some filling out to do, and with that, he should go from being a 30-plus steal threat to a 15-25 steal option over a full season in the majors. With a solid approach at the plate and present gap-to-gap doubles power, there’s room for projection in the bat, with an outside shot that Zimmer develops into a 20/20 threat by the time he reaches the big leagues, possibly by late 2016.