Half 18 in a collection analyzing the New York Mets
Drafting Brandon Nimmo was one among Sandy Alderson’s first strikes because the Mets normal supervisor, and it raised loads of eyebrows on the time.
Nimmo is from Wyoming, one among three states that doesn’t have highschool baseball, so the outfielder as an alternative performed on the native American Legion crew.
With the choose, Alderson — after which vp of participant growth Paul DePodesta — bypassed deciding on what others would have deemed a safer choose in a school pitcher resembling Sonny Grey or faculty infielders like Kolten Wong and Joe Panik, all chosen later within the first spherical of that 2011 draft (as was excessive schooler Jose Fernandez, one spot after Nimmo).
“After we went into this, to be fairly frank with you, we weren’t that taken with making what we thought was making the most secure choose,” DePodesta stated on the time, explaining the group was within the early levels of rebuilding. “We had been taken with making the choose that we thought had essentially the most affect.”
9 years later, how does that choose look?
Clearly, Fernandez was the most effective of the bunch earlier than he was killed in a boating accident in 2016.
Grey has pitched nicely for many of his seven-year profession, outdoors of his time with the Yankees, whereas Wong has been a constant performer over the identical interval for the Cardinals. Panik was an All-Star for San Francisco, however had fallen off earlier than the Mets picked him up final season.
Nimmo’s profession, not surprisingly, took longer to get going — largely attributable to his inexperience.
He made his main league debut in 2016 — known as as much as exchange a slumping Michael Conforto — and handled accidents the next season, however completed nicely.
Nimmo broke by way of in 2018, ending with an OPS of .886 in 535 plate appearances.
As a substitute of constructing on that final yr, although, Nimmo was sidetracked by a bulging disk in his neck he suffered crashing right into a wall in April.
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After making an attempt to play by way of what was regarded as a stiff neck, Nimmo was shut down in Could, when he was hitting simply .200 with a .667 OPS.
However when Nimmo returned in September after lacking 89 video games, he once more confirmed the potential the Mets noticed in him almost a decade in the past.
He had a .995 OPS over the ultimate month of the common season and the Mets had been hoping for extra of that from Nimmo when spring coaching was shut down in March.
“He’s proven flashes,’’ one NL scout stated. “He’s a productive offensive participant who nonetheless has room to get higher, so you'll be able to perceive why the Mets preferred him then and why they nonetheless do.’’
“It wasn’t even the numbers he put up on the finish of the yr,” hitting coach Chili Davis stated in February. “It was his strategy and his motion within the batter’s field was so good, so I wished to verify he didn’t change this as a result of it was working for him and that’s the factor I wish to see him excellent.’’
Nimmo had related objectives.
“The largest factor is consistency,’’ Nimmo stated in the course of the spring. “I wish to attempt to be extra constant all through the season with my strategy with each my swings and my protection.”
He handled a short scare this spring when he was pressured to bear a collection of cardiological exams that confirmed an irregular heartbeat. He returned to motion just some days later and was slated to share time in middle with Jake Marisnick. Nimmo had additionally seen time in proper subject in the course of the Grapefruit League when Conforto was out with a strained indirect.
Wherever he performs, if he’s capable of keep wholesome, the Mets’ new regime can discover out for sure simply what Alderson and Co. bought after they took an opportunity on Nimmo.
“I do know there’s gonna be peaks and valleys in the course of the season, so I attempt to give attention to the method,’’ Nimmo stated. “If I really feel good, I consider I can put collectively a whole yr, however I've to do it.”
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