He arrived with the perception of being a fourth outfielder — maybe 3.5 — but something short of a starter.
But through tenacity, enthusiasm and building upon his speed and on-base excellence, he worked his way into regular play, then from the bottom to the top of the batting order. Never early on would you have envisioned a player with that profile sticking his whole career in New York and winding up all over the top 25 for his franchise in a variety of categories. “It is a great comparison,” Mets center fielder Nimmo said of being likened to Gardner, the longtime Yankee.
Mets general manager Billy Eppler worked for the Yankees when Gardner was a third-round draft pick in 2005 and he was actually a champion of Gardner’s on the way up the organization. Still, no one exactly anticipated that Gardner would be arguably the Yankees’ second-best positional draft pick of this century.
“Like Gardy, he’s pretty relentless,” Eppler said. “He enjoys the fight. … He’s not afraid to hit with two strikes, not afraid to spend more time up there within an at-bat, in fact, the more time he spends in the batter’s box, the more comfortable he gets.” Through their age-29 seasons, Nimmo and Gardner share many similarities. But there are differences: Gardner had 23 homers through 2013, while Nimmo had 63 through last year. And Nimmo only has 23 steals, while Gardner had 161. Gardner actually, with age and knowledge of how to create backspin with a short path to the ball, especially at Yankee Stadium, hit for more power in his thirties. In the final eight years of his career, through 2021, Gardner hit 116 homers.
That was central to why the Mets made retaining Nimmo in free agency a priority. Also that he has made such positive strides with his defense and that he played a career-high 151 games last year, delivering 53 extra-base hits , 64 RBIs and 102 runs . Plus, he adds something unquantifiable with hustle, relentlessness and an unflagging doggedness on every pitch he sees. “We use the analogy ‘glue guys’ when you are talking about people in the clubhouse and how they drive your culture,” Eppler said.
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