Carlos Zambrano shines in Spring Training as he boosts Miami Marlins’ chances for the season - MLB
When Carlos Zambrano was hammered all across the park by New York Mets’ batters in his first Spring Training outing, his incredible career record of 3.60 ERA and terrific win-loss record of 125-81 along with 1542 strike-outs looked tainted. As he gave up
three runs in just over one inning while allowing a walk three times, his confidence was down.
As an immediate assertion of his mettle, he made batters tremble in a game against Atlanta Braves by pitching consistently around 97 mph. Impressed by his amazing fastball, even Braves’ catcher Brian McCann will not stop uttering words in his praise.
A player who brings so much to the side becomes a greatest concern for the clubs’ overall performance in his lean period. This is even more important in the case of Zambrano who not only performs pitching duties is a fantastic switch-hitter as well. By looking
at his highest number (23) of homers hit by any pitcher in baseball and a reasonably better batting average of .244 together with 69 RBIs he has contributed, one can imagine his significance for Marlins in the season.
He is one of those players who gets under pressure very quickly after going through a rough patch and luckily this particular aspect of his personality is not lost on his club manager Ozzie Guillen.
“We’ll work on that,” Guillen said. “His back stiffened early, but he threw the ball really well. His stuff was good. I was very encouraged about what I saw.”
In a game played at Roger Dean Stadium, he tantalised batters one after another and while being extremely accurate, he grabbed five strike-outs, walked one. The best think about him is his control and the fact he himself acknowledged this as one of his improvements
coming off in the game, analysis of experts who were sitting out and watching his precise pitches about his impeccable control were not wrong.
“I feel good here. I feel at peace,” he said.
Marlins are having a great Spring Training as most of their pitchers are stepping up on the right moments. Even in their today’s game against Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Anibal Sanchez and Wade LeBlanc, their starter and reliever respectively did a fine job. Thus
Zambrano along with the help of other pitchers is going to lift clubs’ chances immensely in the season.
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