The Washington Nationals have announced they will continue to be without their franchise player Ryan Zimmerman. The Washington Post states that the slugger has a torn muscle in his abdomen that requires surgery and will shelf Zimmerman at least another 6 weeks.
Zimmerman and the Nationals do not know the exact root cause of the third baseman’s injury, but the discomfort began during spring training. Zimmerman was rested and trainers held him out of live game action until they believed he was back to full strength.
While Zimmerman was able to return to action and start the regular season with the club, the injury was exacerbated during an April 9th game against the Mets. Zimmerman slid headfirst into second base during that contest and has not returned to the diamond since.
The surgery that is to take place this Tuesday in Philadelphia is expected to sideline Zimmerman for at least 6 weeks. As many teams do, the Nationals and their training staff initially decided to rehab the injury in order to avoid surgery and an extended visit to the DL.
While Zimmerman is undoubtedly frustrated, he notes that it is now good to have ‘closure’ on the situation. He is prepared to move on with the surgery and begin his road to recovery.
Zimmerman will surely be missed by a Nationals team that only has one player with at least 50 at bats hitting above .239. Washington is in the bottom third of many offensive categories; the team’s batting average sitting at a meager .226.