Royals’ Zimmer could experience a career-first: officially pitching to younger brother
Kyle Zimmer knows this weekend’s season-opening series holds the potential for some family history that dates back to his childhood days in the backyard and a fierce-yet-loving brotherly competition.
The No. 5 overall pick in the 2012 MLB Draft by the Kansas City Royals, the 28-year-old right-handed pitcher made their opening day roster for the second consecutive year after battling myriad of injuries throughout his professional career.
With the Royals beginning the season at AL Central Division rival Cleveland, Zimmer could find himself pitching against younger brother Bradley, 27, an outfielder and first-round pick (No. 21 overall) by the Indians in 2014.
“There actually hasn’t been an official Zimmer versus Zimmer, ever,” Zimmer said. “We played together in high school. We played together in college for a year. But we never actually faced each other.
“We were living together during the quarantine and trained together. He was standing in on some of my bullpens. I don’t really like that now because now he’s seen it a little bit. But it was good because I needed a batter in there to get some feedback and he needed a pitcher to see some stuff.”
A 6-foot-3, 225-pounder with a blazing fastball, Zimmer endured four surgeries in his first six minor-league seasons. After spending the 2018 season rehabbing his body and working with Driveline Baseball on his biomechanics, he stayed healthy throughout last season.
Bradley, the 6-foot-5, 220-pound “little brother,” showed a combination of speed in power throughout his career in the minors. He started in center field for the Indians in 2017.
But Bradley has also been plagued by injuries that have kept him off the field in recent seasons.
A season-ending broken hand shortened his 2017 campaign. He missed games in 2018 with rib and chest injuries sustained from a crash into a wall in Yankee Stadium. Then he suffered a shoulder injury that required season-ending surgery to repair a torn labrum.
Last season after Bradley rehabbed from the shoulder surgery, he suffered an oblique strain and ended the season having played in just nine MLB games.
“As it sort of progressed and injuries kept happening, he was always there for me and something to rely on,” the elder Zimmer said. “He was always there for whatever I needed whether it was to talk through stuff or get my mind off of baseball and just be my brother.
“When he started having some stuff, I obviously had a plethora of experience in that department. He was able to lean on me a little bit more, and I was able to talk him off the ledge a little bit. Talk to any athlete who is going through some tough injuries, it’s tough and it really grinds on you.”
The two spent time together on Thursday after the Royals arrived in Cleveland, and they called their parents.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and MLB playing in empty ballparks, their friends and family will watch the series from afar and wait to see if the showdowns that once played out in the brothers’ backyard finally takes place in the majors.
What will it feel like for Zimmer if he’s on the mound when his brother steps into the batter’s box for a one-on-one matchup?
“I’ve thought about it,” Zimmer said. “I honestly don’t know. I’m going to try to treat it like another hitter, but seeing my little brother step in there in a big-league stadium, I don’t know what it’s going to be like. It will be interesting. It’s just another hitter in the box at that point.
“It is pretty cool. After it’s all said and done looking back on this and being able to show hopefully my kids and his kids a bit later on down the road that your dads could do it a little bit back in the day.”
Of course, all that respectful reflection comes later.
“Right now, just trying to punch him out,” Zimmer said.
This story was originally published July 25, 2020 at 11:06 AM with the headline "Royals’ Zimmer could experience a career-first: officially pitching to younger brother."
