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. I could see him playing both. I could see him staying in left. There’s a lot that goes into this decision.”
Meanwhile, the 30-year-old Nimmo made it known that he won’t take much of an issue if he’s asked to move to left field full-time, as he said during an appearance last week on The Show Podcast.
“Stearns approached me with it very cordially and asked my opinion on it,” Nimmo said. “I said ‘Honestly, David, if it makes our team better then I’m all for it.’ I want to be competitive, I want to make the playoffs and I want a chance to win a World Series. That’s my goal at this point of my career and I would love to do anything it takes in order to do that.
“If you feel like going in that direction would make us better, then sure. I know if someone is coming in to play center field, then they have to be pretty dang good at playing center field.”
