NEW YORK -- After arriving at the Amazin’ Day event at Citi Field, Mets left fielder Brandon Nimmo acknowledged on Saturday that he is still dealing with plantar fasciitis in his left foot, an injury that hampered him during the postseason last year.
Nimmo was able to get an injection in the foot after the season and has done physical therapy, but the foot is coming along slowly. He is jogging at the moment. Like he did in years past, Nimmo will not play the first few games of Spring Training, but he feels like he will be ready for Opening Day, which is March 27 against the Astros at Daikin Park. The foot injury hasn’t stopped him from hitting in the batting cage.
“The biggest thing is to be ready for Opening Day. To that point, we are just going to try and go as fast as the foot will let us,” Nimmo said. “I’m in the jogging progression now. Hopefully, that will go to the sprinting [level], and then we’ll be able to get back into it. It should be good to go. But obviously, there will be steps forward and backwards through all of it.
“… For me, it’s going really well right now. We have a plan going forward to try and mitigate it as much as possible. Obviously, we can’t see the future, but we are trying to prepare for [the injury] not to happen again rather than trying to be reactive.”
Nimmo had an up and down season in 2024; he drove in a career-high 90 runs, but he had a second-half slash line of .190/.277/.319 with just 27 RBIs. Nimmo didn’t have any excuses for his second-half slump. He said he was healthy until the foot problems came along, starting with the National League Division Series against the Phillies.
“When I got to reflect on it, I think I had the best first half that I ever had, and then I really fell off in the second half and didn’t perform as well. It wasn’t up to my expectations,” Nimmo said. “There were some … highs compared to some … lows, and then [I brought it] back up for the playoff push until the foot problems.
“There are really good things to take from last year and learn from. But I’ll always keep trying to improve. I’m looking for more of the same from what I did in the first half, but [I'm] trying to be more consistent and stick with it -- just continue to learn from the ups and downs of this game and keep trying to trust the process of what got you there.”