Ryan Zimmerman

In a season of repeated failure, Ryan Zimmerman played up to expectations and in the midst of laughs from home and opposing fans. In turn, his defense has earned him his first N.L. Gold Glove.

As much as I love the Washington Nationals, I think it’s fair to say that they haven’t done much right since moving to D.C. five seasons ago.  Too many of the team’s personnel decisions have backfired, leading to several very long, very ugly, very bad years.

One of Jim Bowden’s first moves was to trade a part-time outfielder and a poor-hitting shortstop to the Angels for the volatile Jose Guillen.  At the time, it seemed like a steal.

And it was, but not for the Nationals.

In part one of this series, we took a look at the overall team numbers of the Washington Nationals' surprisingly effective offense. In part two here, we'll examine each of the Nats' regular players to evaluate their performance so far, and try to establish if they can keep up their pace.

Baseball Prospectus' PECOTA system is a tremendously accurate projection system, so we'll compare their projections to the players' pace to aid us in our evaluations.

This season has not been a pretty one for the Washington Nationals.

Losers of 10 of their first 11 games, they currently hold the worst record in either league. Last month, on consecutive days, they held leads against the Florida Marlins, only to see the Marlins tie the game on home runs and then win in extra innings.

Luck would not seem to be on their side.

While Nationals fans are no doubt frustrated with their team's misfortunes, they can feel honored to have one of baseball's young budding superstars: Ryan Zimmerman.

Two things stood out in the Nationals' come-from-behind, 11-9 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers Thursday night.

Both of them were positive, and both were surprising.

First, the Nationals plated 11 runs and meted out 18 hits against the first-place Dodgers. They now have a .275 team batting average (third in the league), a .363 on-base percentage (second), and have drawn 125 walks (second). They are on pace to score in excess of 150 more runs this season than last.

Just in case you've been living under a rock, Ryan Zimmerman is on a ridiculous streak right now.

Jordan Zimmermann has gone from small town kid to a big league starting pitcher in the Nation's capital.

Zimmermann was born and raised in Central Wisconsin's Auburndale, where he also attended the local high school.

He then attended a small Division III college 30 miles east of his hometown in the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, where he played baseball for three years.