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New York Mets’ Brandon Nimmo runs the bases after hitting a solo home run off San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Anthony DeSclafani in the third inning of a baseball game, Saturday, July 1, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Brandon Nimmo the power hitter?
The New York Mets’ lead-off man and on-base extraordinaire doesn’t have power surges like this often.
A fifth-inning round-tripper during Tuesday’s 8-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks was Nimmo’s fifth home run in his last seven days and the ninth homer hit in his last 23.
He hit just four home runs in his first 60 games of the season after a 16-home-run campaign in 2022. As of Wednesday afternoon, he was just three short of tying last year’s total already.
“It goes to all the work that we’ve been doing,” Nimmo said. “[Hitting coach Jeremy Barnes] has been working with me constantly and I’ve been trying to continue to get better each and every year and each and every day. I’ve gotten to see a little result from the hard work.”
Nimmo is on pace to shatter his previous career-high of 17 home runs hit in 2018 — even if the current 63-home-run 162-game pace he’s put up over this 23-game stretch is remarkably unfeasible. The 30-year-old center fielder hit eight home runs each year from 2019-2021 and didn’t hit his 13th home run last year until Sept. 6.
He’s two full months ahead of schedule.
“We’ve just been trying to clean up my swing a little bit, kind of clean up the fat out of it,” Nimmo said. “Make it a little more direct and make better decisions. Even though I’ve been a good decision-maker, there’s been room for improvement on that.”
Nimmo’s added power certainly isn’t a bad thing for a Mets lineup that has lacked a well-rounded attack from that aspect. He’s only had one other 23-game stretch like this in his career…
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