The Mets have been one of the best and most surprising teams in baseball so far this year. Led by stars like Edwin Diaz, Pete Alonso, Fransisco Lindor, Max Scherzer, with the return of Jacob deGrom. However one can argue that Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil have not only been the heart and soul of this team but have been integral to this team. Nimmo has been the best CF in the NL this year and it is not even that close. His all-around play has been nothing short of miraculous all season. McNeil has become somewhat of a unicorn in today's day and age due to the fact he is a high contact, low walk, low strikeout, and low power numbers. This along with the fact of him being a utility guy makes him extremely uncommon in today's game, but he is still very valuable.

Brandon Nimmo

Nimmo was a first-round pick in 2011 out of high school. It took Nimmo a long time to get to the majors and did not make his debut until 2016. He made a splash immediately and from 2016-2021 Nimmo was one of the most consistent players in baseball when he was on the field. However, the most important thing is, “when he was on the field.” He only played in over 100 games once from 2016-2021 but was dominant when he did.

Nimmo's stats compared

All Stats from 2016-2021*

Nimmo has stats that are comparable to some of the best players in the game. However, due to his injuries and the fact that those Mets teams were not exactly great, Nimmo flew under the radar during these times. Going into 2022 the Mets needed Nimmo to stay healthy and keep up his production for the Mets to reach their potential. Thus far in 2022 Nimmo has already appeared in 103 of 112 games and he has been the best center fielder in the NL.

Nimmo compared to other center fielders in the nl

*All percentile Rankings for all but fWAR and PA. Stats as of 8/12

This clearly shows, despite CF being a weak spot in the NL, that Nimmo has been the best in the NL. The only person who has been close to him has been Michael Harris and he still has some flaws in his game and has half as many PAs as Nimmo. Nimmo has been the most well-rounded and valuable CF in the NL this year and people need to know that.

Jeff McNeil

Jeff McNeil had a much different route to the MLB than Nimmo. McNeil was drafted in the 12th round in 2013 out of Cal State Long Beach. McNeil came up in 2018 and from 2018-2020 McNeil was a very consistent bat. He slashed .319/.383/.501 with an OPS+ of 139. McNeil also provided value by being a major utility guy; in that same stretch, he had 103 appearances at second base, 44 at third base, 99 at left field, and 46 at right field. This made him extremely valuable as he put up a 9.8 WAR in those three years. However, the one thing that made him the most notable was the way he hit, McNeil did not strike out, walk, or hit the ball hard. He became a unicorn in baseball and a fan favorite for the Mets.

dissapointment

With a bunch of momentum heading into 2021, McNeil was disappointed posting an OPS+ of 86. He posted a WAR of just 1.4 in 120 games, he had a 1.5 WAR in the covid shortened 2020. Leading into 2022 McNeil was seen as a wildcard after a bad year in 21, but the Mets needed him to step up and he has. He turned his specialty of not striking out, walking, or getting hard contact and multiplied it to the extreme. To show how valuable McNeil has been to the Mets this year we are going to compare him to some of the other best utility guys in the game right now: DJ Lemahieu, Luis Arraez, Chris Taylor, Tommy Edman, and Andres Gimenez

Jeff McNeil vs Utility guys

*All percentile Rankings for all but fWAR and PA. Stats as of 8/12