3 common Brandon Nimmo takes we can bury forever

The Mets should platoon Brandon Nimmo because he can’t hit lefties

This was true at one time but not to the great extent some made it out to be. In 2018, Nimmo batted .234/.351/.391 versus southpaws. Against righties, he was an expectedly better hitter with a .275/.424/.521 slash line.

There’s nothing unusual about a left-handed player putting up worse numbers against a left-handed pitcher. In fact, if he’s doing the opposite, something may be wrong. We then can begin to question not why he succeeds versus lefties but why he’s failing against righties.

Now 439 plate appearances against lefties into his career, Nimmo has become much better. Lifetime, he has hit .260/.378/.399 against them. It’s lower than the .269/.398/.462 against righties but far closer than I think some stubborn fans may realize. The only major difference between the two is power. And again, there’s nothing unusual about this.

Not much has been publicly discussed about what Nimmo has done to become a more well-rounded baseball player. Previously viewed as a fourth outfielder and at best the left-handed part of a platoon because of his inability to face certain pitchers, things have changed.

Nimmo can succeed against righties and lefties. The preference for righties may remain, however, if there’s a lefty on the mound, there is little cause for concern. He has learned to handle himself.

Brandon Nimmo can’t play center field

Another once true take, Nimmo was always playing out of position whenever he took the field in center. He routinely posted negative defensive numbers at the position early on in his career. And even if you didn’t follow the numbers, your eyes told you he wasn’t a natural at the position.

This all changed in 2021. I’m not sure what book he read or where he found Willie Mays’ masterclass on how to play the position but Nimmo turned into a pretty superb center fielder last year. He went from -5 defensive runs saved up to a positive 4. His range was better than league average and he made just a single error all year long in 678.2 innings at the position.

The performance in the field was completely different from what we had seen in the past. Nimmo, a guy every seemed to believe was a natural left fielder or right fielder, looked comfortable in center field. It was a good feeling. The Mets seemed to have found their center fielder for the next few years.

Well, the team did decide to bring in Starling Mate this winter. Likely to take over the center field job from Nimmo, perhaps the front office and the analytics team didn’t buy into the 2021 defensive performance. It’s not too tragic. This may just mean Nimmo is an even better defender at whichever corner he does slot into regularly. When Marte does need a day off, the Mets can also confidently insert Nimmo in as the center fielder. Hopefully, he doesn’t forget about whatever it was he did in 2021.