Brandon Nimmo and T.J. Rivera both entered their sophomore seasons with the Mets in 2017. Neither were considered key players for 2017 nor were they guaranteed a large chunk of playing time. Both made an impact with the team, however. The question is: whose 2017 season was more impressive?

Before going about answering this, it must be considered whether or not this is a fair question. Is it comparing apples to apples or is it comparing apples to oranges? Both Nimmo and Rivera were second-year players who played in a similar amount of games, put up similar numbers, and dealt with injuries which kept them from playing with the big league club for prolonged periods of time. Therefore it’s not too outlandish to compare these two to one another.

Brandon Nimmo

Nimmo began 2017 dealing with a strained right hamstring. He was sent to Advanced A St. Lucie on April 26 for a rehab assignment. Nimmo was in St. Lucie for five games before continuing the assignment in Las Vegas. He was then recalled from that assignment on May 15 and continued playing for the Las Vegas 51s until he was called up to the big league club on June 16.

Nimmo appeared in 11 games for the Mets in June and went 2-for-7 (.286) with two RBI and four walks. The Mets used him sparingly at first as he didn’t get a start in June.

As July came around, so did a little playing time for Nimmo. He started three of the first four games in July and went 5-for-13 (.385) in them. However, he wouldn’t play in another game until July 30 as he suffered a partially collapsed lung.

When he did come back, he started coming off the bench again for his first eight games. Beginning on August 12, he got more playing time and actually received starts for most of the Mets remaining games.

Things did not begin smoothly for Nimmo even then. He went 13-for-55 (.236) the rest of the way in August along with nine runs, one home run, four RBI, and eight walks in 18 games.

He changed that in September though as he had the best month of his young major league career. He hit .269/.391/.495/.886, scored 15 runs, smacked four home runs, drove in 15 RBI, and walked 18 times.

T.J. Rivera

Rivera’s time on the field with the Mets in 2017 rarely overlapped with Nimmo’s time. Aside from some games in June and the first four games of July, these two Mets did not play together. That’s because Rivera started out the season with the Mets and suffered his injury (a partial right UCL tear) at the end of July.

Even after a small sample of impressive hitting in 2016, Rivera did not start 2017 with an everyday role. He was actually sent down for about a week in the middle of April. In 11 April appearances he did not impress as he went 5-for-25 (.200) with four runs and no homers or RBI.

Similar to Nimmo, Rivera started to pick things up when he got more playing time. In May, he played in 24 games and got 68 at bats. Rivera made the most of that opportunity by going 20-for-68 (.294) with 10 runs, one home run, and 10 RBI.

In June, Rivera picked up an additional 18 hits in 59 at bats (.305) as well as five runs, one home run, and seven RBI. He did not draw a single walk in the month, showing his aggressive approach at the plate.

Rivera’s best month came in July. He put up his best overall slash line and hit the most homers while also tying the most RBI he drove in and the most walks he drew compared to April, May, and June. Unfortunately, just like Nimmo, he couldn’t build off that momentum as his best month came at the end of his season. He spent the rest of the season on the 10-day disabled list recovering from his partial right UCL tear.

Nimmo’s 2017 Was More Impressive

After carefully considering both Nimmo and Rivera’s seasons, Nimmo’s 2017 campaign was more impressive.

Nimmo seemed to be an afterthought in the Mets system recently. He was drafted by the Mets out of high school in the first round of the 2011 MLB Draft. Throughout the Mets system, he has had his ups and downs. After tearing the cover off the ball with Las Vegas in 2016, he finally got called up to the majors. However, he wasn’t given much playing time and didn’t do exceptionally well with the time that he got.

With Michael Conforto, Jay Bruce, Curtis Granderson, and Yoenis Cespedes manning the outfield in 2017, it seemed nearly impossible that Nimmo would get much time at all. He also was struggling in Triple-A which didn’t help his case.

Injuries and trades opened up some time for him and once he was given ample playing time, he shined. He went from somebody who could’ve be a bench player in a few years to someone who could actually become an everyday outfielder in the not too distant future.

Rivera on the other hand, again showed that he can hit. After two MLB seasons, he is a career .304 hitter. Rivera really didn’t step things up, however. He set the bar high last season and in 2017 he took a slight step back.

Furthermore, while both players had very similar seasons, Nimmo’s was slightly more productive statistically speaking. By the end of the season these were their stats:

Nimmo: 69 G, 177 AB, .260/.379/.418/.797, 26 R, 46 H, 11 2B, 1 3B, 5 HR, 21 RBI, 2 SB, 33 BB, 60 K, 112 OPS+, 0.9 WAR, -0.4 dWAR

Rivera: 73 G, 214 AB, .290/.330/.430/.760, 27 R, 62 H, 13 2B, 1 3B, 5 HR, 27 RBI, 1 SB, 9 BB, 32 K, 100 OPS+, 0.4 WAR, -0.5 dWAR

Nimmo’s 2017 was more surprising, more productive, and therefore more impressive. In the end that should not take away from what Rivera accomplished in 2017. Both young players did well in 2017 with all things considered.

What say you Mets fans? Which one of these players did better in your eyes?