Just a few days ago, Mets manager Buck Showalter told reporters that he didn’t feel comfortable playing Brandon Nimmo in both games of the doubleheader against the Atlanta Braves.
The star outfielder has been playing through a quad injury since the beginning of August and the team has moved him from his usual centerfield home over to left field in an attempt to help him heal.
So far, Nimmo says the move has been paying off.
“It’s really helped out my leg because it’s less exposure to high speed in left field. Everything happens in shorter parameters, so I’m able to get to everything without any hindering problems and that’s allowing my leg to heal as I’m playing.”
After a bit of a rough stretch at the plate, Nimmo has been turning things around. He was at his best again in Monday night’s 7-2 win over the Pirates, reaching base twice including his 16th home run of the season.
More importantly, the speedster was able to score all the way from first on a Pete Alonso RBI double down the left-field line in the bottom of the first, running at what he told reporters postgame was 93 percent.
The skipper though that was the best Nimmo’s looked in a while.
“It looked like he was moving a lot freer,” Showalter said. “When he scored on Pete’s ball down the line that’s the best I’ve really seen him move. The trainers were talking about it he’s getting a little better every day.
“Tonight he reminded us of what he’s capable of, especially when he’s healthy.”
Nimmo, who has been having a bit of a power surge this season, is now just one homer shy of tying his career-high. He also has 19 doubles, four triples, 48 RBI, and a .792 OPS on the year.
The outfielder has gotten back to being a table-setter atop the Mets’ lineup with three straight multi-hit games during his current six-game hitting streak. He’s now hitting .321 over his last seven games with a .406 OBP and just two strike outs.
After hitting just .161 with a .282 OBP and 21 strikeouts in July, Nimmo made the necessary tweaks and he’s just trying to keep this hot streak going towards the end of the season.
“It’s the ebs and flows,” he said. “Went through July, which was a bit of a tough month for me. Just been trying to make adjustments off of that and try and look at what teams are doing and what I’m doing.
“You go through ups and downs and I’ve been able to have a good little stretch here the last seven days. Just trying to ride that wave as long as we can.”
