Washington Nationals’ third-baseman Ryan Zimmerman gets extension – MLB News
After a streak of speculation in the media, the Washington Nationals’ talented third-baseman Ryan Zimmerman has finally received a six year extension deal worth $100 million on late Sunday evening.
“They’ve given me everything,” Zimmerman said Sunday afternoon at a news conference attended by 16 team-mates. “They’ve given me a chance to play at this level, a chance to do everything I’ve done. It felt right to kind of give them something back and give them the rest of my career to produce and, ultimately, win a World Series.”
The deal is coming after several speculations about Zimmerman and Nationals who initially had many issues relating to contract length and incentives. But lately both sides agreed on mutual understating and hoped for a better beginning to work hard for the benefit of the team.
“[Zimmerman] has been the face of the Washington Nationals since baseball was returned to Washington,” said team owner Theodore Lerner in a statement. “We are absolutely thrilled that Ryan will continue to help us build our team in a winning direction.”
Experts believe that this is a healthy sign for the Nationals as they now can give more attention to other matters and play with additional excitement when the next Major League regular season starts to show good results in many possible ways.
The contract will help Zimmerman to play the rest of the season here in the Nationals. Already he has completed seven years with the Nationals while his extension will lead him now to play another six years.
Starting his career from the Nationals’ platform in 2005, Zimmerman has now become an active and productive part of the team who has already achieved very good stats of .288 hitting average along with 128 home-runs, 498 RBIs and .355 OBP.
Over the years, Zimmerman’s game has improved with great pace. Initially when he came into the big arena of Major League Baseball, he was okay with his strategic game plan and defensive approach, but later as he grown experienced, he improved his game with enormous amount of hard work. He is now considered one of the best hitters in the Nationals’ franchise.
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