Call it a Zimmer Summer. He's expected to get back up to game speed with regular playing time in the minors before ultimately returning to Cleveland.He has essentially had lost seasons in 2018 and 2019 due to injuries after making his big-league debut and playing 101 games for the Zimmer is finally ready for his first big-league action since undergoing shoulder surgery last July. Recovery from right shoulder surgery. Zimmer has speed and pedigree, and he may play a fair amount in the outfield right away against right-handed pitching.Zimmer has battled side and shoulder issues all season. Zimmer has now played every other game for eight straight contests and has started a total of 12 times in the team's first 12 games. The outfielder will continue to ramp up his activities at the team's spring training facilities until he's cleared to begin a rehab assignment, at which point a timetable for his return should emerge.Zimmer has been dealing with shoulder and side injuries all season.

That surgery comes with an 8-to-12-month estimated recovery timetable, putting his 2019 season very much in doubt. Delino DeShields starts in center field Friday.Zimmer went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts Sunday, and he'll retreat to the bench for the third time in the past five games. Team context is important with Zimmer, as he will have one of the game's best lineups around him, or behind him -- he saw time atop the order when things were going well. He's not expected to face any restrictions due to the hand injury in spring training.Zimmer easily passes the initial eye test -- he stands 6-foot-4, 185 pounds, the ball is loud off his bat and he runs extremely well. Jordan Luplow will start in left field and bat seventh in Saturday's contest.Zimmer has started four of the past five games, going 2-for-10 with a run scored and a 3:4 BB:K. Oscar Mercado is covering left field in this one, with Delino DeShields starting in center.It doesn't seem like much, but Cleveland only managed two hits in total off Kenta Maeda and the Minnesota bullpen, so Zimmer's contribution stands out.

This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. Over the first 450 plate appearances of his career, there has been too much swing and miss wrapped around the big flies and shows of athleticism around the basepaths.

It wasn't long ago Zimmer was all the rage, offering cheap speed without sacrificing too much power.

There are questions about whether Zimmer will be able to stick in center field, given his 6-foot-5 height, but he moves well enough to stay up the middle in the short term. The Indians seem optimistic that he may be able to play in simulated or even minor-league games in the weeks to come, but the outfielder might have already run out of time to make a potential return to the big club in 2019.Zimmer recently suffered a setback in his recovery from offseason shoulder surgery, though he has since resumed throwing to 60 feet and is hitting with no issues. Bradley Zimmer, LF, Cleveland Indians, stats and updates at CBSSports.com. His short-season numbers were pretty ridiculous (four home runs, 11 steals, .401 OBP), but it’s hard to put much stock into those given the small sample and the quality of competition. Updated Feb 20, 2019; Posted Feb 19, 2019 Indians center fielder Bradley Zimmer has spent a lot of time in Goodyear, Ariz., since surgery on his right shoulder in July. A shoulder injury in 2018 interrupted Zimmer's development and after a brief nine-game stint at the end of last season, Zimmer is a forgotten man. There are openings at both corner outfield spots, so if Zimmer can improve on his career 32.6 K%, he has a chance to carve out significant playing time and provide steals at a bargain price. He's a strong candidate to be called up shortly after rosters expand once he's gotten a chance to shake off some rust with Columbus.Zimmer has been sidelined all season with shoulder and side injuries but is finally nearly ready to return to Cleveland. Obviously, at 26 years of age, he was old for the levels, so take the results with a grain of salt, but his numbers were ample to earn a look in the spring. Perhaps more importantly, he has a solid 2:4 BB:K -- strong plate discipline from a player with a career strikeout rate north of 30 percent through the equivalent of a season's worth of big-league plate appearances since 2017.Zimmer has earned a role among a deep group of decent outfielders, though just how large that will be remains to be seen. He recorded a strong .309/.407/.559 slash line over 22 games in the minors. Prior to his MLB visit, Zimmer played a little at rookie ball, Double-A and Triple-A, slashing a combined .359/.444/.641 with three steals in 13 games. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. He helped himself offset some of that swing-and-miss with a 14 percent walk rate, but that strikeout total is still hard to stomach given the total absence of power at Triple-A. Cleveland’s deficiencies in center field could cause them to fast track Zimmer to the big leagues sometime this summer if he gets off to a hot start at Double-A, and at the very least he will be part of the outfield mix entering 2017.Zimmer was the 21st pick in the 2014 draft, and finished the year with a three-game stint at Low-A Lake County after playing 45 games with short-season Mahoning Valley. Zimmer hit a two-run shot to left field off Logan Allen in this scrimmage.

He's appeared in 144 games over the last three seasons, hitting an unimpressive .230/.293/.359, but he could be in line for a stronger performance this year now that he's finally past the injury issues which wiped out most of his last two campaigns.He was starting in center field and batting eighth in one of the intrasquad lineups. At best, he is a stash if your league allows you to draft and replace injured players before the season starts.Zimmer burst onto the scene in mid-May, collecting eight homers and 13 steals in his first 66 career games, but cooled to the point of being ice cold before a broken hand ended his season. Thus, a batting average in the low-.200s during his initial run in the majors is possible (if not likely), and that puts a hard ceiling on his short-term upside.