Ryan Zimmerman, The Examiner
2008-04-29 07:00:00.0
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WASHINGTON -

Our team is right in the middle of our second full homestand at Nationals Park. To tell you the truth, I think the new stadium is better than any of us expected. We walked onto the field for the first time a few days before Opening Night and it really had that wow factor. You can see it in pictures. But nothing is ever as good as the first time you see a new stadium in person. It really is night and day. Last year we kind of looked forward to going on the road because those parks were usually nicer than what we had at home.

So far, Nationals Park is playing like a pitcher’s park. It’s not huge. But you do hit some balls that you think have a chance to go out and instead end up at the wall. It’s still so early, though. It will be interesting to see what happens in the summer. That was always when the ball would really fly out of RFK. The ball jumps a little more in June, July or August when it’s 90 degrees every day.

And as the weather warms up it’ll be a lot better for the fans to come out, too. This past weekend was great. We had good crowds every game. Once we start playing better — like we have the last couple days — this will be a fun place to be this summer.

I talked to a couple of players on other teams and each of them loved the new park. That’s important, because some of those guys are going to be free agents and when their contracts run out we want them to know that Washington is a nice place to play.

That’s really why a new ballpark is such a big step for an organization. Sure it makes our owners money. Sure the fans come out. Sure it’s nice for us. But it also attracts players. It attracts top talent. That’s what we hope to do in the next couple of years. We develop our foundation and then start bringing in big-name free agents to complete the puzzle.

As told to The Examiner’s Brian McNally.

Nats third baseman Ryan Zimmerman is one of baseball’s rising stars and, at 23, the face of the franchise. Now he’ll share his thoughts with The Examiner’s readers each week throughout the baseball season.