In the News
11/29/06.. addition.. Baseball Weekly
Colorado is also trying to stay patient with Jimenez, another young pitcher with big potential. The 22-year-old right-hander shot up through the system this season and earned a call-up to the big club in September. He has pitched well in winter ball in the Dominican Republic, raising hopes he could land a spot in the 2007 rotation.
"We won't count on Ubaldo," O'Dowd says, "but we certainly will keep a close eye on him as we get into spring training, because if he's ready, he's the type of guy (who) if you start him in the bottom of your rotation, by the middle or end of the year you may have a solid No. 2 or 3 starter. He's got dominant stuff. It's a matter of whether he can show enough consistent command."
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Jimenez, 22, delivers a good fastball out of his 6-4, 200-pound frame. He dominated at Tulsa, wasn't quite as sharp in 13 outings for Colorado Springs and made it into two games with the Rockies (registering a 3.52 ERA).
Jimenez has shown a knack for setting up hitters with his fastball and fooling them with his changeup. "He's maturing as a pitcher," Gustafson says. "He's not just a thrower anymore."
Jimenez could earn a major league job in the spring but more realistically would start the season at Colorado Springs, then get called up in midseason.
10/2/06.. addition.. Rocky
Jimenez long has been one of the Rockies' top pitching prospects, but two years ago he suffered a stress fracture in his right shoulder, and he admits he was hesitant to let loose a year ago for fear of reaggravating that injury.
This year, though, he said he felt healthy all year, and he pitched like it. He was a combined 14-4 with a 3.80 ERA at Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Colorado Springs, where he made 13 starts before being brought to the big leagues in September.
Now he will head to his native Dominican for the winter, where he will pitch for Licey, hoping to refine that fastball command that would allow him to force the Rockies to give him serious consideration for a big-league job in the spring.
9/28/06.. addition.. MLB.com
Hurdle announced that right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez (0-0, 0.00 ERA), who made his Major League debut with a scoreless inning against the Dodgers, will start Sunday afternoon's season finale against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
"I like it when you see pitchers establish a downhill plane, and they throw low strikes," Hurdle said. "We saw some of that.
"We know his secondary pitches at times can be Major League. We know his fastball velocity can be mid-90s. It all comes down to the ability to pitch and pitch consistently."
9/6/06.. info
Right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez, considered the Rockies' top starting-pitching prospect, is with the club, but don't expect him to be activated unless there is an injury.
8/10/06.. addition.. MLB.com
Special front office assistant Marcel Lachemann, the organization's resident pitching expert, said the Triple-A apprenticeship is going as the club expected. "When he was at Double-A, he was getting to the point where he was actually dominating that league," Lachemann said. "The only way to learn is to go somewhere where you have to pay for your mistakes. He's had some good games and some good parts of games, but he's still learning."
Jimenez has a strong fastball and chageup. He has displayed a good breaking ball although "it lacks the consistency that he'll need up here," according to Lachemann, but it's improving.
6/30/06.. addition.. Rocky
In 2004, he went 4-1 with a 2.23 ERA with Visalia (Calif.), which was then the Rockies' high Single-A affiliate but his season essentially ended after nine starts with what was diagnosed as the beginning of a stress fracture in his right shoulder. When Jimenez returned, his delivery was horribly different. He had developed the habit of hooking his right hand behind his back, more in his stretch than windup and more with his curveball than fastball, and paused as he hooked the ball. In the process, he was tipping his pitches because opponents easily could see his grip on the ball.
Asked about breaking the habit, Jimenez said, "It wasn't easy. I worked on that for like two years."
Tulsa pitching coach Bo McLaughlin echoed that sentiment.
"He did something not many people can do. And that's abbreviating his delivery and going ahead and building up his tempo to where he doesn't have that long pause and is tipping his pitches," McLaughlin said. "It took a lot of work from the kid and lot of discipline, and it wasn't easy."
Jimenez has hit 98 to 99 mph with his fastball this season and pitches at 95 to 96 mph. His curveball, an outstanding pitch before he was hurt and altered his delivery, is inconsistent, McLaughlin said..
"That's the one thing he needs to go ahead and finish off," McLaughlin said. But better mechanics, McLaughlin said, have given Jimenez improved fastball command, more velocity and a better changeup.
