26 Game Hit Streak

In his first at bat last night, Ryan Zimmerman extended his hit streak to 26 games.

Impressive stuff. I never really care about hitting streaks until they reach 30 games, but this one seems to be more intriguing. Ryan Zimmerman had a great rookie season and since then he has struggled a bit to improve on that. Seeing this 26 game hit streak (as flukey of a thing that it may be) might have the making of a good young player turning into a great young player, which for me is a little more notable than watching Luis Castillo bloop and bunt his way to his.

Zimmerman played on the same AAU team as David Wright (and BJ Upton), so he's forever linked with his divisional rival. When defense is considered part of the equation Zimmerman can hold his own against Wright, but so far Wright has been the better player. I won't say Zimmerman has become a better overall player than Wright after a 26 game hit streak, but you certainly have to entertain the possibility that these players are getting very close. Wright's first 2 full seasons he was worth 5.8 and 4.6 WAR, but then he really came out and put up 8.4 and 7.4 WAR seasons the last two years. In Zimms first seasons he was right inline with Wright with 4.1 and 5.1 WAR, but last year he took a step backwards with 2.2 WAR.

And this year? Zimmerman has already put up 1.7 WAR, and just for shits and gigs Wright is at 0.7. It's still worth noting that Zimmerman's wOBA in his possible 'break out' season is currently .405, while Wright's career wOBA is .395, so he still has a ways to go, but this is a good start.

If the Nationals want to have any chance to compete (in the future), Zimmerman is going to have to earn the extension they gave him and then some. A lot of other things need to happen (getting something out of Millege and/or Dukes, having something that resembles a pitching rotation and a bullpen), but it starts with Zimmerman, and so far he's done that.