Why does Ryan Zimmerman not suck now?

[TheSportsPredictor]

Dude's spent the last five years regressing, aging, and then looked cooked lastyear at age 32 with a .642 OPS.

Now he leads the NL in slugging and OPS with numbers well above his career levels. He is behind only wunderkind Aaron Judge in those categories in all of baseball.

What is it, PEDs?

 

[Dick Whitman]

Dude's spent the last five years regressing, aging, and then looked cooked lastyear at age 32 with a .642 OPS.

Now he leads the NL in slugging and OPS with numbers well above his career levels. He is behind only wunderkind Aaron Judge in those categories in all of baseball.

What is it, PEDs?

Probably.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Has to be. Unless he is just trying to hit homers for once?

 

[Big Circus]

Has to be. Unless he is just trying to hit homers for once?

In all seriousness, it sounds like that's pretty close to what he's doing, what with focusing on his launch angle and Daniel Murphy and all that.

Daniel Murphy’s Keen Eye Bolsters a Nationals Pillar

Also, HOOS HOOS HOOS HOOS

 

[Dick Whitman]

In all seriousness, it sounds like that's pretty close to what he's doing, what with focusing on his launch angle and Daniel Murphy and all that.

Daniel Murphy’s Keen Eye Bolsters a Nationals Pillar

Also, HOOS HOOS HOOS HOOS

Perhaps. I'm worried that everyone is going to end up looking stupid once again, though.

 

[Big Circus]

Perhaps. I'm worried that everyone is going to end up looking stupid once again, though.

I'm certainly not ruling out PEDs. Just saying that "trying to hit homers" is, at the very least, a factor.

 

[Della9250]

Or perhaps fully recovered from injuries, seeing as how the previous three years he played 61, 95 and 115 games.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

But he was never this good.

Why wait til age 32 to try to hit homers? This could have been a Ryan Zimmerman: HOFer? thread.

Aaron Judge seems to have figured it out at a young age.

 

[justgladtobehere]

I don't think PEDs help you not suck. They help talented players get better. Of the top of my head, I cannot think of one player with a PEDs accusation that didn't show noticeable talent before he could get on a serious PEDs plan. Maybe the drugs helped him stay healthy.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I don't think PEDs help you not suck. They help talented players get better. Of the top of my head, I cannot think of one player with a PEDs accusation that didn't show noticeable talent before he could get on a serious PEDs plan. Maybe the drugs helped him stay healthy.

Jake Arrieta Stats | Baseball-Reference.com

 

[outofplace]

Ryan Zimmerman did show talent before. It had just been a while due to all the injuries.

Quite a few players are telling that same story about adjusting their approach to hit more home runs. That was part of the narrative along with the huge home run spike in 2016.

It's not like Zimmerman is the only one showing that sort of huge power spike. Yonder Alonso has hit 17 home runs this season. He had never hit more than nine in a season. Is that players finding a new way to hit? Or perhaps a new way to enhance their performance through chemistry? Is it the baseballs?

It would be lovely if people would actually find evidence before pushing their favored theory, but I doubt that will happen.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Ryan Zimmerman did show talent before. It had just been a while due to all the injuries.

Quite a few players are telling that same story about adjusting their approach to hit more home runs. That was part of the narrative along with the huge home run spike in 2016.

It's not like Zimmerman is the only one showing that sort of huge power spike. Yonder Alonso has hit 17 home runs this season. He had never hit more than nine in a season. Is that players finding a new way to hit? Or perhaps a new way to enhance their performance through chemistry? Is it the baseballs?

It would be lovely if people would actually find evidence before pushing their favored theory, but I doubt that will happen.

There seems to be some evidence for the juiced ball theory this time around. I believe Ben Lindbergh at The Ringer has written pretty extensively about it.

Is it the second steroid era? Man, I don't know. Probably not. But after all the self-flagellation that went on after the last time, I would just hate to see us all caught flat-footed again if that's where Occam's Razor points.

Fool me once, shame on me, etc., ...

 

[outofplace]

There seems to be some evidence for the juiced ball theory this time around. I believe Ben Lindbergh at The Ringer has written pretty extensively about it.

Is it the second steroid era? Man, I don't know. Probably not. But after all the self-flagellation that went on after the last time, I would just hate to see us all caught flat-footed again if that's where Occam's Razor points.

Fool me once, shame on me, etc., ...

I can certainly understand people wondering about PED use sparking the spike, but the juiced ball is also a valid theory given how many players have seen their home runs go up.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I can certainly understand people wondering about PED use sparking the spike, but the juiced ball is also a valid theory given how many players have seen their home runs go up.

It broke my heart a little bit when I was telling my 8-year-old about Aaron Judge and he matter-of-factly asked, "Do you think he's using drugs?"

Times we live in, I guess.

 

[LongTimeListener]

It broke my heart a little bit when I was telling my 8-year-old about Aaron Judge and he matter-of-factly asked, "Do you think he's using drugs?"

Times we live in, I guess.

Tell him "yeah but not the bad ones like Bonds and A-Rod used. Only the cool ones like Mays and Mantle used."

 

[dixiehack]

 

[Justin_Rice]

I'm going to need to see some actual evidence before I move right to "The Z-Man is on the 'roids!"

My guess? Whatever Murphy figured out a few years ago has worn off on at least Harper and Zimmerman. They both seem to have a better, more-Murphy-like approach at the plate.

Plus Zimmerman was incredibly unlucky last year. It seems like he spent the entirety of 2016 hitting bullets right at defenders.

 

[goalmouth]

I heard the same crap when Luis Gonzalez hit 51 homers -- "he made a small mechanical change in his swing."

What rot.