Brandon Nimmo was not tabbed for the first All-Star designation of his career, but the Mets’ streaking outfielder has been among the best players in the National League for nearly a month.
The white-hot Nimmo drove in the Mets’ first three runs with a bases-loaded double in the fifth inning to help propel them to a 7-0 win Thursday against the Nationals to move into a wild-card position.
Nimmo, who missed one game on July 1 due to a fainting spell, has posted a torrid slash line of .348/.434/,717 with 30 RBIs since June 14.
His 62 RBIs for the season are tied for the fifth-most in the NL.
“He deserves to be an All-Star, I’m going to continue to say it,” Carlos Mendoza said. “I don’t know about extra motivation, but he and [Francisco] Lindor, I feel they deserve to be there.
“But the motivation here is to win games to help the team, the New York Mets, get wins and that’s what they’re doing. And then let the rest take care of itself.”
Nimmo has said being added to the All-Star roster even as a late injury replacement would be a ”dream come true.”
Mendoza called him “a special player and special hitter” after Nimmo drove a pitch from Washington starter MacKenzie Gore the opposite way to left-center with the bases loaded in the Mets’ five-run fifth to snap a scoreless tie.
“The goal for us is just to keep pushing on the dam until it finally breaks. We were able to do that today,” said Nimmo, who has raised his overall batting average from .215 to .252 since June 14. “Obviously I don’t even come up in that situation without Luis [Torrens] getting the leadoff double and unbelievable at-bat by Jeff [McNeil for a walk] and then [Lindor] being under control [and drawing another walk] in the at-bat before mine. Once [Lindor] got to 2-0, I was pretty sure they wanted me and not him. …
“So I’m happy I could come through there when they wanted [to pitch to] me. But I did feel like that’s been our offense, we’re just trying to keep the pressure on until it finally breaks.”
Nimmo’s 62 RBIs already are within six of his career-best total from last season.
He said he has worked with hitting coaches Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes “the past two years on improving my swing” to drive in more runs.
“I think I had an ‘ah-ha’ moment last year around August and I was able to get a little more out of myself,” Nimmo said. “It was kind of one of those breakthroughs and something we’ve been working on. … You guys haven’t seen the work that’s been put in, but it’s been a long process.
“We finally were able to clean up the swing path and add that with my decision-making to become a much better hitter. I’m just really glad that I’ve been able to come through for the team in those big moments when we need them.”