Dec
8
2011

MMO Top 20 Mets Prospects – #5 Brandon Nimmo, OF

An article by Petey Pete

With the 13th pick of the 2011 MLB Amateur Draft, the New York Mets take Brandon Nimmo….outfielder, Cheyenne, Wyoming. What? No 26-year-old seasoned college veteran, who projects to be coming out of the Citifield bullpen in less than a year? Nope. Far from it. The Mets actually drafted an 18-year-old high school athlete with their first pick in this years draft. It’s a miracle! A dad-burned miracle!! You mean you can actually do that? It’s legal? I thought you had to take college players in the draft. That’s how it’s always been around these parts. What a novel idea- draft a kid with tremendous upside and take some initiative by training him properly. Whoa.

Of course there’s those stat people. You know the one’s I mean. All they know about baseball is numbers. What’s his OBP? What was his WAR in high school? “I can’t endorse a guy if I can’t plug his numbers into something so it can tell me if the guy is a baseball player or not!” Well if your one of those, Brandon Nimmo was not the pick for you. And you’re probably still angry at the team for drafting him. Well this article is not for you, so you can stop reading now. Go on. Go back to the MMO home page, and find something else that interests you to read about. Something with lots of numbers and stat comparisons, because your not going to get any of that here.

The reason the Mets drafted Nimmo in the first round was because they knew he wouldn’t still be there in the 2nd round, and they really wanted him bad. Why? What was so great about some kid that had to play American Legion ball instead of high school baseball because his school, like all the other schools in the state of Wyoming, didn’t have a team? Projection, that’s why. Projection applied through the analysis of a player’s inherent talent. Talent that you have to look at live, on a playing field, to see what it truly is all about. The Mets did that with Nimmo, and determined they simply had to have him, for his projection, and his upside.

But why Nimmo? One thing the Mets don’t have much of in the minor league system is left-handed bats. This is nothing new. The last home-grown lefty power-hitter before Ike and Duda, was Darryl Strawberry, and a decade before that, “The Hammer”, the late great John Milner. That’s a pretty sporadic legacy, and there is no reason why that has to be so. After enduring the disappointment of players like Jeromy Burnitz, and Mike Carp, and Rico Brogna, the Mets need to get serious about adding more Ike’s and Big Duda’s.

Nimmo is a tall (6’3″), athletic outfielder with a very good arm, above average speed, a sweet lefty swing, and projects to someday develop into a power-hitter. He has very strong hands, and excellent hand-eye coordination, and as his body fills out, his long arms and long legs will enable him to drive the ball hard to all fields. I believe that’s referred to as “five-tool” potential. There weren’t too many of those in this years draft, and if you are looking for a LH hitter/CF type, there was no one that graded out like Nimmo. His skillset was fairly unique to this draft, so the Mets were actually smart to take him when they could, knowing the pitching depth in the draft would work in their favor. From the Supplemental round on, they could go for pitching, pitching and more pitching, which is just what they did.

And so, it is without further delay, that I would like to officially name Brandon Nimmo the MMO 2012 Mets #5 Prospect.

Here’s some Brandon Nimmo video.

Check back on Monday when we unveil the #4 ranked player on our list!

2012 MMO Top 20 Prospects

5. Brandon Nimmo OF

6. Kirk Nieuwenhuis OF

7. Juan Lagares OF

8. Wilmer Flores INF

9. Cesar Puello RF

10. Reese Havens 2B

11. Cory Mazzoni RHP

12. Jordany Valdespin INF

13. Darin Gorski LHP

14. Phillip Evans SS

15. Jefry Marte 3B

16. Collin McHugh RHP

17. Juan Urbina LHP

18. Akeel Morris RHP

19. Michael Fulmer RHP

20. Danny Muno INF

About the Author: Peter Shapiro

The first time I went to Shea was not for a Mets game, it was for the Beatles concert there in August of '66. My first Met game was '67, a guy named Salty Parker was the interim-manager then. My first pennant race was 1969. As a 12 year-old that summer and fall, I managed to get to the park for 3 games. The first was the beginning of the Miracle which actually started on Tuesday July 8, 1969 with a day game against the Cubs. I was there a lot in '73. I saw games 3 & 5 of the 1973 NL Playoffs against the "Big Red Machine", from the upper deck behind home plate. It was from there that I witnessed the fight between Bud Harrelson and Pete Rose, and the mayhem that ensued. And that sweet victory in game 5! I saw a couple of WS games at Shea that year against that legendary Oakland A's club. I was there in 1985 for every single game Dr. K pitched including his two 16 strikeout performances, and the day he one-hit the Cubs on an infield single and the Mets won 1-0. I loved being a Met fan in those days. Hopefully we are once again preparing to emerge from the darkness.

15 Comments + Add Comment

NJstuckinTX December 8, 2011 at 1:05 pm

I’m waiting for someone to come up with the “Alderson, Wright, Nimmo and Wheeler walk into a bar” Joke…

(and yes, Nimmo would be ordering the root beer)
Bob L December 8, 2011 at 1:43 pm

i don’t have an issue with drafting Nimmo with the 13th pick. That’s the F/O’s call…an FO big on stats and player evaluation. Fine. But the kid didn’t have 40AB’s in pro ball. i think his #5 ranking a bit premature. Nieuwenhuis is bordering on MLB and we’ve got him #6; Lagares tore up a couple high-minor leagues and he’s #7? Harvey, Familia, Mejia, Wheeler, Captain Kirk…would’ve been my top 5…
- trs86 December 8, 2011 at 1:58 pm
  
