Carlos Zambrano
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| Chicago Cubs — No. 38 | |
| Pitcher | |
| Bats: Switch | Throws: Right |
| Major League Baseball debut | |
|---|---|
| August 20, 2001 for the Chicago Cubs | |
| Selected MLB statistics (through 29 March 2007) |
|
| Wins-Losses | 64 - 42 |
| ERA | 3.29 |
| Strikeouts | 865 |
Carlos Alberto Zambrano(born June 1, 1981 Puerto Cabello, Venezuela) (raised in San Antonio de los Altos, Miranda State) is a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who has played for the Chicago Cubs since 2001. He has emerged as one of the best starting pitchers today in MLB. He is a switch-hitter (which is rare in baseball, especially for a pitcher) and throws right-handed.
Zambrano, an imposing figure at 6'5 and 255 pounds, was signed by the Cubs as an amateur free agent in 1997 and made his debut in 2001. After being used in both starting and relief duties, he enjoyed his first full season as a starter in 2003, finishing with a 13-11 record, 168 strikeouts and a 3.11 ERA. He was also a major contributor in the Cubs' run to the National League playoffs, in which they would come up five outs shy of the World Series, losing to the eventual world champion Florida Marlins.
Zambrano has been noted for his vibrant personality on the mound. He allows his emotions to be readily evident, always indicating whether he is happy with his performance or not. Zambrano's pitches match this eclectic nature, as every pitch in his repertoire has significant movement. His pitches come out of a slinging, three-quarters to low three-quarters delivery. His main pitch is his hard, moving two-seam & four-seam fastball that clocks anywhere from 94-98 mph, but usually settling around 96 or 97 mph. Carlos has a heavy cannonball of a sinker that he likes to throw with a split grip. This pitch usually winds up getting beaten into the ground by the batter which is one reason Zambrano likes pitching at Chicago's Wrigley Field with its tall, thick grass. He always makes sure to mix in plenty of sharp-breaking sliders & splits to keep hitters from sitting on his fastball. He has also developed a change-up that he throws mostly to left-handed batters. His main weakness is a lack of pinpoint control, leading to a tendency to surrender walks. Nevertheless, Zambrano seems to be hurt less by giving up walks than most pitchers, due to the fact that batters hit many more ground balls than fly balls against him. This can be attributed to the sinking movement of his fastball. He rarely surrenders home runs (65 in his career) and often induces double plays.
In 2004, Zambrano led his team in ERA (2.75, fourth in the league), won 16 games (tied with teammate Greg Maddux), collected 188 strikeouts, and led the league in hit batsmen (20). He also got his first All-Star berth.
Through 29 September 2006, Zambrano has posted a 63-41 record with 849 strikeouts and a 3.28 ERA in 933.2 innings. A switch-hitter, he hits well for a pitcher, either bunting or swinging away. He is a career .220 hitter with 10 home runs and 28 RBI, good numbers for a pitcher, especially in the power categories. He tied the club record for home runs by a pitcher in a single season after clubbing six round trippers in 2006. Ferguson Jenkins is the other Cub great who compiled six home runs in one season as a pitcher.
Zambrano is one of only 2 ballplayers who pitched in the NL in 2006 who won at least 13 games in each year from 2003-06, the other being Greg Maddux.
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[edit] 2003 and 2004 seasons
- Carlos joined the Cubs starting rotation in 2003 and started 32 games in the fourth spot in the rotation, behind Mark Prior, Kerry Wood, and Matt Clement. The Cubs won the National League Central division, and were one win away from going to the World Series before being defeated by the Florida Marlins. The following year, Carlos improved his statistics by lowering his ERA to 2.75 and increasing his strikeout total to 188. His record was the best on the Cubs staff that year, compiling a 16-8 record.
- Some of his most memorable starts have been against the rival St. Louis Cardinals. The first was on May 2nd, where he and Matt Morris threw shutout innings, and Carlos registered 12 strikeouts before being lifted in the 8th inning for a pinch hitter. The next was on July 19th, where he and Jim Edmonds built upon the rivalry between two Midwestern teams. In the first inning, Edmonds was hit by a pitch to load the bases. In the fourth inning, Edmonds connected for a home run, and watched the ball go over the fence from home plate. An agitated Zambrano yelled at Edmonds as he crossed the plate, but the night was far from over. In his next at bat in the sixth inning, Carlos struck Edmonds out on three pitches, and wagged his finger at Edmonds on his way to the dugout. In the eighth inning with the score tied, Scott Rolen hit a two-out, two-run home run to break a 3-3 tie. Edmonds was the next batter, which Zambrano immediately hit with a pitch and was ejected from the game.
