The most interesting man in baseball

After a brief rookie stint in 2016 that only saw outfielder Brandon Nimmo appear in 30 games (80 plate appearances), the Mets decided that Brandon Nimmo has been worthy of a starting role on the team. But even with the starting job many fans around the game of baseball have begun to overlook the talented outfielder and overlook the one thing about him that truly makes him special and that's his plate discipline and the ability to get on base. Since coming into the league, Nimmo ranks in the top 10 (among qualified hitters) in BB% with a walk rate of 15.2%. That walk rate is no fluke when you look at his O-Swing% which since 2016 ranks #7 for the lowest chase rate at 19.9% (according to Fangraphs). Nimmo in general doesn’t swing to often compared to other major league players, with a swing% of just 39.6% in his career which since 2016 places him with the 21st lowest % in that time frame. Since being in the league Nimmo has been a respectable glove in the field, not someone you see being awarded a gold glove one day but not someone you would look at as a DH only kind of guy if in the AL. His career -9 DRS is not pretty to look at but with some improvements he could work that number up to a more reasonable number. Nimmo throughout his career in the minor leagues was never known as a huge power bat, with his career high coming up through the Mets system being 11 homers in 2016 its safe to say his power numbers may peak around 20. But even with average power playing a game where everybody is chasing home run hitters, Nimmo has stilll managed to put up a 118 wRC+ in his first season as a non September call up, also taking in that2017 was the year he suffered a collapsed lung which would sideline him for a huge majority of that season. He would go on to make a huge jump in 2018 and have a breakout year that included a walk rate of 15% which would lead to an OBP of .404. That year he made strides swinging the bat with a .263 batting average to go with 17 homer runs and 9 stolen bases but was ultimately thrown out stealing on 6 other occasions. That season Nimmo would be one of only 9 players to finish in the top 10% of hitters in wRC+ and finishing in the bottom 10% in o-swing% (see image below).

Unfortunately for Nimmo 2019 came to a crash when he was placed on the DL on May 21st with what was reported as just a stiff neck that would ultimately lead to a bulging disk that would lead to him being sidelined until his activation on September 1st. After struggling prior to hiss trip to the DL, Nimmo would go on to rake for the month of September putting together a .261/.430/.565 slash line to go with a 159 wRC+ . His plate discipline was at its best with a 21% walk rate and a 24% strikeout rate.

Looking at the chart above i have chosen 2 players to compare discipline numbers to Nimmo’s (column 1), those two would be Blue Jays second baseman Cavan Biggio (middle column) and Nationals outfielder Juan Soto (far right column). Now if you are questioning why I chose these two players its very simple. Both get a lot of hype surrounding there plate discipline numbers, as well as other things but for the sake of this I’m solely focusing on strictly the discipline numbers of these 3 through there short careers so far.

Looking at Nimmo and Soto’s numbers its interesting to look at, some might say its dumb since Soto is only 21 and Nimmo is 27. But did you know that Soto has more career plate appearances than Brandon Nimmo? Soto has 1153 career plate appearances (not including playoffs) compared to Nimmo’s 1084 plate appearances. Since 2016 both both rank in the top 25 for lowest O-swing, Nimmo coming in at #7 with a 19.9% and Soto comes in at #23 with a 22.8% o-swing. The main difference between the 2 is the K% of the both of them, with Soto having a 16.2% career walk rate and a solid 20% K rate Nimmo keeps up in the walk department with a 15.2% walk rate but falls behind heavily striking out at a 26.8%.Now it’d be hard almost to compare Biggio to the other 2 given he only has 1 year under his belt, but when Biggio came up he received a lot of hype for his ability to get on base and being a patient hitter which he deserves all the hype.

The purpose of the comparisons weren’t to try and say Nimmo was a better on base guy than either Soto or Biggio, But its pretty close and Nimmo has shown the ability to be more than just a guy who walks a lot.