Nimmo’s Bowman card

Bowman is indeed one of the most popular brands. There are several top prospects with great potential. Getting an autographed card from a top prospect is one of the most wonderful things for baseball fans. In the meantime, there are several 1st bowman cards from future superstars. It might take some time for those players to become all-stars, but would be worth waiting. Being patient is a lesson in baseball.

I opened a few packs of 2014 Topps Bowman Draft and found some cool cards. One is a Brandon Nimmo chrome card. The back side of the baseball card displayed his scouting profile.

Scouting Profile		Bowman cards Insight
Power: 30	Average: 60	Had the 3rd most walks (71) in the South Atlantic League in 2013
Speed: 50	Fielding: 80

The scout report indicated that Nimmo is an above average hitter with good defensive skills. However, his power was not that good. He also had a lot of walks in the 2013 season.

So after a few years of development, is the scout report correct? Anything surprised?

Power

Nimmo is not a power hitter, but his power isn’t that bad. He did hit 17 home runs and 8 triples in 2018. In total, he had 53 extra base hits in the 2018 season. However, Nimmo played more than 100 games only once and it was in 2018. He was placed on the injured list several times. In particular, he missed 3 months last season. Durability might be a problem.

Hit for average

In his 4 seasons with the New York Mets, Nimmo hit .254/.387/.440. He only hit .221 last season. Nevertheless, he hit between .260 and .274 from 2016 to 2018. That's slightly above average.

Speed

Brandon Nimmo
Season	Sprint Speed (ft/s)	Rank	HP to 1st	Rank
2016	28.7	69	X	X
2017	28.7	77	4.22	106
2018	28.5	101	4.23	106
2019	28.5	108	4.21	83

According to the statcast data, Nimmo’s speed is above average. He doesn’t steal bases that much. However, it is fine that he usually bats 1st since his OBP is good.

Fielding

Nimmo only committed 4 errors and had a .992 fielding percentage in his 4 years with the Mets. Among those 4 errors, 1 as LF, 1 as CF and 2 errors as right fielder. But from 2016 to 2019, his DRS was -8, ranking 70th out of 96 (Min Inn: 2000). Nevertheless, when we looked at the statcast data, Nimmo’s defense was fine in the last 2 seasons.

	Runs Prevented	Rank (OF)	Outs Above Average	Rank (OF)
2017	Not qualified
2018	5	25	5	29
2019	3	37	3	39

  

Last season was very disappointing for Nimmo because of the neck problem. Nevertheless, Nimmo had 80 walks in 2018, 17th most in the league. His OBP was .404 in 2018, ranking 4th in the MLB. That truly fits the description from the bowman cards insight. Nimmo has been quite disciplined at the plate since he was in the minors. He also has many walks in the big league.
 

The scout profile on the baseball card is definitely worth reading, it correctly described Nimmo’s potential. However, his power was probably underrated or the Mets farm system did do well to help him develop some power. He hit 17 home runs in 140 games in 2018. He might have a season with 20 home runs in a 162-game season. Nimmo did have a good spring, hitting .379/.455/.552. It showed that he would bounce back in the new season. The 2020 season will begin next week, a healthy and highly disciplined Nimmo would definitely help the Mets' lineup and defense.