[edit] 2005 season
- August 7 - In just the fourth meeting of pitchers with the same last name since 2000, Víctor Zambrano of the New York Mets outdueled Carlos Zambrano in front of 40,321 fans at Shea Stadium, pitching the New York Mets to a 6-1 win and a sweep of the three-game series. Both Zambranos entered with 42 career wins, the second time in major league history that opposing starters with the same last name came in with matching victory totals, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The other was on June 15, 1944, when Red Barrett of the Boston Braves and Dick Barrett of the Philadelphia Phillies each had 19 career wins. Like the Barretts, Víctor and Carlos obviously share a double feat, but the similarities don't end there. The Zambranos were born in Venezuela, both throw with their right arm, both switch hit, and both wear No. 38. Beside this, it was the fourth time in modern major league history that starting pitchers with a last name beginning with Z faced each other, according to ESPN. Víctor and Carlos Zambrano have both faced Barry Zito of the Oakland Athletics.
- Coming just shy of no-hitters, Zambrano pitched three complete game one-hitters in 2005.
- Zambrano had an excellent year hitting, with a .300 batting average and one home run.
- Zambrano finished the season sixth in the National League in strikeouts (202), tenth in earned run average (3.26), and third in winning percentage (70%, with a record of 14-6), seventh in WHIP (1.15), tenth in strikeouts per nine innings (8.14), and ninth in innings pitched (223 1/3).
[edit] 2006 season
Carlos Zambrano went to his second All-Star Game during the 2006 season. He was slated to pitch two innings in the game, however, he had to sit out the game after suffering a minor injury when he was accidentally hit by White Sox third base coach Joey Cora's fungo bat during pre-game warmups. He finished the 2006 season 16-7 with a 3.41 ERA and 8.83 strikeouts per 9 innings. He gave up a major-league-worst 4.84 walks per 9 innings.[1] Despite the Cubs' generally miserable season, finishing with the worst record in the National League, 2006 was a transformative year for Zambrano, as he thrived under the pressure of assuming the number-one role in the Cubs' rotation as the former aces apparent, Mark Prior and Kerry Wood, were incapacitated for the vast majority of the season. Zambrano, despite still being occasionally prone to letting a bad start get away from him, developed from an emotional fireballer to a more mature and calculating pitcher who gained greater placement and movement on his breaking pitches while retaining his devastating two-seam and four-seam fastballs, the latter often showing that most unhittable combination of 98 mph heat and unexpected movement. Zambrano has always been well-known for his displays of emotion: he rises and falls with the ups and downs of the game, unable or unwilling to hide exuberance after a key out or great frustration after failure. This unsuppressed emotionality has sometimes been called a weakness, and at times in 2006 it appeared to many fans that Zambrano was consciously attempting to tamp his emotions down. However, Zambrano's apparent experiment failed quickly, as his least emotional starts were rarely the most dominating. Furthermore, Zambrano's indulgence of his emotion not only seemed to have a net positive effect on his performance, but endeared him to fans and made him today indisputably the Cubs' fan favorite by a wide margin. Always popular and an exciting pitcher, it was arguably not until 2006 that Cubs fans collectively accepted that both Prior and Wood were unlikely to overcome their injuries, and Zambrano's combination of intimidating attitude and performance made him the team's top draw and only truly indispensable player.
Zambrano's ERA of 3.41, while quite good in any circumstance, was inflated by a couple of quick exits in the beginning of the season and a somewhat less effective final few starts, possibly due to running up relatively high pitch counts throughout the season. During the middle months of the season, Zambrano was generally dominant, and established himself as one of the National League's top pitchers. He was often mentioned as a Cy Young candidate, although the Cubs' last-place finish made wins hard to come by. Despite getting no-decisions or losses towards the end of the season, his 16-7 record was still noteworthy for a weak-hitting, 66-win team. He also registered 210 strikeouts and a .207 batting average against; both led the National League. His summer streak earned him the National League Pitcher of the Month award for the month of July.
Adding to Zambrano's reputation as a formidable player is his ability as a hitter. Zambrano's batting average had previously been relatively high for a pitcher, averaging in the .230s and even reaching .300 in 2005, in 80 at bats (a full season for a pitcher). In 2006, however, Zambrano apparently decided to forgo the traditional sacrifice bunts and slap-singles that are the only option for most NL pitchers, and test his skills at swinging away. While Zambrano's batting average dipped to a more pitcher-like .151 (although this figure was higher at many times during the season), Zambrano's new ability to hit home runs more than made up for the loss of batting average. It established him as a rare and valuable commodity in the National League, where most teams are forced to watch many a rally die due to an automatic out every nine batters. Despite his low batting average, Zambrano's 12 AB/HR ratio is around that of top power hitters (it would translate to 49-50 home runs in 600 ABs, although the need to raise batting average would reduce power). Zambrano finished the season with six home runs as a batter, the most by a pitcher in a season since Mike Hampton of the Colorado Rockies hit seven in 2001, and not far from the all-time mark of nine (excluding Babe Ruth), set by Wes Ferrell in 1931. His hitting prowess led then-Cubs manager Dusty Baker take the very rare step of using him as a pinch-hitter 4 times during the 2006 season. Unfortunately, he went 0-4 with 2 strikeouts. Still, Zambrano's dangerous hitting earned him a Silver Slugger award. He avoided arbitration with the Cubs by agreeing to a one year, $12.4 million dollar deal.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- ESPN - profile and daily updates
- Baseball Reference - career statistics and analysis
