Mets fans seem to have fallen out of love with Brandon Nimmo

Do New York Mets fans feel the same way about Brandon Nimmo or have they fallen out of love with him?

Since his awesome 2018 season with the New York Mets, fans have been in love with the happiest man in baseball, Brandon Nimmo. His hustle, positive attitude, and amazing ability to reach base by any means necessary made him a fast fan-favorite in Flushing.

However, despite good numbers in 2020, fans seem to have fallen out of love with Nimmo.

These things happen. One day you think you’ll dedicate your entire life to “the one” and then suddenly you realize there are other center fielders in the sea.

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Nobody doubts Nimmo’s ability to hit at the major league level. The reason why fans are souring on him is his ability—or lack thereof—at manning center field.

Nimmo has never been a natural center fielder. Out of pure need, he has handled the job for the Mets without complaint. Is that really surprising, though? I’m pretty sure he even found something positive to say about that raw chicken he ate back in 2019 that made him ill.

Not every Mets fan out there is ready to move on from Nimmo. Plenty of “he’s perfectly good in center fielder” comments can be found on social media. Others from the “I told you so” camp seem to flaunt numerous statistics that may or may not actually exist.

Whatever you feel about Nimmo right now, you have a lot of company.

Nimmo wrapped up his 2020 campaign hitting .280/.404/.484. He added eight home runs and posted negative metrics as an outfielder while serving primarily in center field. What he does well he seemed to do as good as or better than expected. His glaring weakness as a center fielder seemed to stick out like a sore thumb.

Under different ownership circumstances, I wonder if those falling out of love with Nimmo would view him differently. Even with his shortcomings, he’s a perfectly capable outfielder based on the other things he does well. With Steve Cohen rising up the ownership rankings, people seem to have shifted toward building a team free of flaws.

Unfortunately, namely is flawed.

There seemed to be a shift this year in regards to how fans feel. Michael Conforto was the guy that seemed to divide fans in past seasons. While some pointed out his excellence, others harped on his streakiness and small moments in clutch situations. Conforto did a great job of shutting everyone up and catching our attention for all of the best reasons possible.

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This year, it seems Nimmo became the one fans preferred to question. Even in a statistically productive year sans defensive numbers, the Big Apple fans are ready to bite and swipe left on a guy we thought everyone loved.