How years of work led to Mets’ Brandon Nimmo’s big moment

The agent Scott Boras has his own explanation for why his client Brandon Nimmo has made such dramatic improvements as a center fielder during his Major League career.

"They don’t have fences in Wyoming," Boras says, referring to Nimmo’s native state, where high school baseball wasn’t even available to Nimmo. "He knows how to play the ones in New York."

Nimmo got a good laugh when told about that line after the Mets' 2-1 win over the Dodgers, which he saved by leaping over the center field wall in the seventh inning to retrieve what would have been a game-tying home run by Justin Turner.

It was the catch of his lifetime, the catch of the MLB season, the peak of a night at Citi Field that included a Jacob deGrom gem, a live trumpet show for Edwin Diaz and a victory over the behemoth Dodgers.

"That was fun," Buck Showalter said as he settled into the interview room afterward -- and it was, all around, but no moment sparkled more than Nimmo’s catch.

"I have to start calming down," Nimmo said after the game. "I have to sleep at some point tonight and get ready for a four o’clock game tomorrow … I think I need to start toning it down a little bit. Otherwise I won’t sleep until 6:00 a.m."

This big win, which further increased the Mets' confidence in their ability to match up with baseball’s best team, was a result of years of work by Nimmo to improve at the position. Boras’ wisecrack made a substantive point -- growing up as a ballplayer in Wyoming did deprive Nimmo of some of the development from which other top prospects benefit. In the years since, he has filled those gaps with persistent work.

As he rounded his mid-20s and pushed toward 29, Nimmo focused specifically on workouts targeted to make him a better center fielder.

"We’ve worked a lot on my strength and speed," he said. "Those two have correlated to add a foot per second from 2020 to my sprint speed. And then playing center field more consistently and getting more reads has allowed me to get more comfortable out in center field here. I have a good number of games underneath my belt here at Citi Field, and it helps me to be able to make those plays without being able to look back."

Nimmo also noted that his improvements have an organizational element to them, rooted in the team’s expansion of its analytics operation under owner Steve Cohen, team president Sandy Alderson and GM Billy Eppler.

"All the analytics go into that as well," he said. "They had me in the right positioning there on the right field side, and that allowed me to make the play, because if I was on the left field side, I’m probably one step behind."

Said deGrom: "You look back there and he seems to be in the right position every time, covering a lot of ground."

The analytics on Nimmo’s catch itself were impressive; per Statcast, the fly ball had a catch probability of 13 percent, and would have been a home run in 19 of 30 ballparks.

"The reason that was tough was there was no hang time," Showalter said. "It didn’t lay up there where you can get to the fence and time your jump, and sometimes, if you do it right, to raise yourself a little bit."

"I knew it was hit well off the bat," Nimmo said. "So my concern was just getting back to the fence as quick as I could. But it was hit on the line, so I didn’t have a chance to look back at the wall. Fortunately, from playing a lot out there now, I kind of had a feeling I was near the wall and I needed to go ahead and jump. So the timing was right on it, and everything worked."

When Nimmo landed back on the warning track, he screamed and pumped his chest. DeGrom broke surly character to tip his cap and smile. "It meant a lot to me," Nimmo said. "He doesn’t do that easily."

This was a triumph years in the making -- offseasons in the gym, afternoons shagging flies at the ballpark, meetings with analysts and coaches -- all leading to one shining moment in the final hours of August, with the promise of still greater thrills to come.