Old habits tend to die hard

Last season the Nats entered the 2008 campaign assuming Shawn Hill would be their ace in the hole. There was one problem, forearm pain. Every time he would pitch, there it would be, forearm pain. Not elbow tendentious, not a torn rotator cuff...just forearm pain.

He said he could pitch through it last year, but a 1-5 record with a 5.83 ERA disagreed; and so did Manny Acta. Hill tried to return to the mound several times in 2008 but just couldn't get past that nagging injury. Finally the Nats decided to shut him down, and give him a long time to rest and heal-up.

Now, no less than two innings into the 2009 training camp, forearm pain.

Stick a fork in him Nats fans, he's done.

Jordan Zimmerman

JZIM on the other hand has another habit he can't seem to kill; impressing people by overachieving. No one expected this 23 year old stud to dominate single and double A last season en route to being named the Nationals top prospect by just about every publication.

He's doing it again.

So far this spring the young pitcher has been absolutely perfect. Coming into camp, many, including The Nats Blog, suggested that he pitch at least half a season down in triple A to ensure he gets good seasoning and wasn't rushed. You can't ignore numbers like this however. Numbers like this give an unknown third basemen like Albert Pujols a job for an injured Fernando Tatis, or a troubled Josh Hamilton a shot at making the Cincinnati Reds. Yeah, it's early as hell...but look what he's done so far:

Jordan Zimmerman, SP
2 G, 5IP, 0H, 0R 0BB, 6K