Nimmo's faster than ever. But will that make him the CF starter?

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Two offseasons ago, the Mets changed their conditioning recommendations, urging players to complete their cardiovascular work before hitting the weight room. It was a minor tweak based upon the science of injury prevention, but Brandon Nimmo found it productive for another reason.

“It was harder,” Nimmo said.

At least partially because of that program, Nimmo came into Spring Training in 2021 feeling faster than ever before. And it wasn’t just a feeling. By season’s end, Nimmo’s Statcast data revealed that he had increased his average sprint speed to 28.9 feet per second, the highest mark of his career and up significantly from his 28.0 feet per second in 2020. With that as a pedestal, Nimmo also improved from -4 Outs Above Average in center field in 2020 to +4 OAA in 2021.

Thanks to that speed, Nimmo was able to play deeper in center field, preventing more balls from going over his head without sacrificing those in front of him. He even became a frequent source of highlights, often diving straight forward to catch line drives.

“I’m really proud of it,” Nimmo said, “and want to continue that as long as possible.”

Soon, Nimmo will find out if the Mets intend to let him. The team has a choice this spring between Nimmo and new acquisition Starling Marte, a two-time Gold Glover in left field who has played almost exclusively center since 2018. Before last season, Marte probably would have been the obvious choice for the job, given his elite sprint speed and defensive history. But he is 33 years old -- 4 1/2 years older than Nimmo -- and his metrics in center last year simply weren’t as strong.

As of Thursday, Mets manager Buck Showalter had not yet crowned either player as his everyday center fielder, in part because Showalter values competition in camp. To date, Nimmo has worked almost exclusively in center, but that’s with Marte battling a minor bout of left oblique soreness. (He should be fine for Opening Day.)

The reality is that Showalter wants Nimmo, Marte and starting right fielder Mark Canha to all take practice reps in center in case any of them must play there during the regular season.

“They’ve all three been receptive to what’s best for the team,” Showalter said. “So that’s a really good start.”

No matter what alignment the Mets use, they should have a far stronger outfield than in years past, when they routinely ranked near the bottom of the league in Defensive Runs Saved. Offensively, all three starters are also proven hitters, with Nimmo coming off another strong -- albeit injury-plagued -- season, and Marte offering the type of baserunning aggressiveness that the Mets haven’t had since José Reyes’ heyday.

For Nimmo, there is a personal element in all of this, too: he can become a free agent after the season, and free-agent center fielders tend to earn more money than corner outfielders with similar offensive profiles. If Nimmo can prove that last year’s defensive performance was no fluke, he could theoretically make himself more valuable on the market.

“I take a lot of pride in the work that I do and how I go out there and play and prepare,” Nimmo said. “So it would be great to play center field. But I think competition is a good thing, too. … All I know is that I am getting a lot of reps in center field, so I’m being prepared out there.”