Brandon Nimmo is trending toward having a NY Mets distinction no one wants

Brandon Nimmo has been a staple in the New York Mets’ outfield since 2016. He’s been quite productive throughout his career, batting .261/.371/.438 with a 126 OPS+ in 3713 plate appearances. Among players with at least 2000 plate appearances with the Mets, Nimmo is in the top ten in OBP, OPS+, walks, and Baseball Reference wins above replacement (bWAR) at +23.3.

However, despite having a solid career and appearing in parts of nine MLB seasons (ten once he plays his first game of 2025), Nimmo has yet to make an MLB All-Star game. This could be a distinction that defines part of his career, and while he still has time left to make an All-Star game, it’s been quite a challenging time for Nimmo to make a mid-summer classic.

It’s not as if he hasn’t been good enough to make one. In 2018, his first full season in Major League Baseball, Nimmo entered the All-Star break with a 139 wRC+, leading all National League outfielders and batting .253/.373/.490. While the NL outfielders who did make the mid-summer classic were also deserving, including Matt Kemp, Lorenzo Cain, Nick Markakis, Charlie Blackmon, Bryce Harper, and Christian Yelich, it’s hard to fathom a player leading their position in such an important offensive stat, yet not going to the All-Star game. In fact, Nimmo wasn’t even top 20 in votes at the start of July 2018.

Nimmo was also very good during the first half of both 2022 and 2023. The former saw him post a 129 wRC+ before the break, which ranked top 5 among qualified NL outfielders, while the latter saw Nimmo have a 125 wRC+ pre-ASB, which was the eighth highest among his fellow NL outfield peers. Even though Nimmo missed most of May and June in 2021, he still was batting an outstanding .330/.416/.477 before the break, albeit in only 126 plate appearances. However, it’s not as if players who have missed a large chunk of playing time do not get the honor of making the All-Star game. It even happened that year, as Mike Trout was elected to the game despite only totaling 36 games played throughout the entirety of 2021.

Brandon Nimmo hasn't made an All-Star game in his career yet, but has been snubbed multiple times.

Mookie Wilson is the first name that comes to mind for most Mets fans when you talk about the best players not to make an All-Star game. Wilson played in parts of ten seasons for the Mets from 1980 through 1989. His best seasons were from ‘84 through ‘88, when he hit .286/.332/.428 with a 114 OPS+. Wilson was a threat on the basepaths, as he stole 321 bags for his career, 281 of which came with the Mets. 

But Nimmo is well on his way to surpassing Wilson as the best Mets player to never make the All-Star game. Wilson had 1112 hits for his Mets tenure, while Nimmo is sitting at 882. Nimmo already has surpassed Wilson in bWAR, as the former Mets outfielder had +20.8 bWAR for his time in Queens. He’ll also likely surpass Lucas Duda for the most home runs in a Mets uniform without making an ASG for their careers. Nimmo is at 110, while Duda hit 125. Nimmo has 1375 total bases, which is only 211 away from surpassing Wilson. Given that he’s averaged about 250 total bases a season over the last three years, he could overtake Wilson in this regard this very season.

Another distinction that Nimmo unfortunately has is that he’s never received votes for a major award. Wilson at least received Rookie of the Year votes in ‘81 and down-ballot MVP votes in ‘89 (which was ironically one of his worst seasons). Lucas Duda also received MVP votes in 2014. Kevin McReynolds, another notable Mets player who never made an All-Star game in his career, was even an MVP finalist in ‘88. 

But Nimmo has time on his side to break this curse. 2025 will only be his age-32 season, and is controlled through his age-37 campaign, which is in 2030. Hopefully, Nimmo gets his due in the near future. He’s done more than enough at times to make an All-Star game, or even just receive down ballot MVP votes, yet has not received any honors for his performance.