The latter has "a lot more depth than run, so he can use it to left- and right-handers," McLaughlin said.
6/25/06.. addition.. Post
Tulsa manager, Stu Cole noted that his 22-year-old right-hander from the Dominican Republic has taken to a new delivery and moved ahead of other pitchers by a step or two. Cole explained Jimenez is taking his arm straight back instead of hooking it behind his back in the throwing motion.
"He's locating his fastball and he really has good command of his pitches," Cole said.
6/5/06.. addition.. Rocky.. thumbnail sketch
After recovering from shoulder strain that sidelined him for most of 2004, developed bad habit of wrapping arm on backside of delivery, particularly on curveball and when working out of stretch. Delivery is much improved, and while curveball hasn't regained pre-injury effectiveness, changeup has become an asset.
5/15/06.. addition.. Baseball America.com
Rockies righthander Ubaldo Jimenez was battling consistency issues early this season, as the command of both his fastball and curveball showed flashes of brilliance but not nearly enough consistency.
Jimenez, who is still trying to regain strength and prove he's durable after sustaining a stress fracture in his throwing shoulder late in the 2004 season, walked four and struck out three in five innings against Midland last week. But he came back with a vengeance Sunday, whiffing 10 over six innings against the Travelers.
Part of the sketchiness in his command has been because a crack in the nail of his middle finger during his May 2 start. That problem has been resolved, but there's still plenty of work to do.
"We really have a lot of work going on with him," assistant GM Bill Geivett said. "The time when he was out, I think came back a little rusty in terms of where he was at with his delivery and he came back slowly.
"So just in terms of delivery and the path of his arm--he's getting his arm way behind the rest of his body at times right now. So we've been doing a lot of work in shortening his arm path and he's taken to it well."
5/08/06.. Purps 30 .. Purple row.com
3. Ubaldo Jimenez - RHP
Jimenez' stuff is right now the best in the Rockies system. He's got mid-nineties velocity on a lively fastball (usually works in the low nineties) a wicked curve, and a decent changeup. He's got some mechanical issues that he's still trying to work out to better avoid injury in the future, and this has had somewhat of a detrimental effect on his control this year. If he can pull it together and bring both the mechanics and stuff in line, watch out.
4/10/06.. addition.. Rocky
The Rockies kept Jimenez at Tuscon an extra week so he can continue to work on his delivery, specifically to rid himself of a habit that was pronounced when he returned from a shoulder injury that limited him to nine starts in 2004. Jimenez was taking his arm back toward first base and hooking his hand, meaning his arm had to follow a lengthy path to complete his delivery. While Jimenez has enough power to pitch that way, it would affect his command and result in a loopy rather than sharp curveball, making it harder for him to realize his potential as a quality big-league starter.
2/28/06.. analysis.. FOXSports.com
Jimenez opened 2004 in dominant fashion, going 4-1 with a 2.23 ERA and a 61/12 K/BB ratio in 44 1/3 innings for Single-A Visalia before coming down with a stress reaction in his shoulder. He tried to return in August, but it didn't take. Back last year, he showed his usual impressive velocity, but the command just wasn't there. Jimenez can throw in the mid-90s, and his curveball is an excellent strikeout pitch. His changeup is a problem, but if he can stay healthy, he should eventually develop into at least a No. 3 starter. If the command doesn't come or more arm problems arise, he'd likely head to the bullpen and become a setup man or a closer.
2/25/06... addition.. MLB.com
"Right now, I feel I'm the old Ubaldo Jimenez -- I'm back," he said. "My changeup was very good, but my curve, I knew it was better than that. So in the offseason, I worked on it. Right now, it's not where I want it to be, but I know I've got it."
If he is the old Jimenez, he could be a new face in the Majors soon.
"The injury, obviously, is not something you plan for and it's not something he'd plan for," said Rockies player development director Marc Gustafson. "It was a speed bump in his fast track. Toward the end, he was starting to clean up his mechanics a little bit, starting to get back to what we saw."
"His velocity is back," Gustafson said. "He's comfortable pitching 94-95 (mph), but he can touch 96, 97, 98, and he was back to that at the end of the season. He's been in the Dominican in the mini-camp that we just had. He was back and he was even higher than that, velocity-wise."
