Washington Nationals' Ryan Zimmerman Shut Down With Back Soreness

The Washington Nationals have shut down first baseman Ryan Zimmerman for the next few days after he jammed the left side of his upper back and shoulder area Friday says Nationals insider Mark Zuckerman of CSN Wasington.com.

Zim says he jammed back of L shoulder/upper back on diving play yesterday. Feels better today. No MRI needed. Expects to miss 2-3 days.
— Mark Zuckerman (@ZuckermanCSN) March 28, 2015

Zimmerman left Friday's game with the St. Louis Cardinals after diving for the ball in the top of the first inning. He strained his upper back and shoulder on the play but remained in the game long enough to bat in the bottom half of the inning and play the field one more time. Zuckerman said that manager Matt Williams then removed Zimmerman more for precautionary reasons, and the first baseman should return by the middle of the coming week. Zuckerman writes, "the veteran first baseman expects to be back in the Nationals’ lineup within the next 2-3 days and thus ready for Opening Day."

Zuckerman then quoted the veteran third baseman-turned-first baseman discussing the injury and saying that it is not a serious issue. Said Zimmerman,

“I feel really good right now. If I were to need to take two or three days to rest, it wouldn’t be a big deal. I feel ready to go.... It’s not really my shoulder; it’s more back in here somewhere. When I dove for that ball, I just sort of extended and landed on it. I don’t even know the right word: Jammed it, or did something. It feels way better today than it did yesterday. I took my at-bat. I could’ve kept going. I just felt it was smart to let them know, say something.”

At this point, the Nationals have no plans for further evaluation, but if he cannot play again as soon as expected, then that evaluation should happen.

So far this spring, Zimmerman is hitting .256 with 5 RBI in 39 at-bats. In his 10-year career, all with Washington, he has a line of .286/.352/.476 with 184 HR and 710 RBI in 1,198 regular-season games. He played in only 61 games last year -- many of them in left field -- because of a fractured right thumb very early in the season and a strained right hamstring in the second half. Both DL stints lasted more than 50 days.

Zimmerman has had four such stints of 50+ days in his career.