Colorado Rockies player profile: Ubaldo Jimenez

Born in the Dominican Republic, Ubaldo represented his country
this year in the World Baseball Classic (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

You are walking into Coors Field and you hear a hissing sound and then a loud pop. About 10 seconds later you hear it again. Over and over, repeatedly. What is that noise? Hissss, pop! Hisss, pop!

Ubaldo Jimenez throws gas. He throws heat, smoke, the definition of fire baller and he has a breaking ball to go with it. In 2008 he had the highest average MPH for fastballs thrown. He averaged 94.9 MPH on his fastball during the season (Joba Chamberlain was second at 94.9 also and Dustin McGowan was third at 94.8). His four-seam fastball has been clocked as high as 100 MPH. No one threw more pitches over 95 MPH (1342) than did Jimenez during the 2008 season. Not only does he have a great heater he also has a nice breaking ball which helped him strike out nearly eight batters per nine innings pitched in 2008.

Ubaldo was born in Nagua, Dominican Republic on January 22nd, 1984. He was signed by the Rockies in 2001 at the age of 17 and played in the Dominican Summer League.

In 2002 he reported to Rookie-Level Casper for the start of their season in late June. He made 14 starts for Casper, going 3-5 with a 6.53 ERA. He struck out 65 batters in 62.0 innings with 29 walks and led the Pioneer League with 45 earned runs.

In his first full season of baseball in the United States in 2003 Ubaldo lead the South Atlantic League in strikeouts. He ended the season fifth in innings pitched, fourth in starts and third in walks. He did throw a gem of a game on June 18th in which he only allowed one hit over eight innings of work.

2004 was a rough season for Ubaldo, at the age of 20 he spent most of the season on the shelf due to a scapular stress reaction in his right shoulder. He did still pitch in nine baseball games and was 4 – 1 with a 2.23 ERA and a .184 batting average against.

Throwing heat! (AP Photo/Matt York)

In 2005 Ubaldo combined to go 7-8 with a 4.66 ERA in 26 games. He ranked 2nd in the Rockies system with 131 strikeouts. While with the Modesto Nuts he held opponents to a .232 average, posting 7 or more strikeouts on 6 occasions. He posted season-high 9 K's in his final Modesto start on June 22. He was promoted to Tusla after the appearing in the Cal League All Star game and he went 2-5 with a 5.43 ERA and held Texas League right-handers to a .194 average.

Ubaldo's long-awaited major league debut came in the form of two appearances for Colorado in late September in 2006. In those two starts he had no record with a 3.52 ERA. The rest of 2006 was split between Tulsa and Colorado Springs. Ubaldo made his major league debut in relief on September 26th vs Los Angeles and he allowed two hits in a scoreless 8th inning. The other game was his lone start, as he started the season finale on October 1st at Chicago. In that start he allowed four runs (3 earned) on just three hits in 6 2/3 innings. He did give up a two-run homer to Aramis Ramirez in the 4th inning, but exited with a 4-2 lead and wound up with a no decision. Ubaldo was named sixth-best Texas League prospect by Baseball America after the season.
 

He should have a weapons permit for that rifle on his right shoulder
(AP Photo/Matt York)
 

Ubaldo was a called up to the Rockies on June 17th, 2007 and gave them a push to help them get into the playoffs. In his half season he went 4-4 with a 4.28 ERA in 15 games for Colorado. Despite spending the first-half in the minors, he ended up ranking fourth on the Rockies staff with 68 strikeouts and ranked fifth on staff in starts. Opponents batted just .228 off of him and he made nine quality starts. He took a no decision in his Rockies season debut on July 19th at Washington, allowing two runs in 5 innings. He earned his first Major League win on July 29th vs Los Angeles, a 9-6 victory that secured the club's first series win against the Dodgers since '05. Ubaldo pitched in a must-win game for Colorado to keep their playoff hopes alive on September 30th vs Arizona. Ubaldo tossed 6 1/3 innings, allowing just one run on one hit with a career high 10 strikeouts. He had a no-hitter for 5 1/3 innings before allowing a single to Alberto Callaspo with one out in the sixth inning and he exited with a 1 - 0 lead. The Rockies scored three runs in the eighth inning and held on for the 4-3 win. Ubaldo's 10 strikeouts matched the most by a Rockies starter all season and it was the second-highest single-game strikeout total ever by a Colorado rookie.

In his first full season with the Rockies in 2008 Ubaldo had a record of 12 – 12. He started off slowly but in the second half of 2008 he had a record of 8 – 3 with a 3.68 ERA and 78 strikeouts. July was his best month. He finished July with a 1.74 ERA in 41 1/3 innings pitched. His batting average against for that month was a measly .201. Along with the rest of the organization his year was a down year. The best news was that he was able to pitch just under 200 innings (198 2/3) and showed that he is durable enough to be a big league starter.

2009 Update: In 2009 Ubaldo took a big stride towards being the Rockies ace. He threw over 200 innings for the first time in his career and almost struck out 200 (198). His ERA was under 3.50 and his strikeout to walk ratio was a very respectable 2.33. Ubaldo’s problems in previous seasons was his control and he would walk too many batters. This would up his pitch count, thus lessen the number of innings he could throw not to mention the extra base runners that would raise his ERA.

2010 Update: Ubaldo made Colorado Rockies history on April 17th, 2010 by being the first Rockies pitched to throw a no-hitter.  His line on the night: 9 innings pitched, 0 runs, 0 hits, 6 walks, 7 strikeouts and 129 pitches thrown.

Ubaldo is poised for another fantastic season in 2010. Look for him to break the 200 strikeout barrier in 2010 and take another step towards being nationally known as one of the top pitchers not only in Colorado, but in all of baseball.

Hissss, POP! Hissss, POP!! That is Ubaldo warming up in the bullpen before the game. His arm is locked and loaded and ready to shoot bullets at opposing batters in 2009. As long as he can keep those bullets in the strike zone, he will be highly effective for the Rockies this season.