Brandon Nimmo believes he'll be in Mets' Opening Day lineup
New York Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo during a spring training workout in February. Credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa Loarca
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — In obvious pain and stuck for a moment on the ground Friday night, Brandon Nimmo had a lot of the same thoughts as everybody watching.
Oh, no. Not another one.
The Mets had just lost Edwin Diaz, likely for the season, to a knee injury two days earlier, and now here he was looking similarly hurt, slow to get up and limp off the field after his mishap on a slide into second base.
But then an MRI yielded positive, if unusual, news: a minor sprain in his right ankle, plus a separate minor sprain in his right knee.
The dual diagnosis meant Nimmo had special new legwear — a pair of overlapping compression sleeves, one for each injury — when he spoke to reporters Sunday morning, but the pain has not lessened his trademark optimism.
He said he believes “in my heart of hearts” that he will be ready for the start of the season on March 30.
“Right now, I definitely think I’ll be ready for Opening Day,” Nimmo said. “I actually was more relieved that it wasn’t more serious. We’re looking at no new structural damages, just sprains in there. To me, that was the best news that we could’ve gotten because just with how awkward the play was and catching that cleat, a lot of things could’ve gone wrong there. I really feel fortunate.
“I was definitely scared right when it happened, given what just happened with Edwin, for sure. Thankfully, more didn’t happen.”
General manager Billy Eppler described Nimmo as “week-to-week,” with the next substantial update expected next weekend — the final days of spring training.
Still, despite minimal Grapefruit League action, Nimmo intends to be available. After taking a deliberately slow approach during the first month of camp, he has gotten into only four exhibition games, maxing out at five innings.
Players typically work their way toward playing full games — then consecutive full games — in the weeks before the season. Nimmo won’t have time for that. He said that’s fine.
“Here’s the deal: I’ve been training since the middle of December,” said Nimmo, a regular presence at the Mets’ Florida complex since he re-signed with the team Dec. 10. “So we gotta remember that I’ve been building up to this, not just with the games but in the back fields and with my running and conditioning. So when the time comes, I have ways of lightening the workload before a game and then just being ready for the game. I’ll make it happen.”
With relatively minor injuries at this time of year, teams and players often preach caution. Their go-to lines include there being no point in rushing, it making sense to play it safe, and that being healthy over the long haul is more important than the first chunk of games, even if it means missing the hoopla of Opening Day.
Nimmo expressed no such sentiments.
Fresh off signing an eight-year, $162 million deal — the second-largest contract in Mets history — being available, always, matters to him. He played in a career-high 151 games last season after years of injury-induced shortened seasons.
If Nimmo is at something less than full strength at the start, the Mets’ options include sliding Mark Canha over to centerfield and having Tommy Pham or Jeff McNeil getting time in left.
The Mets will begin the season with games on eight consecutive days, which is rare.
“I’m not going to be able to play six nine-inning [games] in a row,” Nimmo said. “But I feel confident that the body is going to be there. I have ways of getting around it on the front end of games and preserving energy just for the games. That’s the important thing. I’ll make sure I’m ready for that.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
