The Eyes Don't Lie: Brandon Nimmo Statistically Rates As The Worst Centerfielder In Baseball
SNY- Brandon Nimmo has always been miscast as a center fielder, asked to play there most of the time this season because the Mets don't have another legitimate two-way option for the position. While Nimmo was below average in center field in prior seasons, he was at least playable there. This season has been a different story, with Nimmo ranking dead-last in qualified center fielders -- with an OAA of -3.
After decades of the fans' eye test and the nerds' spreadsheet numbers going together like lamb and tuna fish, there is something beautiful about seeing the Venn diagram for both sides's opinion of a player overlap into a perfect circle. I would rather it not be when one of the players on my favorite team being told he is the worst at his position in the sport. But as a Mets fan, I am used to this kind of shit.
Now if you are like me who could pass a Sabermetrics 101 pop quiz but may not know every single stat that appears on Fangraphs, you may be wondering WTF is OAA. Well this is how MLB.com defines it:
Outs Above Average (OAA) is a range-based metric of skill that shows how many outs a player has saved. Prior to 2020, OAA was an outfield-only metric. But it has been expanded to include infielders. OAA is calculated differently for outfielders and infielders (details below).
Outs Above Average for outfielders starts with Catch Probability, which takes the distance an outfielder must go, the time he has to get there, and the direction he travels to put a percentage of catch likelihood on each individual batted ball. OAA for outfielders is the season-long cumulative expression of each individual Catch Probability play. For example, if an outfielder has a ball hit to him with a 75 percent Catch Probability -- that is, one an average outfielder would make three-quarters of the time -- and he catches it, he'll receive a +.25 credit. If he misses it, he'll receive -.75, reflecting the likelihood of that ball being caught by other outfielders
Based on everything in that description as well as everything we have seen on the field, I have no trouble believing that Brandon Nimmo is the worst centerfielder in the league according the OAA in this small sample size of a season.
Here's the thing though. I don't even blame Brandon Nimmo for being a bad centerfielder. You know why? BECAUSE HE'S NOT A CENTERFIELDER. Getting angry at Nimmo for playing a bad centerfield is like getting angry at me for being a bad guitar player. I know what a guitar is and could hypothetically play the guitar if I tried. But if you throw me on stage with Pup Punk, I am going to suuuuuuuuck at playing guitar.
Now you may be saying why would you make someone play something that they suck at playing? Well that's a question for this dipshit.
How the Mets went into a season without a real centerfielder is beyond me. Does it drive me craaaaaazy when Nimmo is not able to get to a ball because he misjudges it or takes a bad route to it, which in turn leads to a big inning for the other team which in turn leads to a loss which in turn leads to more sadness in a year that doesn't need anymore sadness in it? Of course! However, this isn't a Brandon Nimmo problem. This is a New York Mets problem.
Which takes me to my final point of this blog. All of this will be fixed when Uncle Stevie takes over and puts people in charge to build a baseball team the right way. No more shuffling players in and out of positions they do not play because the team was built incredibly poorly from the ground-up, especially in defensively premium positions up the middle. No more just throwing defensively challenged infielders in a corner outfield spot to get their bat in the lineup while hiding their glove then throwing the everyday corner outfielder (who is just fine as a corner outfielder) in center because why would you have a real centerfielder on a big market Major League team? Everything from the top on down is going to change and be better and more importantly, functional when all is said and done. Which will allow players like Nimmo to focus on his offense more as well as being a pain in the ass that pisses off the opponent by always smiling and running the first. I cannot WAIT until the Mets become a normal franchise that fixes their problems before they cause chaos during the season.
Now say the creed with me: Uncle Stevie is coming, the season is fraudulent anyway. Uncle Stevie is coming, the season is fraudulent anyway. Uncle Stevie is coming, the season is fraudulent anyway. Uncle Stevie is coming, the season is fraudulent anyway. Uncle Stevie is coming, the season is fraudulent anyway. Uncle Stevie is coming, the season is fraudulent anyway. Uncle Stevie is coming, the season is fraudulent anyway. Uncle Stevie is coming, the season is fraudulent anyway. Uncle Stevie is coming, the season is fraudulent anyway. Uncle Stevie is coming, the season is fraudulent anyway. Uncle Stevie is coming, the season is fraudulent anyway. Uncle Stevie is coming, the season is fraudulent anyway.