Cleveland Indians: August has been a desert for Bradley Zimmer

Bradley Zimmer has just one hit in the month of August, but the Cleveland Indians rookie hopes the single that broke his 0-for-36 skid is the start of a turnaround.

Much has been made of Aaron Judge‘s second-half struggles, but the Yankees goliath is not the only rookie to fall on hard times in recent weeks. Cleveland Indians outfielder Bradley Zimmer has endured a truly awful month of August thus far. In fact, he has just one hit during the month. Yes, one. It came yesterday afternoon, meaning the 24-year-old went over half of August without a base hit.

To be fair, Zimmer didn’t exactly bring Judge-sized expectations upon himself the way the Yankee slugger did with his incredible first half. But the former top prospect, who was ranked as highly as #22 overall by MLB.com before the start of the season, enjoyed a strong start to his big league career after making his debut on May 16.

Zimmer slashed a healthy .284/.346/.466 over his first three months, clubbing eight home runs and driving in 37 RBI through 66 games. Of course, the 14 games since the beginning of August have been an abject disaster, with yesterday’s single the only thing to show for it. Zimmer’s slash line for the month comes out to a comatose .027/.159/.027 over 44 plate appearances.

Bad fortune obviously plays somewhat of a role. Zimmer’s batting average on balls in play (BABIP) in August is a mere .050. From May through July, it was a buoyant .362. That will naturally correct itself over time, meaning Zimmer probably couldn’t continue hitting this poorly even if he wanted to.

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However, there are other causes for concern. The most blaring being Zimmer’s surge in strikeouts. He sported a 26.4 percent strikeout rate through the month of July, but he’s fanning at a 40.9 percent rate in August. That’s not particularly surprising coming from a rookie with 80 games of MLB experience under his belt, and Zimmer typically rocked a K-rate over 25 percent even as a minor leaguer (and as high as 37.3 percent last year at Triple-A).

On the plus side, Zimmer’s walk rate has actually increased from 8.7 percent to 11.4 percent from May-July to August. But in general, he’s been demonstrating poor plate discipline habits this month. He’s swinging at more pitches outside the strike zone (26.1 percent to 29.0 percent) and fewer pitches in the zone (70.5 percent to 66.2 percent).

There has been some expected hand-wringing over Zimmer’s difficult month, with some even suggesting a trip back to the minors, especially in light of an increasingly crowded outfield after the addition of Jay Bruce. But perhaps yesterday’s hit – innocuous as it may seem – is just the push Zimmer needs to get back on track.

Zimmer himself seems to feel a weight off his shoulders. He said after the game, per cleveland.com,

“It was obviously a huge relief to get that monkey off my back . . . I’d like to think, throughout this slump, this disaster, for how long, I’ve just been trying to stay positive and do what I can. If I’m not swinging the bat, there are plenty of other ways I can help us win.”

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Young players often hit that “rookie wall,” and while Zimmer’s 1-for-37 month might be a bit uglier than what others go through, he’s still only 24 and bound to turn things around. To cushion the blow, his struggles haven’t affected the Tribe’s performance at all: They have won six of their last seven and built a 5.5-game lead in the AL Central.

Statistics courtesy of Fangraphs.