Zimmerman gets soaked on his 10th career walkoff. Photo via mlb.com
When we last checked in on Ryan Zimmerman, aka Mr. Walkoff, it was July 2013 and he had just hit his 9th career such homer.
Well, last night he hit another. His 10th career walk-off, an excuse-me shot down the RF line that bounced off the flag-pole and won a fun back-and-forth game against the visiting Yankees 8-6. Here’s his career homer log via baseball-reference.
Last night’s shot wasn’t in his pantheon of great walk-offs: i’ll put these as his best:
- The game-winner in the Nats Stadium opener in April 2008, salvaging a blown save in the top of the 9th.
- A 2-run walk-off against Chien-Ming Wang on Fathers Day 2006 against the Yankees, a game in which the team set its long-running regular season attendance record.
But walk-offs are always awesome to watch, whether you’re at home or elsewhere.
Thanks to this SI.com article by Jay Jaffe, which did the baseball-reference.com play-index work for us, we know that Zimmerman is now tied for 10th all time in walkoffs. The current active leaders in walk-offs are two noteworthy names; David Ortiz connected for his 11th and most recent walk-off homer on 6/6/13, as detailed by Billy-Ball.com. Albert Pujols either has 10 or 11, depending on if you believe his homer log (which has him at 10) or B-R’s play finder, which says 11. Since B-R itself says the Play Index data is more up-to-date, I’ll go with 11.
Jim Thome hit his 13th in June of 2012 to take over the career lead just before he retired and is the all-time leader. Just behind Thome, tied for 2nd all-time, is this quintet of Hall-of-Famers: Jimmy Foxx, Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, Stan Musial and Frank Robinson.
That’s quite heady company; every name I’ve mentioned here is either a Hall-of-Famer or should be.
Being that Ortiz is nearly done, and Pujols is on the decline, and Zimmerman is just 30 and may have another decade in him, it seems like a safe bet that Zimmerman will eventually be the all-time walk-off leader. Heck, he already had seven through is first 5 pro seasons. We’ll keep track every time he hits one for sure.
Other links on the topic from the blogosphere:
- Baseballmusings.com
- CirclingtheBases
- NatsJournal, which has descriptions and links to video for all 10!
Quick recap of all 10:
1. Home vs Yankees, off of Chien-Ming Wang (Fathers day 2006)
2. Home vs Marlins, off of Joe Borowski
3. Home vs Marlins, off of Jorge Julio (Mother’s day 2007)
4. Home vs Braves, off of Peter Moylan (opening day 2008)
5. Home vs Marlins, off of Leo Nunez
6. Home vs Padres, off of Luke Gregerson
7. Home vs Phillies, off of Brad Lidge (7/31/10)
8. Home vs Phillies, off of Ryan Madsen (8/19/11)
9. Home vs Mets, off of LaTroy Hawkins
10. Home vs Yankees, off of Andrew Miller (his first runs allowed of the year).