Traverse City Record-Eagle

Sports

Related Photos

  • Kyle Zimmerman

    CSS156.jpg
July 11, 2012

Zimmerman to play in All-Star game today

Frankfort grad playing summer ball in Terra Haute

By MIKE ECKERT meckert@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — From All-Stater to All-Star.

Frankfort's Kyle Zimmerman will make that transition complete today when he plays in the Prospect League All-Star game in Springfield, Ill.

"It's quite an honor to be named to the team, especially in this league," Zimmerman said. "There's a lot of good players. It's been a lot of fun so far. I'm looking forward to going down there and playing these guys."

A 2011 Frankfort grad, Zimmerman is one of nine pitchers representing the West Division today. The Prospect League is a summer wooden bat league for collegiate players composed of 12 teams.

Zimmerman joins Kyle Kempf, Michael Schroeder, Nick Johnson and fellow pitchers Tommy Strunc and Nick Blount as All-Stars from the Terre Haute Rex.

"It's been going pretty good," Zimmerman said. "We started a little slow. We had guys coming back from finishing their school seasons. But now we've got everyone back. We're starting to put some wins together and playing pretty well."

The Rex finished the first half of the season 16-13 and in third place in the West Division. Seven games into the second half, they're 5-2 and a game up on Dubois County for first place.

Zimmerman has started seven games this year for Terre Haute with a 3-0 record, a 2.95 ERA, 43 strikeout and 19 walks in 42.2 innings. He's also played 26 games at first base and is batting .258.

"It's nice to be able to see more pitching and face more batters," Zimmerman said. "And I've learned some new stuff from the coaches down here."

This spring, Zimmerman wrapped up his freshman year at Wayne State University. He had a 4.97 ERA in eight appearances while hitting .287 with 20 runs scored.

The Warriors reached the NCAA Midwest Regional with a 34-21 record.

"We had a pretty good year this year," Zimmerman said. "It was a big difference going from high school to college, but hopefully we'll have a better year next year and go further."

After the All-Star game, Zimmerman will turn his attention to the second half of the season with Terre Haute. The Rex travel to Hannibal, Mo., on Friday before returning home on Sunday to face Springfield.

Text Only