Mets' Brandon Nimmo getting it done with the lumber and leather
Mets' Brandon Nimmo, right, celebrates with Starling Marte after hitting a solo home run against the San Francisco Giants during the third inning a baseball game in San Francisco, Saturday, April 22, 2023. Credit: Godofredo A. Vásquez
SAN FRANCISCO — Even in a loss, Brandon Nimmo turned in his daily highlight reel Saturday. He homered and made two more standout catches in the Mets’ 7-4 loss to the Giants.
Among his top-notch numbers: a .368 average, which is third in the majors, and 1.6 WAR (per FanGraphs), which leads everybody.
“It’s the same approach that I had when I was hitting .188 for those first however many [games],” he said. “I’m just finding holes and I’m getting the ball in the right places. It’s really not that much different. That’s what’s so funny about baseball. You can be a completely different player from one week to the next with the same mindset.”
Buck Showalter said: “Nim is playing as good an all-around game as you want to see.”
Nimmo’s latest diving catch came in the first inning, turning David Villar’s would-be single into a sacrifice fly and helping David Peterson (five innings, seven runs) through an already-rough first inning.
As a result of a series of such plays during the past week, Nimmo has been limping a bit when not on the field. He bruised a knee laying out in Oakland last weekend but said he’s fine.
“It doesn’t affect me when I turn the jets on and go, but it’s just kind of an annoyance,” he said. “Baseball is filled with many of those things.”
On Sunday, he’ll look to finish strong on a West Coast road trip during which he is batting .487 (nine games). “I felt like there was more meat on the bone,” he said. “I was saying that in spring training. This is just a little glimpse of it.”
Injury updates
Justin Verlander (right teres major strain) is scheduled to throw live batting practice Sunday, his first time facing hitters since getting hurt more than three weeks ago. The next step would be a minor-league rehabilitation start.
Stephen Nogosek (right elbow bone bruise) began a rehab assignment with Triple-A Syracuse on Saturday, tossing 1 1⁄3 innings and allowing one run. He is eligible to return from the injured list April 30.
Commack native Stephen Ridings (right lat strain) recently had a setback but is close to appearing in minor-league games — just as he was close to getting into games near the end of spring training.
“We slowed it down because he felt something. Before it got out of hand, we kind of backed off again. Now he’s close to that point again,” Showalter said. “It’s two steps forward, one step back with him. Mostly forward now. So we haven’t had anything negative in the last three or four [updates from the medical staff]. He’d be a nice guy to get in the mix.”
Extra bases
The Mets have not revealed a starter for Tuesday against the Nationals. Their best option, Jose Butto, isn’t eligible to be called up until early May unless they put someone else on the IL. Notably, Butto has not pitched for Syracuse in recent days . . . Starling Marte went 2-for-4 with an RBI in his return to the lineup. He missed the previous two games because of a stiff neck.
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.
