Comparing and contrasting Starling Marte and Brandon Nimmo

Back in February, before the lockout was settled, a piece ran here with pairs of teammates who were connected, at least in my mind. One such duo was Starling Marte and Brandon Nimmo. Now that the season is a couple of weeks old, let’s check in to see how Marte and Nimmo are doing.

In the February piece, the issues were which one would play center field and which one would bat leadoff. At the time, many people – perhaps most – felt like Marte should be in center. Fewer people, but still enough not to be ignored, felt like Marte should lead off, too, replacing Nimmo in both of the roles he held the previous season, at least while healthy.

When Spring Training rolled around and they began to play Grapefruit League games, Marte was on the shelf, unable to play in games. Nimmo played in center from the jump and did not move to left field when Marte returned to action. But it seems at this point that Marte’s injury had nothing to do with who played in center. Because when Marte returned, Buck Showalter had him in right field, a position he had never played before in his MLB career.

Marte had been an outstanding defensive left fielder when he first came to the bigs so it seemed natural to slot him there, especially as Mark Canha had experience playing in right and was considered a solid defensive player. But Showalter put Marte in right field. Last night, the broadcasters mentioned how, because of Marte’s speed, the Mets had him positioned more towards the gap, confident in his ability to run down balls hit towards the line. And, indeed, we’ve seen Marte do just that, making plays on the run near the line, while helping to take away the gap in right center.

It’s way too early to take defensive numbers at anything approaching face value. But by the eye test, Marte looks comfortable at a position that’s essentially brand new to him. It’s easy to say that a fast guy should be able to play any outfield position. But it’s a credit to Marte that not only has he sacrificed for the betterment of the team, he’s done it without an ounce of complaining and has looked good while doing it, too.

Nimmo doesn’t look graceful in center. He just seems to catch the balls that he should. He’s never going to win any throwing competition. But he at least tries to compensate with a quick release. In an ideal setup, Nimmo would play left field. Yet last year he was an above-average CF by DRS, UZR and Statcast numbers OAA and RAA. Maybe that was just a small-sample fluke. However, if you want to claim that as the case, make sure you make it even more aggressively for 2020, when Nimmo was terrible in CF but in fewer than half the innings than he posted in center field in 2021.

Showalter also kept Nimmo batting leadoff and the results have been just as good as most of us expected. Nimmo is slashing .302/.412/.525 in the early going here. Many people will focus on the AVG but the real key is the ISO. After posting a .145 ISO last year, one that was that low because he didn’t hit for any power the first two months after he returned from the hand injury, Nimmo has a .223 ISO so far in 2022. Five of his 13 hits have gone for extra-bases, including two homers.

The triple slash numbers are great without any context. But they’re even more impressive when you consider what other leadoff hitters are doing so far this season. Baseball-Reference shows that MLB batters hitting in the leadoff position, in 2,008 PA, have a slash line of .221/.294/.353 here in 2022. Nimmo’s .937 OPS bests the average leadoff hitter by .290 points, which is amazing.

Meanwhile, Marte has not been as impressive at the plate here in the early going. He has a .254/.313/.373 line, while mostly batting second or third in the order. There was one game where Showalter batted him seventh in the lineup and it’s not an unreasonable question to ask if that’s where he should be batting on a regular basis.

Jeff McNeil and his 141 OPS+ probably should be higher in the lineup. If the Mets could settle on one guy to be their main DH, he would probably earn a higher spot in the batting order, too. My feeling is that we’re not at that point yet. Still, it’s something that should be monitored and possibly adjusted in mid-to-late May if Marte doesn’t start producing more at the plate.

When you look at their total contributions on the field – hitting, fielding and running – Marte has been good and Nimmo has been great. Marte can certainly improve on his hitting and his two early caught stealings stick out like a sore thumb, too. But so far, it looks like Showalter has done a good job of identifying the strengths and weaknesses of both players and used them accordingly.