Brandon Nimmo (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Carlos Mendoza isn’t committing to just one center fielder just yet.
The new Mets manager spoke at Spring Training on Tuesday where the utilization of both Brandon Nimmo and Harrison Bader was just one of the big decisions looming over the 44-year-old skipper.
“We got good options,” Mendoza said. “We brought Bader in here but we also have Brandon Nimmo. From the beginning, we’ve been having those conversations with Brandon and he’s been very open about it. We all know Brandon, he’s a guy that wants to win and he will do everything he can possibly do to help this team win whether that’s in left, whether that’s in center… It’s up to me, the coaching staff, to put together a plan.”
Early indications are that Bader will get the majority of the time in center field. His defensive metrics have been amongst the best in baseball in recent seasons. But center field has been Nimmo’s for the last four years. While his bat is superior to Bader’s, his glove has been inconsistent.
President of baseball operations David Stearns said in January that Bader is going to get “a lot” of time in center even if the message from the organization hasn’t suggested that it means Nimmo will be the Mets’ full-time option in left field — right field belongs to Starling Marte, who is healthy after an injury-riddled 2023. But it certainly is trending that way as both Nimmo and Mendoza have alluded to conversations that broached the topic of making a move away from his natural position.
“That was one of the things when we first started talking about this back in November, that came up,” Mendoza said. “He’s willing to do whatever it takes. The biggest thing is our communication to make sure that he’s preparing and putting him in a position where he’s going to be the best version of Brandon Nimmo, whether that’s in left field and center field… He’s going to be a part of that conversation….
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