A starting role with the Canisius College Golden Griffins highlighted a breakout performance by Shane Zimmer in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
“It was great, a very good experience,” said the St. Albert minor baseball product and graduate of the Vauxhall Academy Jets. “I was fortunate enough to start as a freshman. I saw some time in left field but I played a lot at DH.”
Zimmer, 19, batted .268 in his NCAA division one debut with the Griffins.
“I didn’t start off the way I wanted to. I was getting used to everything and I was fighting for position. I sort of pressed a little bit but I did well enough to eventually get a starting position and I finished the year off really well,” said Zimmer, the conference rookie of the week in late May while going seven-for-13 in six games, including five RBIs and his first two home runs of the season.
In 52 games played, including 42 starts, the right-handed batter collected 38 hits, drove home 22 runs, scored 19 times and drew 26 walks for the Griffins, seeded fourth in the conference championship tournament.
“At the beginning of the year in the fall I learned a lot of new things. You didn’t do much in the fall; it was mostly development, but I picked up different little things that made me better,” Zimmer said. “I was sort of up and down in the fall, just because I was learning a lot of new stuff. I still wanted to perform because I wanted to get a starting job so I was sort of pushing. When the spring started, the fall helped me because I already knew what to do with the school side of things and everything started clicking near the end.”
Another challenge for Zimmer to conquer was how to become a productive designated hitter.
“It was different, just because you would hit and then go back to the bench so I had to get used to it. The first little bit I struggled, just because I wouldn’t stay focused in the game. I was talking to guys on the bench and I would get caught up too much in that but later as I moved on I realized what I needed to do in the DH role. I would go for runs after my at-bats and just try and keep my head in the game. I would watch the pitchers when I wasn’t hitting and watch for tendencies.”
Zimmer also got to play against some major schools in the spring.
“We went to the University of Kentucky, University of Tennessee, University of West Virginia and the University of Maryland and just to be at those campuses was just an experience in itself. I performed not too bad against those bigger schools but obviously they had good pitchers,” he said. “Our conference averaged 85 to 87 [miles per hour]. Good arms, good quality and they can locate. Good off-speed, too.”
The Griffins closed out the season with a 26-32 record, after a 3-2 elimination game loss to the third-seeded Siena College Saints in the playoff tournament at Trenton, N.J. It was the 26th one-run game of the season for the Griffins, who were 9-17 in such games.
“We were kind of a young team this year. We had three freshmen that started,” Zimmer said of the Griffins’ 39-man roster that included 12 Canadians. “We still finished fourth and we made it to our [conference] tournament so that was good.”
The Canisius campus is located in Buffalo, N.Y.
“It was a little bit of a different atmosphere in Buffalo but I enjoyed every minute of it,” said the business management student.
The former St. Albert Skyhawk recently hooked up with the Lethbridge Bulls in the Western Major Baseball League after checking out the Front Royal Cardinals of Virginia in the Valley Baseball League.
“I was in Virginia for a little bit. They had eight outfielders and they were mostly 21. It’s like a 21-year-old league there and I just turned 19 so I came down to Lethbridge,” Zimmer said. “Summer ball is mainly to keep your swing alive and work on stuff. You ultimately want to keep getting better and be ready for the upcoming college season.”
