Left-hander Bruce Zimmermann is heading to the Korea Baseball Organization, where he’ll spend the rest of the season with the Hanwha Eagles.
The team announced the signing this weekend, and Zimmermann’s deal comes with a guaranteed $370K for the remainder of the year. There’s also another $70K available in incentives.
Zimmermann, 31, got a brief look with the Cardinals this season, working five innings and giving up three runs. That was his sixth big league season with at least some major league time, and he’s now thrown 169 1/3 innings in the majors since debuting with the Orioles in 2020.
Most of that work came in Baltimore, though he also logged six innings for the Brewers last year and made that short stop with St. Louis in 2026.
The results in the majors have been rough overall. Zimmermann carries a 5.63 ERA across his six seasons, and while his 17.3% strikeout rate sits below average, his 5.2% walk rate stands out as excellent. He’s the kind of finesse lefty who lives in the 90 mph range and leans on command more than swing-and-miss stuff.
That style hasn’t translated especially well at the big league level, but Zimmermann has held his own in Triple-A. Over parts of seven seasons there, he has a 4.11 ERA in 523 innings. This year, he made 15 starts for Memphis and posted a 3.78 ERA with a 25.7% strikeout rate, 6.4% walk rate and 42.9% ground-ball rate.
The Cardinals designated Zimmermann for assignment and outrighted him to Memphis earlier this month. He turned down that outright assignment, chose free agency, and will now take a stronger guarantee overseas than he would have received by staying in Triple-A.
That kind of midseason move often leads to another contract if the pitcher performs well, and Zimmermann could be in line for that path. If he impresses in his first run in Korea, he might be able to land a seven-figure deal to stay with the Eagles next year. A strong showing could also draw interest from other KBO teams or clubs in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball.
In Other News...
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Nezs exit fits into a broader picture that has been hard to ignore in the system lately, especially for a pitcher who once gave the Cardinals a live arm to dream on. The organization also added Trey Pooser to Peoria after acquiring him from the Rays as the player to be named later in the Chris Roycroft trade, another reminder that St. Louis keeps cycling through arms in search of something more reliable. For now, the pipeline is still producing movement, but not much certainty. [Read more 🡒]