Brandon Nimmo was a 2011 first-round pick who did not debut until 2016.
He did not do much with his first days in the majors until he began showing in 2017 he could be a part-time player.
The lefty swinger was shielded from lefty pitchers until 2018, when he proved he could hit like-sided arms, too.
He was a below-average glove in center field until 2022, when he pinpointed that area of growth to show he could become a legitimate option outside of a corner.
Last season’s focus became power, when Nimmo tweaked his swing and set a career-high with 24 home runs.
His entire career has been defined by improvement, so his 100th career home run became a time to reflect on how far he has come.
Nimmo’s seventh-inning, two-run shot against Bryan Abreu tied a game the Mets would lose, 10-5, in 11 innings, which was “bittersweet,” Nimmo said.
The game mattered most, but the number matters, too.
“I think I’ve grown a lot as a player,” Nimmo said after becoming the 16th player in franchise history to reach that mark. “This is part of one of those milestones that kind of shows the growth that I’ve had. Because when I first came up, [I] definitely wasn’t considered a home run hitter and more of just a slap hitter and honestly, when I came up, a lot of people considered me a fourth, fifth outfielder.”
Now a $162 million corner/center fielder, Nimmo has proven those critics wrong.
His 2024 season has transpired a lot like his career: a struggle before a breakthrough.
Nimmo had been off to perhaps the worst statistical start of his career, owning a .209 average and .721 OPS through May 30.
In the 23 games since, he has gone 30-for-92 (.326) with six home runs, five doubles and a triple.
Nimmo will enter July with an .815 OPS that has helped catapult the team and launch him back into discussions for the All-Star Game.
For the afternoon, Nimmo got the first and then one of the biggest hits for the Mets.
Held hitless for the first five innings, Nimmo singled up the middle and came around to score on a Mark Vientos double.
An inning later, Nimmo stepped up in the seventh inning of a game in which the Mets trailed by two.
With Luis Torrens on first, Nimmo got an 0-2, hard fastball that caught too much of the plate and drilled it to left-center for a 412-foot shot that tied it up and became No. 100 in nine years and 836 games.
Nimmo tied the game once more in the 10th inning, when he drove an RBI double into right field, but the bats behind him and a short-handed Mets bullpen would let the game get away.
No win, but a moment to savor anyway.
“To have 100 home runs in the big leagues, and be in a position to do it the way that I did it [in tying the game],” Nimmo said, “it’s pretty special.”
NEWS CREDIT
