Mets: Brandon Nimmo best and worst case scenarios for 2019

Best Case Scenario

The best case scenario for Nimmo is that he continues to improve as a hitter and raises his offensive output by increasing his batting average and home run output.

Traditionally, Nimmo has always been a high on-base-percentage hitter, always drawing a high number of walks throughout both his major league and minor league career. Last season his OBP was .404, 4th highest in the MLB behind Mike Trout, Mookie Betts and Joey Votto, and ranked ahead of NL MVP Christain Yelich, whose OBP of .402 was ranked 5th.

He accomplished this with good plate discipline, drawing 80 walks last season, and also by inexplicably leading the majors in hit-by-pitches last year with 20.

While Nimmo’s OBP is well above average, he did this despite only batting .263. While that’s not terrible by any means, ideally, since last year was his first full season and since he’s a young player, he should improve as time goes on and raise his average.

As a leadoff hitter, the name of the game for Nimmo is to get on base and get into scoring position so players hitting behind him in the order has a chance to drive him in. Despite such a high OBP, Nimmo only scored 77 runs last season, and the Mets ranked 23 in the league in runs scored.

If he were it increase his average while not sacrificing his walks, then theoretically his OBP would raise with his average, hence he would be giving the hitters behind him more of a chance to drive him in.

With the Mets’ recent acquisitions of big name hitters such as Robinson Cano and Wilson Ramos, Nimmo’s going to have much better hitters behind him than compared to last season, meaning that the ability for him to consistently get on base is paramount.

Along with getting on base, Nimmo should ideally also increase his home run output next season. Last year he slugged 17 home runs, which is the highest total he his ever had in a single season, minors included.

While this may seem like a little too wishful thinking, since this is the best case scenario, it’s still worth mentioning. Nimmo only had 433 at-bats last season, so as long as he continues to hit homers at the same rate as last year and sees at lead 500 appearances, then he should be able to hit at least 20

If Brandon Nimmo were to do this in 2019, and after establishing himself as a big league player last season, then he should be due to get his first All-Star appearance and would be a big contributor for the Mets in their hopeful trip to the post-season next year