The Keepers - #6 - OF - Brandon Nimmo

photo by Allan Greene

6.       OF      Brandon Nimmo   

6-6-11: - Nimmo lives in Wyoming, a state that has no high school baseball. You would undertand this ff you ever have gone to Wyoming in April. Instead, Nimmo hit in his backyard against a pitching machine. He always wanted to play baseball and signed up for the USA Baseball TOS last August. He went 2-4, with a triple, 2-runs scored, 2-RBI, and was named MVP for the American team. At this point, he still hadn’t been recruited by any college because how do you scout a kid hitting in their backyard (I’m not making this shit up, guys). I’m not sure how successful his high school career could have been because he had knee surgery in 2009 after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee playing wide receiver on the football team in September 2009. Thus, if there was a baseball team (again, there isn’t) there would have been no 2010 season anyway. Oh yeah, did I mention he has tendinitis in the same knee now? He did play American Legion ball in 2011 (.448, 84-RBI, 15-HR, 34-SB, 70-G) but not against any quality pitching. Reports from the Mets War Room tonight is they think they will have no problem signing him. You think? Observation: I have no idea what to say at this point. I said last year’s 2nd round pick, Cory Vaughn, sucked, and I was wrong about this. How do you give a grade to someone that doesn’t play baseball? And the picture won't even post on the site. Grade: INC 

6-6-11: - David Rubin on Mack’s Mets: - Well, you HAVE to hand it to Paul DePodesta and the new Mets scouting/drafting regime- they certainly know how to ZAG when everyone else pegs them to ZIG!! Taking 18-year-old Wyoming OF Brandon Nimmo with their first pick in a draft laden with top-pitching talent is certainly, for lack of a better word, ballsy. He wasn't one of the top 5-ranked outfielders prior to the draft, mostly due to the fact that he was a high school kid who didn't play high school ball- NOT because he wouldn't, but because there IS no high school team where he is from in Wyoming!!! Noted draft expert, Jonathan Mayo, was excited because he feels the Mets are finally drafting for ceiling, and by all accounts, the sky is the limit with Nimmo. We've already heard comparisons to both Paul O'Neill and Andy Van Slyke- quite frankly, if there was a way to guarantee that, we'd ALL be ecstatic to see that kind of production in right-field or center at CitiField for the next 14 years. I truly hope this ends up being a pick that we don't regret, and the fact that pitchers like Matt Barnes were NOT drafted right after the Mets passed has to make you feel like the Mets are finally "in the know" this year...I mean, they HAVE to know something about this kid, right? Right??? Bueller??? Bueller???... 

6-6-11: - Jack Flynn on Mack’s Mets: - The cynics are going to have a field day with this one. The Mets took Brandon Nimmo with their first-round pick tonight (13th overall), and if you were scanning mock drafts for information about the Wyoming schoolboy you needed to look down at the players listed in the 30 to 40 range, where most experts were projecting him to be picked.  The question, of course, is a simple one - why? Why did the Mets take a toolsy high school outfielder with very limited amateur experience? Why did New York's scouting department consider him a mid-first round pick when media experts had him tabbed as a high supplemental pick?  The cynic will certainly have some theories. The cynic will tell you that Nimmo is signable, first and foremost, and that the Mets are simply continuing their trend of pinching pennies with their draft picks. Most big-market clubs have figured out how to game the first-year player draft - swoop in and grab the players that scared off the smaller-market teams that cannot or will not give in to their signing bonus demands. The Mets continue to be behind the curve in that respect, operating as though they played in the smallest market in baseball instead of the largest. Even though highly-rated outfielders like Josh Bell and Mike Mahtook were still on the board when they made their pick, past history and current financial concerns suggest that the Mets reacted like the rest of the minnows, swimming away from the larger bonus demands of the better bets. It's not going to cost the Mets a lot of money to get Nimmo into the farm system - and that's just how they wanted it. Nimmo's commitment to play college baseball at Arkansas reportedly predicated on whether or not a professional team offered him a signing bonus on par with a first-round pick. The Mets, clearly reaching for their man at #13, should easily overcome Nimmo's college commitment by simply offering slot money. It's frustrating and it's infuriating, but it's just a fact of life in the dying days of the Wilpon regime. Now, none of this is to say that Nimmo doesn't have the potential to succeed at the major league level. He is a tremendous risk, of course, but just about every high school player in the amateur draft is a risk. What's especially worrisome about Nimmo, however, is that lack of experience and a pre-existing knee condition from surgery two years ago. The knee injury was suffered playing high school football and is probably not as much of a concern, in the grand scheme of things. What is of greater concern is that Nimmo is from Wyoming and therefore has never played high school baseball. (Apparently, there is no high school baseball throughout the state of Wyoming, and as a result I am struggling to believe that Wyoming is located in the United States of America.) Scouts have had to use his American Legion experience and private workouts to draw their impressions. Nimmo is obviously raw, and it will be up to the Mets' development system to mold him into a professional player. Even if he rockets through their farm system, Nimmo is almost certainly at least four years away from being major-league ready. Mets fans would be better off going to sleep tonight not dreaming about the likes of Nimmo donning the orange and blue one day. It's way too far in the future and it's probably never going to happen anyway. Rather, they will be happier dreaming of the day when the Wilpons have been run out of town and a new ownership group will prioritize winning over slot recommendations. When that day finally comes, Mets fans will look back at first-round picks like Brandon Nimmo and wonder how they stood by their team through nights like this. 

8-21-11: - Stock Up – CF Brandon Nimmo – Well, you knew it was only a matter of time before we’d be writing about Nimmo’s first professional multi-hit games. He went 2-5 today for the GCL Mets, which raised him embryonic batting average to .273. It’s just great to have him in uniform and playing. 

10-18-11 Keeps Update - #6  -  I’m personally still not sold on this mega-pick, but everybody says I’m wrong. Scouts tell me he has “Harper-like” projection… wouldn’t that be something… 

2-29-12 – It was good to see Nimmo break his silence and start representing himself to the Mets press. He contacted me and asked to become a Facebook friend, which I welcomed. It looks like he’s coming to Savannah and I look forward to following his progress throughout the 2012 season. Everyone tells me he’s a good kid that wants to be a Met for a long time. I hope they don’t rush him here like they did last year with Cory Vaughn.