Amazingly
enough the college baseball regular season will wrap up this weekend with
conference tournaments getting started next week. As of now Baseball America
projects both Michigan and Michigan State to make the field of 64 for the NCAA
Baseball tournament. That said the Big Ten is very competitive at the top with
6 teams fighting for what will likely be 4 bids so the Spartans and Wolverines
have to finish strong to get in the dance.
One of Michigan State’s best players Jordan Zimmerman leads
the conference in hitting at .394 and is third in both on base and slugging
percentage and has walked more than he has struck out. Zimmerman’s journey to
MSU was indirect to say the least.
On the surface it would appear Zimmerman was a highly
coveted recruit but that is not the case. Young ball players can learn quite a
bit from the path Zimmerman traveled to East Lansing.
Zimmerman grew up in Mesa, Arizona a hot bed for
professional and Division 1 baseball prospects. It just so happened that
Zimmerman played shortstop the same position as 4 other top players in the
area. Three of the prospects were drafted in MLB in rounds 2,3 and 5 out of
high school and the fourth ended up at Arizona State. Zimmerman was
overshadowed by these other players and wasn’t heavily recruited and ended up
at Mesa Community College. The knock on Zimmerman at 5’11 and 170 pounds was
that he was only a “singles” hitter (he hit .400 all 4 years on the high school
varsity).
It was at Mesa CC that he was “discovered” by an MSU
assistant coach who happened to be scouting another player but ended up
offering Zimmerman a scholarship on the spot. Zimmerman credited off-field
performance training for helping him improve his athleticism and strength
(filling out his now 6’1 frame at 190 pounds) but all along he continued to do
what he’d always done… Hit!
Zimmerman was simply overlooked through no fault of his own.
Often the recruiting process is out of an athlete’s control. I wrote in the
past how elite MLB athletes Paul Goldschmidt and Kevin Kiermaier were
overlooked for years before they were finally “discovered.” The simple truth is
recruiters and talent evaluators are human beings. They can only watch so many
baseball games in person and sometimes they flat out miss guys!
Zimmerman never let up! He continued to hit the ball hard
and it only took one pair of eyes to see the potential. You have to mentally
prepare as if each playing opportunity is your time to be “discovered.” Because
you never know who is watching and more importantly you don’t know what type of
player they may be looking for.
It’s very possible scouts missed Zimmerman because he didn’t
fit their mold of what a good hitter should be. Everyone covets power and he
didn’t show that. There are 298
Division 1 baseball programs and they all missed this guy. He had to settle for
playing at a CC but he never allowed that to deter him from developing his
skills. There is always a spot for someone that can flat out hit the ball with
authority even if it doesn’t travel over the fence. It may not have fit Zimmerman’s timeline but he kept working
until someone had to take notice.
I am a great believer
in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.
Thomas Jefferson
I will wrap up with a tip I once received from famed
baseball mental skills coach Harvey Dorfman.
I don’t care where you
come from and it matters very little what you’ve done in the past. What matters
to me is the person you bring here.
Tough and uncertain times don’t last and statistics are just
numbers on paper what endures forever is the strength of your character. Allow
that to be your driving force and you will ultimately become successful
wherever you end up.
