Brandon Nimmo was selected out of high school (kind of) with the Mets first pick (13th overall) in the 2011 MLB Draft. He checks in at 6th overall in the Mets Minors Top 25 Prospects list.
Nimmo was born and raised in Cheyenne, Wyoming. It was there where Brandon would hone his baseball skills, mostly his swing, in an oversized barn behind his family home. All of that seems like a cookie-cutter beginning for a big league career, but Nimmo’s path to the MLB was anything but.
Wyoming is one of three states (Montana and South Dakota are the others) that don’t have high school baseball. So Brandon was forced to join his local American Legion team. If that hurdle wasn’t enough, also consider the weather conditions. Players would often have to battle high winds, low temperatures and sometimes even snow. “It’s not ideal,” Nimmo tells USA Today “But this is normal to us.” Despite all that, Brandon would thrive, hitting .448 with 15 home runs and 34 stolen bases in 70 games in his final season. Numbers like that will attract scouts — even to Wyoming. “Many of them told us they’ve never been to Wyoming”, recalls Nimmo’s mother.
On draft day, the Mets selected Nimmo despite concerns over his inexperience, rawness, and limited competition in American Legion ball. Despite that, many analysts lauded the Mets for taking a chance on a kid with his upside. ESPN’s Keith Law called it a “huge pick.” for the organization. Mets Assistant GM Paul Depodesta told the Daily News: “We weren’t interested in making the safest pick, we were interested in the pick that would have the most impact.”
Although Nimmo is a work in progress, many scouts expect him to be a solid major league outfielder. Despite his low homerun totals thus far, he’s expected to develop power that should produce 20+ HR annually in his prime. Some have called his hit tool into question, leading them to believe he’ll never be a player who hits for a high average. His plate discipline, however, has been a pleasant surprise. He shows good strikezone judgement, which will lead to high OBP’s. Nimmo posseses above average speed on the basepaths. Defense will be a huge factor in what type of player Nimmo is viewed as. If he can stick in the middle of the diamond he can be a very valuable player. He has a solid glove and arm, and is considered a hard worker, which will certainly help improve his reads/routes. Baseball Prospectus’ prospect guru Jason Parks on Nimmo:
“He’s a long-term project with major-league upside, but he lacks the tools to be an impact talent if he moves to a corner spot.”
Nimmo certainly has an interesting storyline and a personality that makes him easy to root for. He’s also exceeded expectations this year in the South Atlantic League despite playing against older, more experienced competition. For his efforts he was recently selected to the SAL All-Star game.
Follow Brandon Nimmo on twitter (@You_Found_Nimmo) as he continues his season in Savannah.