On Saturday, the baseball world was pretty in tune to the Fox Game of the Week marathon that saw the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals go 20 innings. The Fox Baseball team could not have paid less attention to Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez. I mean, he only pitched a no-hitter against the Atlanta Braves. Had that been a Roy Halladay or Johan Santana, Fox would have gave us a pitch by pitch break down from the 7th inning on. Instead, we saw, the final three outs – in REPLAY form. The question around the world was, “Who is Ubaldo Jimenez”. 26 years old from the Dominican Republic Jimenez has a fastball that has been clocked as fast as 100 miles per hour. If that is not enough, he possesses a tailing action on his two seam fastball that makes hitters look foolish. Jimenez can also get a split-finger fastball and a forkball across the plate. If that’s not enough, his slide clocks at nearly 86mph, and his looping curveball continues to impress.

Jimenez has been in the major leagues since 2008; when he finished the season 12-12 with just shy of a 4.00 earned run average. Before 2009, Jimenez signed a four-year, $10 million contract that gave a club option for 2013-2014 season. That looks like it could be a steal for Colorado. Jimenez pitched 25 straight starts during the season, finishing with a 15-12 record. He then went on and set the single season strikeout record in the World Baseball Classic.

This season, Jimenez was named the opening day starter by Manager Jim Tracy. So far this season, he has pitched 21 innings, allowed just 15 hits, and 3 earned runs. While doing that, he has struck out 20 batters, while walking 10. His team, the Rockies are off to a 6-6 start, 2 games behind the San Francisco Giants.

While all this information is great, the question still arises: “Who is Ubaldo Jimenez”? He is the guy that looks like a sure fire CY Young candidate in the National League this season. He is also the guy that has some of the nastiest stuff in baseball. Jimenez is also the guy that just a mere 12 hours after throwing the first no-hitter in Colorado Rockies history – ran 6 miles, before most of Atlanta woke up Sunday morning. Jimenez and his work ethic is what separates the men from the boys.