Left hand Bruce Zimmermann is signing with the Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization through the season, the team announced this weekend (credit to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net). The Covenant Sports Group client is guaranteed $370K for the rest of the season with an opportunity to pick up another $70K worth of incentives.
Zimmermann, 31, briefly bounced around the majors with the Cardinals this season, pitching five innings and allowing three runs. That marked his sixth season in the major leagues. He has thrown a total of 169 1/3 innings in the majors since his 2020 debut with the Orioles. Most of that time was spent with Baltimore, but Zimmermann pitched six innings with the Brewers last year in addition to his brief cameo with the St. Louis Cardinals. Louis in 2026.
Throughout his six major league seasons, Zimmermann has worked for an unimpressive 5.63 earned run average. His 17.3% strikeout rate is shy of average, but his 5.2% walk rate is excellent. He is the quintessential finesse lefty, sitting in the 90 mph range on his fastball and relying on command to overcome a lack of swing and misses. That approach hasn’t served him very well in the big leagues, but Zimmermann has a 4.11 ERA in parts of seven Triple-A seasons — a total of 523 innings pitched. He started 15 games for the Cardinals’ senior team in Memphis this season and posted a clean 3.78 ERA with a 25.7% strikeout rate, a 6.4% walk rate and a 42.9% ground ball rate.
The Cardinals designated Zimmermann for assignment and sent him to Memphis earlier this month. He turned down his direct assignment in favor of freedom and is now headed overseas with a stronger bullpen than he would if he spent the balance of the season in Triple-A.
It is common for players signed during this type of season, if they perform well, to re-sign with the club the following year. If Zimmermann performs well in his first game overseas, he could shell out a seven-figure salary to return to the Eagles next year. Good hitting may also generate interest from other KBO clubs and/or Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball teams.
