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May Flowers Bring Quest For 2B Zimmer
June 2, 2043: Yellow Springs – The Yellow Springs Nine made a semi-controversial move late last year when they asked Dong-po Thum to move over to second base. Why mess with a good thing, right? Thum was a dazzling offensive force and a Zimmer quality glove at the hot corner, after all. “I can’t imagine the terror the first baseman must have facing Thum’s rocket arm from second base,” one pundit said.
In 2043, though, the team made it official, starting Thum at second. After a rugged first month that saw Thum struggle at the plate, and play a somewhat mediocre second base, the month of May has righted the ship. Now Thum hit .316/.386/.509 on the month, dropping five doubles, four triples, and three homers from the lead-off spot. On the seasons he’s stolen 20 bases in 25 attempts. More relevant to the point, his defense has risen to the top again with a +2.9 ZR (5th in the Frick) built mostly on his May numbers.
As they say, April showers bring May flowers.
“It’s pretty clear he’s going to surpass Edgardo Encarnacion and Rocky Wattson (of Sacramento and Chicago),” said BBA This Moment pundit Gayle Combs. “So the question of whether Thum can win a Zimmer at second really deems to come down to whether he can get past Portland’s Nikita Schipper or Vancouver’s Roberto Beltran.” She went on to say that may be a tough mountain to climb “because the Pacific division generates a lot of weak grounders to second base.”
“I’m really just trying to win baseball games,” Thum said in a brief interview yesterday. “I figure if we do that, the rest of the things just fall into place.”
