KC Royals: Kyle Zimmer finally showed why he was a first round pick

The KC Royals finally got to see the pitcher they thought they were getting when they took Kyle Zimmer No. 5 overall in 2012.

It hasn’t been an easy road for Kyle Zimmer since he was selected fifth overall by the Kansas City Royals in 2012. Mostly, Zimmer has been decimated by injuries up to this point (and even this year), which postponed his MLB call-up to as late as 2019.

Before he finally got a shot to pitch in the big leagues, most Royals fans had written him off. It seemed unrealistic for the guy to stay healthy for the course of an entire season, so no one was really optimistic about him contributing for this team at any point.

Zimmer was taken so high in 2012 and the hope was that he’d be a part of those 2014 and 2015 teams, whether in the rotation or in the bullpen. Instead, he was struggling to stay healthy and the team who drafted him went on to win the World Series without him in 2015.

Kyle Zimmer has shown the KC Royals that he has first round talent.

Zimmer finally got to pitch in front of Royals fans in 2019, as he was on the Opening Day roster that year. It wasn’t a great season for Zimmer and he spent a good chunk of the season in the minor leagues, but he did appear in 15 games and threw 18.1 innings during that time. Unfortunately, his numbers weren’t great, as he sported an ERA over 10 and a WHIP of 2.56.

The 2020 season was Zimmer’s last shot to prove himself to the Royals and to the fans and he did just that. He only appeared in 16 games this year, but threw 23 innings and had an impressive ERA of 1.57 and a WHIP of 1.04 when it was all said and done. He was typically used as a longer reliever, pitching more than just a single inning more often than not, though he did start against the Tigers in an opener role.

His best performance came in just his third appearance of the season when he pitched three innings of relief against the White Sox on Aug. 1 and allowed just three hits and zero runs. While he didn’t go three innings again, a lot of Zimmer’s appearances did see him go past just one inning. The problem, of course, was that he once again landed on the injured list and couldn’t stay healthy, even for a shortened season.

Despite getting injured, Zimmer was terrific in 2020 and showed the Royals that he can be the pitcher they envisioned him being when they took him No. 5 overall eight years ago. He’s 29 years old, however, and the fact that he’s had so many injuries up to this point doesn’t exactly pave the way to a long and prosperous career for the former first rounder.

Hopefully Kyle Zimmer can give the Royals something as they look to turn the corner on this rebuild. He showed this year that he has first round talent and the Royals have to be relieved about that.