Happy Birthday to Mr. National, Ryan Zimmerman. Obviously, he earned the nickname because he spent his entire 16-year career with the Washington Nationals. In 2005, the Nationals’ first year as a team, he was drafted 4th overall in the 2005 MLB Draft as the future face of the franchise. Later that year, at 20, he played twenty games and was soon considered the franchise’s first face. Most of his career was spent at Third Base, but Zimmerman also appeared at First Base a substantial amount during his career.

Career Statistics/Accolades (2005-19;21):

.277 BA 1,846 HITS 284 HR 1,061 RBI 963 RUNS .341 OBP

  • 2x All-Star
  • 2x Silver Slugger
  • Gold Glove (2009)
  • World Series Champion (2019)

It didn’t take long for Zimmerman to prove himself; as the face of the franchise in 20006, he finished runner-up in the MVP voting, driving in 110 runs while playing a very good defensive Third Base. As a matter of fact, in his first full five seasons in the Majors, Zimmerman played well for a team that finished in last place in four of those five years, never making the playoffs, with a record of 331-478 W-L. 

Ryan Zimmermans’ Year-by-Year Statsitics 2005-10 via Baseball-Reference

     Off the top of my head, besides having one year of Alfonso Soriano in 2006 and Adam Dunn in 2009-10, there wasn’t anyone besides Zimmerman that any opposing pitchers had to game plan against, so consider the lack of team around him, his numbers while playing an excellent defense were very good. From 2012-19, things started to change for the Nationals with the emergence of homegrown players like Stephen Strasburgh, Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Anthony Rendon, and later Juan Soto; the Nationals would appear in the playoffs five times over the next eight seasons. In 2019, in seven games, Zimmerman and the Nationals would beat the Houston Astros, earning the first World Series win in Nationals franchise history.

Overall, when you look at the career of Ryan Zimmerman, he’s not a Hall of Famer; at his peak, he was a very good player. However, he should be remembered as a Washington National. When they drafted him 4th overall, he started the franchise in D.C. Besides having almost every franchise record in Offensive categories, through the lows of a 59-win season and through the highs of winning the World Series, Zimmerman was there and contributed. In May of 2022, the Nationals retired his #11 jersey, making him the first National to have his jersey retired. Yes, the Nationals won the World Series with guys like Scherzer, Strasburgh, Corbin, Rendon, Turner, and Soto, but everything started with Zimmerman.

References:

  1. Ryan Zimmerman via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Zimmerman#
  2. Ryan Zimmerman Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/z/zimmery01.shtml