Welcome to the next installment of MMN’s Mid-Season Top 25 Prospects! As always, the scouting scale explanation can found right here… and as loyal reader Andrew Conyers pointed out to me, I needed an efficient way of linking you guys to the rest of the prospects… so here’s the links if you missed any so far!
MMN Top 25:
Nos. 11 – 15: Kevin Plawecki to Domingo Tapia
Nos. 16 – 20: Steven Matz to Hansel Robles
Nos. 21 – 25: Aderlin Rodriguez to Ivan Wilson
The traditional scouting scale, which ranks players on a scale of 20-80 (abbreviated at times without the zero), can summarize how we feel about a player in an easy to understand format. Now, for those of you unfamiliar with the scale, you’ll see two numbers — something like 30/60, which isn’t a fraction, but rather a representation of their present status and their potential. The number on the left represents their current standing, while the number on the right shows what they could become. For a further explanation on what the numbers mean, I strongly encourage you to check out these links (Scouting for Batters and Scouting for Pitchers) which I will leave on each post going ahead in this series. With that being said, I really hope you enjoy our work going ahead, and any and all questions and comments are appreciated.
7. Brandon Nimmo, OF
Height: 6’3”
Weightt: 185
Bats/Throws: L/R
Contact: 40/60 Power: 30/50 Speed 50/50 Arm: 50/50 Fielding 40/50
By now, you should know the story of Brandon Nimmo — a High School draftee with no high school experience. He came out of Cheyenne, Wyoming as the 13th Overall Pick in 2011. One would think his lack of experience would be a hindrance to him, no? Nevertheless, Nimmo has a high amount of potential as an outfielder, and right now, it isn’t showing. As of today, Brandon is hitting .256 in Savannah with eight doubles, five triples, a homer, and a ratio of 35 walks to 86 strikeouts.
There are a few things to note though, when it comes to Nimmo’s performance this season — starting with his health. Nimmo was sidelined with a wrist injury for more than a month, which could be lingering, further driving down his performance. On top of that, Nimmo’s home/away splits are quite drastic.
At home, Nimmo is hitting .210. Savannah’s home field, Historic Grayson Stadium, favors pitching more than any other park in the SAL league, and the lowest runs-per-game average (7) in the entire minor leagues. On the road, However, Nimmo is hitting .303 in nearly the same amount of games — 33 games at home to 32 away. This cannot be a coincidence.
Nimmo’s splits between lefties and righties is also very large. Against lefties, Nimmo is batting 10-for-54, a .196 average, with one double. Against righties, however, he is 53-for-195 — a .272 average — with seven doubles, five triples, and a home run. Due to Nimmo’s lack of HS experience, he did not have the opportunity to face many southpaws at all. Adjustments to left-handed pitching will come for Nimmo with experience, so you can expect this to climb.
Nimmo finds himself ranked highly on our list because he is just 20 years old and is now experiencing his first full season. The fact that remains that as a first-round pick, he entered our system with a lot of potential and still embodies a bright future — although perhaps not as bright as we first thought. Despite the batting average, Nimmo excelled in Brooklyn last year, being in the top 10 in multiple statistics. He was always considered a project because of his lack of experience, but with as a high risk/reward prospect, it could pay off exponentially. Brandon Nimmo is capable of producing an average of .285 to .300, with 20-25 homers in the major leagues, whenever he becomes ready.
His range is average in Center Field, where he is for the most part. We will likely move him to a corner outfield spot, so he’ll have more than enough range to handle that assignment. There are some questions about how effective his arm will play out of right field — it’s average right now but can be improved over time. I noticed last year in Brooklyn that his jumps to the ball were not great yet, but I am sure they will improve soon.
All things considered, Nimmo is still young, at 20 years of age, and coming out of a High School with no official team, he obliterated the competition earlier in the year in Savannah. He is a very promising player in the Mets system. This is a young man who could turn out to be a five-tool talent if all the chips fall into place, so let’s not close the book on him just yet.
MMN Mid-Season Top 25 Prospects
10. Jack Leathersich
11. Kevin Plawecki
12. Rainy Lara
13. Cory Vaughn
14. Gabriel Ynoa
15. Domingo Tapia
16. Steven Matz
17. Jacob deGrom
18. Matthew Bowman
19. Vicente Lupo
20. Hansel Robles
22. L.J. Mazzilli
23.Luis Mateo
24. Amed Rosario
25. Ivan Wilson
Besides the wrist injury, I think Boyd and Plawecki getting called up to St. Lucie also hurt his average.
Yeah, losing two of the hotter hitters in the league at the time out of your lineup after trying to recover from a wrist injury create tough circumstances.
Recovering from an injury to the wrist generally takes time and zaps away power from a hitter. The big test for Nimmo will come in 2014 when he´s hopefull 100 % and fully experienced with the drain of a full season behind him.
He´ll have to turn up his production & grow into his tools to remain on / enter a high-end prospect track.
LOL…..Such high hopes stemming from desperation to justify the scouting crew of DepodesTOOL and Balderson.
DepodesTOOL has never drafted an everyday starting player.
Kid is a strikeout machine….doesnt make enough contact….and this has NOTHING to do with any wrist injuries because he was a K-machine prior….
As Ive been saying for a while he needs to show power next year in St.Lucie to justify the high K numbers.
Its pretty obvious as soon as he signed with the Mets and went to instructional league they indoctrinated him with the same hitting approach the big league team suffers from….TAKE AS MUCH PITCHES AS POSSIBLE….which leads to MORE WALKS & MORE STRIKEOUTS…He wasnt the player I wanted in the draft(far from it) but I had high hopes for him after the selection and liked what he did last year in Brooklyn minus the ton of K’s