With nothing going right for the Mets, they desperately needed one of their stars to step up and break out with a big offensive game on Tuesday. Enter Brandon Nimmo, the Met who’s been the most consistent this season at the plate. On Tuesday night with the Mets in need of a spark to help them get back in the win column, Nimmo launched not one, but two homers off of Julio Teheran to catapult the Mets to a 7-2 win. It was the first time in Nimmo’s career he hit two home runs in the same game off of the same pitcher.
First time in his career that Brandon Nimmo has hit 2 home runs in a game off the same pitcher.
— Mike Mayer (@mikemayer22) June 28, 2023
Nimmo has now recorded multi-hit appearances in three of his last four games, and has recorded eight such games this month. The homers were Nimmo’s second and third in his last six games as well, as he also hit one in the Mets’ loss to the Phillies last Friday. Nimmo has never had a 20-homer season in the majors, but he is now on pace to do just that. Nimmo’s current career high in long balls is 17, which he hit in 2018.
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Nimmo’s second homer on Tuesday was particularly impressive. The centerfielder took an off-speed pitch from Teheran on the outside corner and muscled it out to left-center field to drive home two runs. After the game, Nimmo said he was “willing it” out of the ballpark since he hadn’t hit one out to that area recently.
As of now, Nimmo has the best case of any Mets position player to nab an All-Star spot. He’s up to 11th in the NL in on-base percentage and is 15th in batting average at .282. Although he’s made some atypical mental mistakes in the field, Nimmo has also provided an excellent defensive centerfield overall, putting together a solid overall season in the first year of his eight-year deal he signed last offseason.
While pitching has undoubtedly been the bigger Mets issue in their recent slide, they also haven’t been getting enough consistency from their lineup. If they’re going to turn things around on that side, it’s going to have to star with their stars: Nimmo, Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor, and Jeff McNeil providing consistent production.
If Nimmo can continue to get on base at his usual clip while also mixing in the power that we saw from him on Tuesday night, it could kickstart a revitalization of the Mets’ offense. Few players on the Mets outside of Alonso, Lindor and Francisco Álvarez are a consistent home-run threat, but Nimmo has shown that part of his repertoire may be coming along this season, which could help elevate his game to the next level.
