Facing Ubaldo Jimenez

Two days ago started the same as every other day in extended spring training. Wake up at 6:30, get to the complex, eat breakfast, and do some early work hitting before our stretch. We had a normal morning practice working on baseball and defense followed by batting practice. We were scheduled to play the Rockies at our facility in the afternoon. During lunch there was a rumor circulating throughout our clubhouse..that the Rockies major league ace pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez was starting against us. Jimenez started opening day for the Rockies but reported having some problems with his right throwing thumb. He is currently on the 15 day disabled list and is throwing in extended spring training until he will be eligible to return to the big league roster on April 17th. Last year Ubaldo went 19-8 with a 2.88 ERA, came in 3rd in the National League Cy Young voting, and was the national league starter in the the all-star game. Oh, and he also threw a no-hitter against the Braves.

Jimenez delivering a pitch in the 9th inning of his no-hitter

Once we knew Jimenez was starting against us and both my roomie Bercume and I were playing, we decided to bring out Berc's flip cam to video tape our at bats off the all-star. I stepped up to the plate in the second inning with 2 outs and a runner on third. When the video starts it is an 0-1 count as Jimenez buckled my knees with a first pitch slider for a strike before the camera was ready. But, you can watch the rest of the at bat on the video below. Nice camera work by Josh Whitaker getting my swing, then showing Ubaldo.

As you just saw I lined a single into left field on a 4-seam fastball. I had another at bat off Ubaldo, but we didn't get that one on tape, and it wasn't as pretty. I ground out to 3rd base on one of the best pitches I've seen..a 2-seam fastball in the 90s that ran hard towards me. His fastball ranged anywhere from 88-97 mph. There is no doubt that he has great stuff, but we hit some balls hard off of him. 

In the first inning, my teammate, Zhi Fang Pan, hit a home run to right field off Jimenez. Everyone in the dugout was going crazy and deservedly so, he hit a home run off the guy who started in the all-star game last year. It was Pan's first professional home run and he returned to the dugout to say 'UNBELIEVABLE'...Pan speaks very little english and has a translator with him at all times. So I started talking to Pan through his translator and asked if he knew who the pitcher was. To all of our surprise he shook his head, no. We told the translator who the pitcher was, he knew the name Ubaldo right away and even recalled that he was in the Cy Young voting the previous season. At first Pan didn't believe it as his eyes grew big and he said 'no, no' and pointed towards the mound. His translator assured him it was the flame throwing right hander. I just thought it was great that he had no idea who he was facing when he approached the plate, and I had been hearing rumors about Jimenez over an hour before the game.