WASHINGTON — Ryan Zimmerman was the first player ever drafted by the Washington Nationals, with the fourth overall choice in 2005. He had starred at the University of Virginia, but this was more than a hometown selection. It was a sound baseball pick that gave the team its first homegrown star.

“He’s been here the whole time,” said Max Scherzer, the Nationals’ star right-hander. “He’s given everything to this organization, from beginning to end, staying through the bad times and the good times.”

Zimmerman made his debut at age 20, in a game that included Julio Franco, who is now 61 years old, and John Smoltz and Chipper Jones, who are now in the Hall of Fame. He hit his first career homer at Shea Stadium, and his second at R.F.K. Stadium. None of his first seven Nationals teams finished with a winning record, a stretch of futility that ended with the first of their four National League East titles in 2012.

At 35, Zimmerman is coming to the end of his $135 million contract and wants to keep playing. But he often struggles with injuries and knows nothing is certain. On the field in Los Angeles last weekend, during a tense moment in his team’s N.L. division series against the Dodgers, he turned to the first base umpire and said, “Whenever I’m done, this is what I’m going to miss.”