NYPL Vermont Lake Monsters

Lake Monsters Return Home For Weekend Series With Jamestown ... Jordan Zimmermann Interview

Published on July 18, 2007 under New York-Penn League (NYPL)
Vermont Lake Monsters News Release


When a visiting team comes into historic Centennial Field, it notices three things. First, it notices the history of the field. The field relies more on its charm than marketability, while teams upgrade their facilities and replace history with a trend this city has always stayed the course, and from the people I have encountered around the park, they don't want change any time soon. The second thing a team notices is the hospitality around the park. The fans are amazing and knowledgeable, the kids are standing and waiting for champ to come out, it's a fun experience. Third and finally, they notice the rightfield wall with two lonely years, 1995 and 1996, with back-to-back Division titles and a Championship in 1996. However this year things have changed and if you read on you'll see what I'm talking about.

The past week has been an interesting one in the history of Lake Monsters baseball. The Monsters played a rare double bill and swept the Pinckney Division-leading State College Spikes. The Monsters had solid pitching throughout the double header helping the team sweep, along with Garrett Bass' grand slam in the 7th inning of the 2nd game to put the Monsters up 4-3. However the Monsters good fortune was washed away during the rest of the week literally. The next game with State College was rained out, followed by the Wednesday game against the Mahoning Valley Scrappers which was also rained out. The Monsters would then play another double header in which the Monsters allowed a combined 24 runs. They did however come back and score eight runs to win the night after.

While the Monster's didn't have tremendous success on the field for various reasons this week, on the promotions side the Zooperstars were a tremendous hit with the crowd. The crowd watched with excitement as such Zooperstars as Cow Ripken Jr. and Roger Clamens performed very interesting acts to say the least. It must have brought good luck considering the Monsters avoided the sweep and won 8-0. The Monsters as of July 18th are 15-12 registering, an eight-game improvement over last year's club at this time last season. The team also has registered a double header this year during every home stand while going 5-3 in doubleheaders.

In terms of hitting, Bill Rheinhart(.371) and Aaron Suess (.351) are currently in the top 10 in average (Vermont is the only team in the league that can boast that claim). Vermont is also third in the league in steals and the team 3.22 ERA is good for second in the NY-Penn league, which does subscribe to my theory of great pitching and speed can win a championship. Speed and pitching look to be the main priorities for the club right now. Just keep faith and just realize this team has climbed leaps and bounds of where it has been for the past eight or so years.

As far as promotions and games the Monsters have an upcoming 3 game home stand then are back on the road.

Friday, July 20th vs. Jamestown Jammers, 7:05 pm

Pretty in Pink, Breast Cancer Awareness Sponsored by SD Ireland Concrete! 1,000 Mini-Bat Pom-Pom Giveaway

Saturday, July 21st vs. Jamestown Jammers, 7:05 pm

Bolton Valley Resort Night! 2 for 1 coupon Giveaway

POST-GAME FIREWORKS

Sunday July 22nd vs. Jamestown Jammers, 5:05 pm

Efficiency Vermont Night! free energy efficient Compact Flourescent Light Blub coupon

As always my email is cbarry8883@yahoo.com. I can be reached at that address, so send your feedback and thoughts on this and thank you again for your support.

Jordan Zimmermann Interview

By Justin Kopacz

The Nationals are an organization still rebuilding and have decided to key in on developing pitchers. Jordan Zimmermann has been pitching out of the bullpen for most of this season, but he is hoping to make his mark in the big leagues as a starting pitcher. Zimmermann takes time to get ready, and feels more comfortable beginning games rather than finishing them.

Zimmermann grew up in Wisconsin and played for the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, a division three school. Although the talent was not as "ripe," Jordan played a key role in each of his three seasons there and looks to have the same success in Vermont. The Lake Monsters are fighting to bring home a league championship and Jordan Zimmermann is one of the main components.

In high school you lettered in three sports and won state championships in two, what was that experience like? Probably all these guys here that are playing and most the guys in college played two or three sports in high school. I really enjoyed growing up playing basketball. I played basketball since fifth or sixth grade, growing up with all my buddies. It was fun and then we got to high school and we were like, lets try football. We all enjoyed it and did well. We were pretty much keeping ourselves busy.

Was baseball your best sport? I went to college thinking I was going to play football. I was going to try to play both but at the last minute I thought it was going to be too hard so I stuck with baseball.

You also hit for yourself in college, what was that like? I was the DH when I was not pitching, and in some games, like in the World Series, I would hit for myself. It got a little tiring. When you got a double you got to go back out there and pitch. It was difficult but I still had a lot of fun doing it.

As the 47th ranked prospect heading into the draft, you knew your name was going to be called, but did you think it was going to be so soon? They had me slotted from fifty to one hundred so I went sixty-seventh so it was right in between. I had it narrowed down between Arizona and the Nationals. Washington took me at sixty-seven.

How has your experience been so far in Professional Baseball? It's fun. The host family is great. I played in the North Woods last summer so Dan Lyons played over there too. I played against him and now we are roommates. It works out. I know a couple guys on the team. It is nice to get picked by a team that you actually know someone on.

What would you say is the biggest difference between the college and professional games? Definitely I would say the wooden bats. It is a big difference. You can throw one inside and a guy gets fisted in college but still gets a base hit but this way you will break his bat. It is not going to go as far.

Does that mean that they are teaching you to go inside more? No, I liked to go inside in college. It was still a hard spot to hit the ball and when they did it would just be a base hit. If you come inside here they are going to break their bat or ground out. They will not do much with it.

How hard was it for you to give up your senior year to sign with the Nationals? I wish I could go back and play another year. It was a lot of fun in college but I got to move on. It was tough to leave all my buddies back at school but it is something that had to be done. I had to move on to the next level.

How do you feel about your season to date? I think I am doing as good as I can. Three hits in seven innings is not bad. I just have to keep the walk tally down. The strike zone is a lot smaller here than it is in college. You have to be on your spots. If you leave one down the middle they will make you pay for it.

What major leaguer would you say you are most like in terms of style and skills? I really like Ben Sheets. I am a big Brewer fan. He is a dominating pitcher. He is in the All-Star game with a pretty good record. He has been my role model growing up. He seems to be healthy this year.

Have you had any physical problems? I got a line drive off the face last year. I broke my jaw in two spots but that's about all. Nothing to the arm though, the arm is good.

What do you think you need to work on the most to make it to the big leagues? Just hitting my spots. Coming from a division three school you can throw it down the middle once in a while and not get hurt. I need to work on my spots and developing my off speed pitches.

What is your best pitch? Well, obviously it is the fastball. It my best pitch but my changeup has been working pretty good lately. I did not have to use it much in college but here you got to use it a lot. I have really been working on it and it has come along well.

What are your goals and expectations for the remainder of this year? Just to go out there and put up zeroes I guess. I will see what happens. I don't know, I am just going to go out and put and zeroes and go from there.

Playing in such a historic park as Centennial, what is the difference between playing home and away? It is nice to play in an old park like this. It is also nice going on the road and seeing new ones like Lowell and Oneonta. It is fun going around and traveling.

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New York-Penn League Stories from July 18, 2007


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