  I was not a huge fan of it at the time but after reading so many scouts reports being so high on him it is easy to see why they drafted him. I think that is also why he is so high on this list, scouts must see him having a lot of potential otherwise there would not be so much of a seemingly consensus opinion.
- Petey Pete December 8, 2011 at 3:14 pm
  
  Bob L, go back and read the second paragraph of this piece again. That was written for you. Stats are virtually meaningless when ranking a “prospect” based on potential and raw talent. Nieuwenhuis and Lagares are totally different types of prospects than Nimmo, and are at completely different points in their careers, to compare their stats to his is ludicrous.
  - Bob L December 8, 2011 at 3:43 pm
    
    hey, as i said: i’ve got no problem with the draft pick, but i do think it’s ludicrous (your word brother) to label an 18 yr old kid with <40ABs in pro ball, our #5 Mets Prospect..i.e., a 'bet' that he'll even make it to the majors at this juncture in his career. Urbina was higher in the rankings as a 16 yr old; and Steven Matz was ranked high early on also…those are fantasy evaluations. Period.
    We should be ranking those prospects in our system within a plane ticked-ride of getting to Citi Field, NOT kids with stars in their eyes and yours. i can't wait until your #1 pick: probably Roy Hobbs…before he got shot!
    - Joe Diaz December 8, 2011 at 3:56 pm
      
      Bob they base it on raw talent and projection not just minor league stats. I agree,I thought it was a bit premature but that’s how BBA does it.Lets hope for the franchises sake that this kid pans out.
      - Bob L December 8, 2011 at 4:04 pm
        
        Believe me Joe, i’m hoping the kid’s the next Strawberry w/o the issues! We shall see. We also picked Billy Beane once upon a time in the 1st round too…didn’t we?! He turned out to be a great one–just not as a player and not for us!
    - Petey Pete December 8, 2011 at 4:05 pm
      
      Let me try and explain it to you another way Bob because you are totally missing the point. First of all, this particular Prospect list is the only one I’m at all concerned with. You talk about someone rating Matz and Urbina higher on some list. I could care less about that.
      
      What I am trying to do with this particular list is somehow blend apples and oranges into a ranking based on how high their CEILING is, as a player. I think the first five guys on this list will attain a higher level of play, than all the other ones on the list. None of the players on this list were ranked as a result of any statistics whatsoever.
      
      You think Juan Lagares has more talent than Nimmo, based on Lagares’ batting average from 2011, which he spent at AA and a little AAA. I don’t. I think Nimmo is light-years ahead of Lagares, in talent, and will achieve much greater things someday on the field. That is what this list is based on Bob. Talent. Not stats, not number of AB’s. Try and grasp that Bob. Thanks.
      - jessep December 8, 2011 at 4:13 pm
        
        Petey no matter what, Nimmo & Wheeler will always get slack here because of who was in charge when they were acquired. I’m not saying those are your reasons Bob, but they will always be for many of the people who criticize Nimmo or Wheeler.
        
        Petey Pete December 8, 2011 at 4:19 pm
        
        You know what it is for me Jesse? Some people, I’ll use engineers, and mathmeticians, and scientists for an example, (trying to offend as wide a base of fans as I possibly can, of course), who think in terms of numbers only, their minds might not be hard-wired to work in the abstract, so well. Then their are the artsy-fartsy artistic wackos, (trying to offend as wide a base of fans as I possibly can, of course), like myself who think only in terms of abstract. I’m kidding of course, I love stats as much as the next guy, it’s just that this list is the Top 20 Prospects list, not the Top 20 Prospects at the top of the system list. It means to compare, players at such different stages in their careers, and rank them against each other, you can’t rely on numbers, it has to be subjective.
      - Bob L December 8, 2011 at 4:26 pm
        
        hey, i’m not trying to be sarcastic, and i don’t care which Mets F/O picks these kids…i wish they all become studs (for us!) because i’m a Mets fan! But, while i ‘get’ the conceptual CEILING evaluations of why we picked the kid #13, i do not understand his high ranking here & now comapred to guys much much closer to CITI than Brandon is.
        i want a ranking based on who you guys (the epxerts) think will soon make it to CITI and be a factor for us. For all the kid’s potential, God, doesn’t he still have to turn that POTENTIAL into productive ABs and those odious statistics you abhor BEFORE he’ll ever gett a planee ticket to CITI?
        Remember Billy Beane…? Ironically, Beane was accused of becoming a stat freak based on his inability to become a star in the BIGS.
        Anyway, i enjoy reading all of this stuff, even when i disagree with it. So, thanks for your efforts.
        
        Petey Pete December 8, 2011 at 4:31 pm
        
        Here is an assessment I did a few months back, maybe it is more what you are looking for.
        
        http://metsmerizedonline.com/2011/09/prospect-pulse-buffalo-2012-help-on-the-way.html
        
        Bob L. December 8, 2011 at 4:50 pm
        
        Thanks Petey Pete. i missed that the 1st time around, and it is what i’ve been looking for.
        
        Petey Pete December 8, 2011 at 5:00 pm
        
        No prob, Bob.
Alex68 December 8, 2011 at 1:51 pm

Nimmo!!!!!!!!

Need Tickets To The Mets Game?

Check Out These Great MLB Links!

For wholesale prices on New York Mets gifts and equipment, check these stores out!
Mets Autograph Signings
Mets Fan Apparel
Mets Autographed Baseballs
Baseball Card Supplies
Baseball Equipment

For the best seats and lowest MLB ticket prices, go to PurchaseSeats.com. Get your Mets Tickets now and follow them on the road with Yankees Tickets, Phillies Tickets, Nationals Tickets and Braves Tickets!