The Orioles introduced this afternoon that left-hander Bruce Zimmermann has cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A. The 29-year-old was designated for task earlier this week amid a flurry of roster strikes that noticed recently-acquired southpaw Trevor Rogers optioned to the minor leagues.
Zimmermann was chosen by the Braves within the fifth spherical of the 2017 draft however was traded to the Orioles in the course of the summer season of 2018 as a part of the bundle that introduced Kevin Gausman and Darren O’Day to Atlanta. The lefty reached the Triple-A stage the next yr after dominating to the tune of a 2.58 ERA in 101 1/3 innings of labor at Double-A earlier within the yr, and that stint on the highest stage of the minors teed him up for his massive league debut with Baltimore in the course of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. That debut didn’t go fairly in addition to Zimmermann and the Orioles had been certainly hoping for, nonetheless, as he struggled badly with a 7.71 ERA in his seven-inning cup of espresso that yr.
The lefty loved a bigger function with the Orioles over the subsequent two seasons as he stepped right into a rotation function with the membership, although he was restricted to about half of a full season’s workload in each years by accidents and occasional journeys to Triple-A. Zimmermann’s outcomes had been about what you’d anticipate from a part-time starter for a membership within the midst of a prolonged rebuild, as he struggled to a 5.54 ERA that was 25% worse than league common with a 5.74 FIP throughout a mixed 138 innings of labor in these years.
Zimmermann was faraway from the rotation getting into the 2023 marketing campaign and spent many of the marketing campaign on the Triple-A stage, though he did make a short look within the massive leagues as a multi-inning reliever that summer season. He carried out passably within the new function, with a below-average 4.73 ERA in his 13 1/3 innings of labor however a strong 23% strikeout fee that stood as a substantial step up from his lackluster 17.4% strikeout fee throughout his time as a starter. The lefty has not but appeared within the massive leagues in 2024 after present process core muscle surgical procedure final October, though he has made it again to the minor leagues the place he’s pitched to a middling 4.64 ERA in 66 innings of labor on the Triple-A stage with a considerably regarding 8.5% stroll fee that’s fairly a bit increased than the 5.2% clip he’s posted within the massive leagues up to now in his profession.
Now that Zimmermann is off the 40-man roster, he figures to stay with with Orioles as non-roster depth by way of the top of the season, at which level he’ll have the chance to elect free company if he hasn’t been added again to the 40-man by then. The lefty is at the moment in his closing possibility yr, which means that Baltimore would have the chance to shuttle him between Triple-A and the majors as wanted down the stretch in the event that they had been so as to add him again to the roster sooner or later.
