Brandon Nimmo is going to do whatever it takes to ensure the Mets are playoff contenders in 2024, even if it means moving away from his natural defensive position in center field.
Appearing on The Show Podcast, Nimmo detailed his exchanges with new president of baseball operations, David Stearns, during the team’s pursuit and signing of center fielder Harrison Bader — one of the game’s finest defenders at that position.
“He approached me with it very cordially and asked my opinion on it,” Nimmos aid. “I said ‘Honestly, David, if it makes our team better then I’m all for it.’ I want to be competitive, I want to make the playoffs and I want a chance to win a World Series. That’s my goal at this point of my career and I would love to do anything it takes in order to do that.
“If you feel like going in that direction would make us better, then sure. I know if someone is coming in to play center field, then they have to be pretty dang good at playing center field.”
Defensively, Bader is just that. His outs above average (OAA) across the last three seasons ranked in the 99th, 91st, and 95th percentiles, per Baseball Savant.
After signing him to a one-year deal last month, Stearns teased that Bader would be playing “a lot of center field,” which has been Nimmo’s residence. Since 2019, he has played in center in 90.6% of his defensive games.
Per Nimmo, though, Stearns approached him and said the move — he has 99 career games played at the position across eight years — will “be totally up to if you want to play both center and left.”
“I said let’s go to spring training, let’s see how this all works out and we’ll start to get a better feel when we all start to play together,” Nimmo said. “I’m completely open to making the team better at whatever capacity that is. If that’s in center field or left, that’s still to be seen.”
Putting the 30-year-old in left provides a concrete option for first-year manager Carlos Mendoza rather than relying on a platoon that would feature Bader playing out of position alongside DJ Stewart and Tyrone Taylor.
Instead, the Mets can roll with an Opening Day lineup with Nimmo in left, Bader in center, and Starling Marte in right with Stewart, Taylor, and even Jeff McNeil as depth options.
“I think having that versatility really can make us a better team and I think that’s what David was looking for — and he’s really, really big on defense,” Nimmo said. “As well as he should be with our park, it plays more like a pitcher’s park, and so, we really need good defense out there and we need to be winning these one-run ball games. And a lot of the times, defense is what that comes down to.”
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