Draft : : Top Prospects
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Draft Focus: Kyle Zimmer
Photo: San Francisco
Every weekday leading up to the 2012 MLB Draft, Perfect Game will be providing a scouting profile on a notable draft-eligible prospect. Stay tuned to Perfect Game and be sure to visit the Draft Page for all of the latest info and reports pertaining to the draft.
Kyle Zimmer Perfect Game player profile
Position: RHP
Height: 6-4
Weight: 220
Bats/Throws: R/R
Birthdate: September, 1991
College: San Francisco
Hometown: La Jolla, Calif.
Previously Drafted: Never drafted
Projected Draft Round: 1
Zimmer
was a virtual unknown in the scouting community late last spring when
he hooked up with UCLA righthander Gerrit Cole in an opening-round
game of the NCAA tournament. With a large mass of scouts on hand to
take in what turned out to be Cole’s last opportunity to pitch
before he was ultimately taken with the No. 1 overall selection in
the 2011 draft, it was Zimmer who ended up taking center stage.
The
6-foot-4, 220-pound righthander was dazzling in retiring 26 of the
first 28 UCLA hitters he faced before settling on a 3-0, four-hit
shutout with no walks and 11 strikeouts. It was the first complete
game of his college career and the obvious highlight of an otherwise
modest 6-4, 3.73 sophomore season that included 89 strikeouts in 91
innings.
That
signature outing instantly catapulted Zimmer up 2012 draft boards,
and he did nothing but enhance his new-found status as a potential
first-round pick during the summer in the Cape Cod League, even with
a deceiving 2-5, 3.38 record for Cotuit.
Zimmer
showcased an extremely loose arm on the Cape with a fastball that was
a steady 92-94 mph, topping at 96 in his final outing. He also
flashed a power slider and improving changeup, though the spotty
command of his secondary pitches left room for improvement in the
spring in order to solidify his new-found draft status. Though not as
polished as his Cotuit teammate Chris Beck, a projected early
first-round pick in this year’s draft, some scouts who saw both
pitchers work in the latter stages of the Cape Cod season believed
Zimmer had the higher upside of the two.
Prior
to his breakout sophomore year, Zimmer had pitched sparingly in his
career and was viewed, at best, as a mid-round draft pick. His only
measureable success came during the summer following his freshman
year at San Francisco, when he compiled a 1.37 ERA in 46 innings in
the Cal Ripken League. Throughout most of his career at California’s
La Jolla High, he was known mostly for his hitting acumen, and took
up pitching in earnest only as a prep junior. As a freshman for the
Dons, Zimmer worked just five innings as he transitioned to a
full-time pitcher.
Zimmer
made steady and significant headway on the mound as a sophomore for
USF, and yet even as he took the mound in his celebrated showdown
against Cole, he was less-known to a majority of southern California
scouts than his younger brother Brad, a senior at La Jolla High who
was drawing significant attention in the 2011 draft as a
power-hitting outfielder.
As
fate had it, the younger Zimmer (just 14 months Kyle’s junior)
broke a bone in his hand in the weeks leading up to the draft, which
curtailed much of the draft momentum he had gathered. He subsequently
was picked by the Chicago Cubs in the 23rd round, and elected not to sign in favor of joining his brother Kyle
on the baseball team at USF.
Together,
the Zimmers should become one of the top brother acts in college
baseball this spring. But with Kyle’s spiraling draft status,
they’ll likely end up playing together at USF for only one year.