Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo has already talked about switching to left field for the 2024 season with the team adding center fielder Harrison Bader in the offseason, but that may not be the only change for Nimmo this year.
Nimmo is open to the idea of moving out of the leadoff spot in the batting lineup, and the Mets brass have talked with him before and now during spring training about that potential change.
“I’m not opposed to that being changed at all. I’m not stuck on that I have to be a leadoff hitter,” Nimmo told Newsday’s Tim Healey. “We didn’t really reach the expectations that we wanted last year. And I’m OK with shaking things up to reach a different result.”
Nimmo, who will turn 31 at the end of March, has played 760 games over eight seasons in the big leagues with 520 of them coming with him hitting first in the lineup. He owns a .365 on-base percentage when leading off a game and a .380 OBP for his career.
The 2011 first-round pick said in February that “being versatile” to play both LF and CF at times this season is important, adding that he’s “willing and available to do whatever is best for us to win a World Series.”
He reiterated that mindset again when discussing the possible change in batting position, noting that it could be beneficial to move around with Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor. In 2023, it was very common for Nimmo to bat leadoff with Lindor in the three-spot and Alonso at cleanup.
“If it’s better for the team, if it puts us in a better position to mix things up with Pete and Lindor and putting someone else in a better position maybe at leadoff or whatever it may be, then I’m all for it,” Nimmo told Newsday.
Hitting coach Jeremy Barnes went on to praise Nimmo’s ability, saying that wherever the team decides to bat him, “good things are going to happen.”
“It’s nice that we have that flexibility,” Barnes said. “His skill set is so unique. He gets on base, he walks above major-league average, he doesn’t swing and miss a whole lot, he hits the ball really hard. And last year he started putting the ball in the air and getting the power more.
“If he does those things, whether he ends up hitting leadoff, whether he ends up hitting second, third, fourth behind Pete or whatever, good things are going to happen.”
Nimmo made his spring debut on March 3 and hit in the leadoff spot. He’ll be the leadoff hitter again Saturday when the Mets take on the St. Louis Cardinals, but it’s possible the team will try switching things up at some point during spring training to see how it goes.
