An In-Depth Look At… Ubaldo Jimenez.

The Mets have shocked the world by actually winning a series.  They took 2/3 from a good Astros team.  It’s time to take another series.  The Mets (46-51) return home tonight to start a 4 game set against the Colorado Rockies (54-44).  In their way will be (RHP) Ubaldo Jimenez.  Here’s the skinny(hardy har) on Jimenez (7-9 3.85 ERA, 1.30 WHIP)…

  Full Name:  Ubaldo Jimenez (Garcia)
Born:  January 22,1984  in  Nagua, Dominican Republic
Height:  6-2  Weight:  160  Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right
High School:   -
College:  None
Drafted:  Signed as an undrafted free agent by the Colorado Rockies in 2001 

Lifetime Record (23-25 3.99ERA, 1.36 WHIP)

 Per MLB.com,

Jimenez showed moxie on Wednesday in a no-decision against the D-backs. He went six innings and was hurt by one pitch — a three-run homer by Miguel Montero — even though he had no fastball command. Taking advantage of the D-backs’ familiarity with him, and trying desperately to stay afloat, Jimenez pocketed his blazing fastball and used his breaking ball for the final three innings of the six he was on the mound.

Jimenez’s last 2 starts courtesy of Foxsports –

Sat. Jul 18, 2009 – Jimenez bounced back from his only shaky inning to finish with 10 strikeouts, leading Colorado to a 5-3 win over San Diego on Friday night.

Jimenez was perfect in the sixth and seventh, and allowed only three hits in seven innings to win for the first time in a month. Jimenez won for the first time in five starts. The right-hander reached double digits in strikeouts for the fifth time in his career and fell one short of his career best, which came against the Padres at Petco Park on May 10, 2008. He allowed all three Padres runs and walked four.(STATS, 4:10pm)

Sat. Jul 11, 2009 – Jimenez was the hard-luck loser again on Friday night, giving up two runs over six innings, only to see the Rockies score just one.

Jimenez struck out eight while allowing six hits and a walk. His ERA now sits at 3.81 with eight of his 18 starts in Coors Field so far, yet his record is just 6-9. His owner probably knows what he has in him, but go ahead and kick the tires to find out just in case there’s a small buy-low opportunity.(RotoWire, 3:12:26 am)

***The last time the Mets faced Jimenez was on June 21st, 2008.  Jimenez held the Mets in check while pitching 8 innings and giving up only1 earned run on 2 hits.  Rockies won 7-1.

Scouting Report per Wikipedia –

With respect to overall power, few pitchers possess the arm strength that makes Jiménez so formidable.

His four-seam fastball is frequently clocked as high as 100 mph, though his average four-seam fastball will typically register between 95-99 mph. Jiménez attains such velocity so frequently, in fact, that during the 2008 season, he had the fastest average fastball among all major league starting pitchers at 94.9 mph. Additionally, no one threw more pitches over 95 mph (1,342) than did Jiménez during the 2008 season.

Jiménez’s two-seam fastball exhibits significant “tailing” action (moving inside on a right-handed batter, and away from a left-handed batter), as well as strong “sinking” action, but not by design. This pitch is thrown with velocity ranging from 93-95 mph. In 2008, Jiménez posted a very robust ground-ball percentage of 54.4%, a testament to this pitch’s effectiveness and making him an ideal pitcher for Coors Field, a ballpark known for home runs.

Jiménez is known to throw a split-finger fastball, having very sharp and very abrupt downward movement in the 90-93 mph range.

The change-up thrown by Jiménez also exhibits strong “sinking” action, so much so that television commentators unfamiliar with Jiménez often have trouble distinguishing his change-up from a sinking fastball or a split-finger fastball. Typically thrown between 85-90 mph, the pitch will tail-away from left-handed batters.

Jiménez’s slider is usually thrown between 84-86 mph while reaching as high as 89-91 mph on occasion. This pitch fools batters with an unusually sharp, late break and is used second most in frequency behind his four-seam fastball. Batters often confuse this pitch with a fastball (the major league average for a fastball is approximately 91 mph) and due to the late-breaking movement of the pitch, are often unable to hit it.

The final pitch in Jiménez’s arsenal is a looping curveball. Used infrequently, it is thrown anywhere between 75-85 mph and exhibits a traditional “12-6″ break.

With such impressive pitching talent, Jiménez was compared to a young Pedro Martinez by his manager, Jim Tracy.  However, control issues still separate him from the elite pitchers in the league.

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