Major League Baseball

Rockies ace is new role for Jimenez

Published May. 5, 2010 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Colorado Rockies right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez learned early in his pro career about life in the unknown.

“When I first signed (at the age of 17), I would wear my Rockies hat (in the Dominican Republic) and everybody wanted to know what that meant,” Jimenez said. “They would want to know if it was a company or something. I told them that was my team.

“After we got to the World Series (in 2007), they know who the Rockies are. Now everyone wears a Rockies hat in the Dominican.”

Jimenez has made the Rockies a household name in the Caribbean country. Now he’s working on making a name for himself with the baseball fans in America.

Despite Jimenez’s strong start to the season — he’s 6-0 with a 0.87 ERA — he was being kidded in the clubhouse the other day in San Diego, with teammates informing him that there was an Internet debate over whether Tim Lincecum of San Francisco or Roy Halladay of Philadelphia would win the NL Cy Young award.

Not that it bothered Jimenez.

“I am still learning to pitch,” he said. “I keep working hard every day, trying to stay in shape, trying to get better.”

And he is definitely starting to get attention.

Without taking anything away from Lincecum or Halladay, who already have Cy Young awards inscribed with their names, Jimenez appears to be ready to step into that category of the pitching elite.

There has never been a question about his physical ability. It’s been a matter of the mind. He’s the basic “Aw, shucks” guy. There’s no cockiness. There’s no swagger.

This year, however, there has begun to be a growing confidence, and an acceptance of the fact that he is actually better than most. He has come to realize that is really isn’t bragging if it’s true.

Check out the resume. He may not be a household name outside the Dominican, but since arriving in the big leagues for good on July 19, 2007, he has started 88 games. Only CC Sabathia, with 89, has made more starts than Jimenez in that time. What’s more, he has worked at least six innings in 65 of those 88 starts.

And look at what he has done this year: a no-hitter at Atlanta, the first in Rockies history. He walked six in that game, but went to the stretch on a full-time basis after a leadoff walk in the fifth, retiring the final 15 Braves.

And don’t ignore the fact that he got up the next morning, like he does every day after he pitches, and ran for an hour.

“I knew God gave me this kind of arm and so I had to work hard every day so I didn’t lose what he gave me,” Jimenez said.

Durable? In the 128-pitch effort at Atlanta, pitch No. 127 was clocked at 98 mph. At times he will register in triple digits on stadium radar guns, and has a changeup that is close to major-league average velocity for the fastball. He also has a split-fingered fastball and a slider and will show a curve on occasion.

Impressed? Well, consider that prior to this year he had a career ledger of 4-11 with a 4.87 ERA in 21 starts during April and May.

The turnaround, Jimenez said, began prior to last season, when he agreed to a four-year contract that guarantees him $10 million. The deal could be a Rockies delight for the fact it has two options that would add $12.75 million to it, but would allow the Rockies to control Jimenez until after his first year of potential free agency.

“I know some people say I should have waited to sign, but I wanted peace of mind,” said Jimenez, who would be a free agent at the age of 30 if the Rockies exercise all the options, meaning a big contract could still be landed. “All of this might not have been possible without it. I didn't want to worry about being sent to the bullpen or sent to Triple-A.”

And he has seen that a long-term deal can protect a pitcher from unexpected events. Jeff Francis, a 17-game winner in 2007 who signed a multi-year deal with the Rockies, has battled injuries, which have left him ineffective or on the disabled list since the start of 2008. Manuel Corpas, a closer in 2007 who earned a long-term deal, lost his job in 2008 and then required surgery that sidelined him last year.

Manager Jim Tracy feels as much as anything, Jimenez responded this year to added responsibility.

“When Ubaldo Jimenez was told that he was going to pitch on opening day for the Colorado Rockies, he grabbed hold of the challenge,” Tracy said. “We told him we felt it was time for him to step up and be at the front of the rotation, and he took the reins because he wanted to be the ace of the staff.

“And he is the ace. Every fifth day, all us come to the park and wonder what might happen. He’s that talented. He shows us once, in Atlanta, what he can do, and that’s not going to be the last time he does that. That wasn’t a fluke.”

No argument from Atlanta third baseman Chipper Jones.

“The thing about it is (his fastball) is 100 mph and it sinks,” Jones said. “That being said, the 100 is not what gets major league hitters out; it’s the ability to change speeds and locate, and he did that.”

Monday night he struck out a career-best 13 in seven innings at San Diego, and added to his list of believers.

“He pitches like a monster,” San Diego leadoff hitter Tony Gwynn Jr. said. “Nasty stuff is the cleanest way you can say it. There is unbelievable life to his fastball and a lot of movement. He’s special.”

However, there is more to Jimenez than a strong-armed power pitcher.

“The package with this guy goes so far beyond what is on the field because of what he represents outside the lines,” Tracy said. “This is a quality young man, the kind of young man that makes an impression in whatever profession he would chose to pursue.”

A native of the Dominican, where his father is a bus driver and his mother a nurse, Jimenez was a center fielder in his youth, once quitting his team because the coach wanted him to pitch. At the age of 15, however, he agreed to pitch, feeling that would be the best way to get to the big leagues.

A year later the Mets offered him $20,000 to sign, but his parents would not allow it.

“My mother said I had to finish high school first,” Jimenez said.

A year later he finished high school and signed with the Rockies, but only under the condition that they would pay his way through medical school if Jimenez didn’t make it in baseball.

In addition to his talent, Jimenez had an edge on most Latin players. He could read and write English when he signed, and while it was still a challenge to speak the language, when he got to the big leagues Jimenez declined to have older players act as interpreters during interviews because he wanted to refine his English.

“For two years I went to school to learn English,” he said. “I played baseball on Saturday mornings, and then my mother made me ride the bus (for an hour) to (Santo Domingo) with my sister for English classes.

“I didn’t want to do it. I was tired. But my parents made me. I would sleep on the bus and when we got to school my sister would wake me up.”

His sister, Leidys, is now less than two years away from becoming a doctor, while Ubaldo continues to do his finishing work on his baseball career.

“I kept hearing people talk about the stuff I have the last three or four years. But I knew I had to get better,” he said.

Mission accomplished.