Zimmerman is back, ready to contribute to stretch drive

Ryan Zimmerman is back from the disabled list after missing 55 games with a right hamstring strain. He's ready to do whatever he can to contribute to the Nationals over the last nine days of the regular season.

What, exactly, that will be remains to be seen.

"I won't be 100 percent until next year, but I'm good enough, I think, to contribute," he told reporters at Marlins Stadium on Saturday afternoon. "It's nice of them to clinch the division so early. Obviously, winning games is so very important because having home field and having the best record is so huge. It gives us a bit of freedom to get me some at-bats and get me back in playing shape up here. Once playoffs start, nobody really knows cause we don't know if I'm going to be ready to play every day or what the role's going to be. But we do know that getting at-bats these next nine games is pretty important."

Zimmerman, who earlier this season missed 44 games with a fractured right thumb, doesn't expect to play every day. He readily admits that he needs to get back into playing shape and even said it was 50/50 at one point whether he'd return at all this season.

But he knows the hamstring is sufficiently healed to at least play wherever manager Matt Williams asks him to.

"I just have to be smarter, I think," he said. "It's not like I can go out there and play 50 percent. Just things that I have to be careful with, and that's fine. I can still go out there and hit and run about 80, 85 percent. Hopefully, it'll get a little better as we go on, but that's why we're doing this: to try and see where it's at, figure that out and kind of evaluate what we have moving forward."

Playing for several days this week at fall instructional league workouts in Viera, Fla., gave him enough at-bats - about 30 to 40 - that he feels comfortable with the quickness of his hands and the repetition of his swing. For a hitter, those are two important benchmarks.

"With nine games left, I should be able to get somewhere between 30 and 40 at-bats. Those combined with those in Viera - we'll see," he said.

Zimmerman is sure he's ready to play in the field, too.

"This last week or so, it was encouraging going down there, running the bases and doing some things," he said. "Still a little hesitant, but I can do it enough to be useful. ... I'd never (rehabbed a hamstring injury) before and it wasn't a small injury. You never know how those things are going to work out."

For now, he'll fulfill a number of roles, playing left field, first base and third base to spell his teammates over the season's final week or so. He'll also come off the bench and pinch-hit as needed. But while he knows what positions he'll play, Zimmerman isn't sure there's any schedule of sorts.

"I don't know yet," he said. "We're going to have to wait and see how everything feels, how I feel in the field. It's the short, kind of explosive movements, obviously, that are last to come back. It's a big part of defense, I think. You can get away with it at first base, but we have one of the best first basemen in the league. I can sort of get away with it in left field, take the first couple of strides pretty easily. "

With left fielder Bryce Harper heating up at the plate, reps in left field may be limited, even though that's where Zimmerman will play tonight. Pushing Harper to center field would require moving Denard Span out of the lineup, and he's been one of the team's most consistent hitters; resting him would mean the Nats would have to find another leadoff man. And Zimmerman doesn't sound like he wants to push Harper to right field and right fielder Jayson Werth to the bench.

Zimmerman may give first baseman Adam LaRoche a rest against a tough left-hander at first base, but he's not sure if or when he will play third base, the position he's manned most frequently in his 10 major league seasons.

"Third base is the toughest just cause that's where your reactions have to be the quickest," Zimmerman said. "There's really no way to take it easy over there. ... We'll see what happens."

The stint in Viera left him hopeful - even if it did mean watching the Nats' celebration of their second National League East title in three seasons from a condo on television.

"I was happy for them," he said. "It's been a rough year for me, ... but as far as the team and organization, it's been one of the best years we've had. I don't want anyone to feel sorry for me."

He's just glad the rehab played out and allowed him to rejoin the team.

"Throughout the whole process, everything that was supposed to happen happened," he said. "We didn't have any setbacks."