SEATTLE — Brandon Nimmo had some harsh, though candid criticism of himself following the second straight shutout loss for the Mets in Seattle on Saturday night.
When asked how the outfielder and key member of the team leadership group has been feeling at the plate as of late, he summed it up succinctly: “Terrible.”
Since the All-Star break, Nimmo has hit just .158 with a .483 OPS. He isn’t alone in his offensive struggles. After out-slugging just about everyone through June and part of July, just about the entire lineup is struggling with the exceptions of Francisco Lindor, Jeff McNeil and to a lesser extent, Tyrone Taylor.
But that has done little to quell the pressure Nimmo feels to perform.
“It’s no question that I’ve been doing really poorly since the All Star break,” Nimmo said. “I expect more of myself, and I’m working at it every day, but, you know, it’s just not good enough. I’m one of the leaders on this team, I’m supposed to come through, I’m supposed to do better.
“And I’m not.”
Nimmo remained in the clubhouse late Friday night working on his swing in the batting cages, which did not go unnoticed by the coaches. Manager Carlos Mendoza checked in on him Saturday night after the 4-0 loss and didn’t sense anything concerning. Nimmo simply feels as though he’s letting the team down as a leader.
“He’s feeling it because we haven’t been able to score,” Mendoza said Sunday at T-Mobile Park. “He feels like, ‘I’ve got to help.’ But that’s just who he is. He cares so much about this team and he wants it so bad, and at the end of the day, he’s just got to be himself. He’s working really hard behind the scenes.”
The 31-year-old Nimmo attributed the slump to nothing more than the typical ebb-and-flow of the season. Inside the Mets clubhouse, they aren’t necessarily concerned about back-to-back shutouts because the Mariners’ pitching staff is just that good. The Mets knew coming into this series that it would be a battle against some top arms, but they’ve been especially impressed with the polish and poise of the Seattle staff.
It’s an organization run by a former pitcher, president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto, with a long history of developing top arms. But the Mariners’ arms aren’t just big, some also possess an innate feel for pitching that can’t be taught or developed. The Mets staff put right-handers Bryce Miller and Logan Gilbert in that category.
But if the Mets want to continue this postseason push, they’re going to have to hit elite pitching. Hitters have to be ready for the few mistakes ace arms make.
“You’re talking like, playoff kind of baseball,” Nimmo said. “I think playoff baseball, essentially, what you’re getting is it comes down to one or two pitches — maybe three or four — throughout a game, and which team capitalizes on those.”
Mendoza isn’t worried about Nimmo being too hard on himself or taking a lack of production too personally. To the manager, it’s just how Nimmo works as a leader. This pressure drives him and motivates him to do better for the team.
“He’s been through it before and he’ll get through it this time,”
The Mets are working to break out of this hitting slump before facing three tough opponents in a row later this month. The Baltimore Orioles come to Citi Field and then the Mets head back to the West Coast again to face their primary NL Wild Card competition, the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks.
The last thing they want to do is panic. Nimmo and the other team leaders aren’t about to let that happen.
“There has to be a difference between urgency and panic,” Nimmo said. “If you panic, you might as well just throw your cleats down and let’s go home right now. But if you have a sense of urgency, and guys understand that each game is very important — which this group does, they’re not thrown away in any games — then we can acknowledge that, hey, you know, we’re trying to get this turned around sooner than later.
“Then, I think we’ll end up in a good spot.”
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