The Washington Nationals' first 1st Round pick and their 2010 no.1 overall pick will play on the same team on Sunday when the Hagerstown Suns play the Greensboro Grasshoppers in the first game of a three-game series in the Suns' home park, Municipal Stadium. Zimmerman, who'll be starting a rehab stint as he continues to recover from a torn abdominal muscle he originally injured in Spring Training and exacerbated sliding into second in a May 8th game in New York, will play at low-A for the first time since 2005, when the Savanannah Sand Gnats were the Nationals' South Atlantic League affiliate.
A then-20-year-old Zimmerman, fresh off being selected 4th overall by the nation's capital's new team, played four games at A-ball, hitting in 8 of 17 at bats with two doubles, a triple, two home runs and six RBI's before he moved up to Double-A and posted a .326/.371/.528 slash line with 20 doubles and nine HR's in 63 games before he was called up to Washington to make his MLB debut.
Zimmerman will be joining a first-place place Suns squad in taking on the SAL's 2nd place Grasshoppers, and he'll be hitting in a lineup that features the Nats' current top prospect, 18-year-old phenom Bryce Harper. After going 0 for 3 with two walks, two K's, a stolen base and two runs scored last night, Harper has a .340/.431/.613 slash line (1.045 OPS) in 53 games and 194 at bats over which he's connected for 14 doubles and 13 home runs, while driving in 41 and stealing 12 bases in 17 attempts.
No word on how long Zimmerman will remain in Hagerstown, but he is expected, barring any setbacks, to return to the majors when the Nationals return from their current road trip if not sooner...Get down to Hagerstown, or you might have to wait til late 2012 to see these two in the same lineup...