Catching Up With Ubaldo Jimenez

For Ubaldo Jimenez, the 2014 season has been filled with roadblocks. Tuesday night's rehab start with the IronBirds at Ripken Stadium was just another obstacle for Jimenez to reach his ultimate goal, play postseason baseball with the Baltimore Orioles.

After signing a four-year contract worth $50 million with the Baltimore Orioles this offseason, Jimenez has struggled to find the win column more often than he has hoped. His 3-8 record and 4.52 ERA with the big-league club this year is not the kind of results he expected or hoped to put up this year .

Jimenez's biggest roadblock of the year came on July 13, when he was placed in the 15-day disabled list with a right ankle sprain. Ankle sprains have been a familiar problem for the thirty-year-old pitcher out of the Dominican Republic, as he missed his last two starts in 2012 with Cleveland due to the same injury.

After his start on Tuesday night, Jimenez said his ankle didn't cause him any discomfort. As a matter of fact, once he got on the mound, he said he didn't even think about the sprained ankle.

"I felt good," Jimenez said. "The main thing is that I didn't have any problems with my ankle. I was able to go out there and throw 60-something pitches, I was able to go to first base, I was able to back up. Everything was good."

Even though he was playing in the New York-Penn League, Jimenez treated the start as if he was in the big leagues. His approach, he explained, caused some of his miscues on the night. Jimenez walked three batters, allowed five hits, and one run over his 4.2 innings pitched.

"I walked a couple of guys because, 3-2 counts, I could've thrown the fastball, but my approach was as if I was in the big leagues," Jimenez explained. "I tried to throw a breaking ball for a strike, but I missed it. That's why I walked a couple guys."

Though Jimenez didn't allow an earned run, he did run into some trouble, allowing Tri-City to load the bases twice. In the third inning, Jimenez escaped the bases loaded jam, forcing a double play. The second time around, Jimenez didn't have the chance to escape, being pulled out of game in favor of reliever Nigel Nootbaar.

Jimenez said that despite playing in a lower level of baseball than he is used to, he still felt pressure. The pressure, he explained, wasn't from the opposing lineup, it was from the Baltimore Orioles' rotation. Since his last start with the Orioles, the starting rotation has put together some of their best performances of the season, while Jimenez has been left throwing bullpen sessions and healing his ailing ankle.

He says that watching the Orioles' rotation succeed added some extra pressure to his rehab start, making him want to get back to the rotation.  

"It just makes me work harder," Jimenez said. "You don't want to be that guy that stays down. You want to be part of the rotation. When it's your turn, you want to be part of the rotation like everyone else does."

Jimenez enjoyed his incredibly short time in Aberdeen, even though he only spent a few hours at Ripken Stadium.

He said as soon as he arrived, his initial thought was, "Wow, this is a really cool stadium. It looks like a Double-A or Triple-A stadium."

He was also incredibly impressed with the IronBirds' effort that evening, and rightfully so. Aberdeen took the series from Tri-City that night, giving the ValleyCats just their second series loss of the season. They did so in dramatic fashion, as an Alex Murphy walk-off hit in the tenth inning gave the IronBirds their second walk-off win of the season, and second in five games.

"They have a lot of talent over here," Jimenez said. "Great guys, they play hard. It's been awhile since I've been in the minor leagues, so it feels good to be back."

Even though he enjoyed his short time in Aberdeen, Jimenez says he's ready to get back to Baltimore and the bright lights of Camden Yards. With all the roadblocks he encountered on the season, he is still confident that he will succeed in the second half with the Baltimore Orioles.

He hopes that being where he wants to be, in the starting rotation, he can help the Orioles be where they want to be, in postseason baseball.

"[The second half] has been my thing," Jimenez said. " In the second half, I'm always stronger than what I am in the first half. That's something I'm looking forward to, being there for the team."

(Photo of Ubaldo Jimenez by Corey Rinker)