Brandon Nimmo, currently of the New York Mets, was a free agent for the first time. In an unfortunate circumstance, it happens to be the same free agency year as Aaron Judge. As you probably know Judge is the premier free agent of any position not just in centerfield. This means Judge will inevitably set the market unless NImmo signs back with the Mets or another team quickly before Judge. Of course, one advantage for Nimmo is that teams that miss out or maybe can’t afford the 300+ million dollar contract Judge will command, will be able to sign Nimmo for relatively cheaper. If you consider 100 million- 150 million to be cheap. (haha)
As a Mets fan, I’m a little biased but also watching him play everyday and his ability as a leadoff hitter is impressive. The other impressive thing that really became clear this season was Nimmo’s ability to field his position. He made a number of excellent catches which before 2021 was not the case. Nimmo bats left and throws right. He’s 29 years old with 7 years of MLB experience. Nimmo does not exclusively play centerfield because he has played the two corner outfield spots. Nimmo is a true leadoff contact/speed guy. He can work at bats, often getting to a full count (3-2). You’ll see this reflect in his numbers, high on base percent, high batting averages, low HR and Slugging. Here are his stats:
You’ll notice he didn’t have his best season in 2022. But it is notable he hit the second most homeruns and the most doubles and triples of his career. He also accumulated the most RBI of his career and played in the most games ever in his career. Nimmo has had problems staying healthy but seems to have figured it out this season. If your team is interested in Nimmo, you’re probably wondering what does he hit? The answer is pretty much everything.
Now let us focus on Nimmo’s defense which has been a problem in the past. It seems like the past two seasons, Nimmo has become a sufficient defensive center fielder. He committed no errors and had a fielding percentage of 100. In 2021, Nimmo only committed one error with a fielding percentage of 99.5. This compares to the first five years of his career where he committed 6 errors and struggled. The best illustration of this is a chart of his jump ratings according to baseball savant, you can see the improvement.
I think to end off, I’ll put Nimmo’s baseball savant/ statcast sliders. But before that, I believe that any team that signs Nimmo won’t regret it at the right price. Although he is prone to slumps and usually you can tell because he will fail to make it a full count or get a walk. His lower power numbers and historically poor defense will put him a bit lower in salary to Judge. I would predict Nimmo to get around 4-6 years for around 100 million to 150 million dollars. Also keep in mind, the Mets did extend the qualifying offer. The QO is worth 21 million for one year and if Nimmo signs with another team, the Mets receive a compensatory draft pick. I believe Nimmo will decline the QO and sign a multiyear deal, hopefully with the Mets.
Update: Nimmo signed a 8 year 162 million dollar deal with the New York Mets.
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Thanks to Baseball Reference and Baseball Savant for the statistics.
Technically Analytics 