For days, Brandon Nimmo and his wife insisted he was, and is, fine. The media turmoil that resulted in the cardiac screening and related tests that the New York Mets‘ centerfielder and likely leadoff hitter underwent was, for a moment, a distraction. But as it turns out, the player not only says he is fine, he is also showing it on the field.
He returned to the lineup on Friday and went 1-for-2 with a single and a run scored in the Mets’ second victory of spring training, against the St. Louis Cardinals.
The talented outfielder even joked about the whole situation. “I guess I have a little bit larger heart,†Nimmo said to MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo, laughing. “Hey, I’ve got a lot of love to give.â€
This week, the Mets scratched him from the lineup because of an issue that the team cardiologist flagged on his physical.
Nimmo explained the issue and named it an “irregular heartbeat,” and declares he has been familiar with it for quite some time now, most precisely since 2016.
The Mets wanted to make sure everything was OK
The Mets told Nimmo, back then, that it was a non-issue, but this time around, the team doctors wanted to retest it this week to ensure “the walls of his heart had not thickened.”
The timing, however, was very bad: the Mets told him roughly 25 minutes before Wednesday’s game that he couldn’t play.
He underwent more tests and wore a monitor for a full day, after which he performed a stress test on a treadmill the following day, per DiComo. After all that process finished, he was allowed to play on Friday.
Fittingly, it is a good thing that Nimmo has such a big heart. He is, after all, expected to be the sparkplug of the offense, the leadoff hitter, the one that gets on base to start the show that Jeff McNeil, Michael Conforto, J.D. Davis, Yoenis Cespedes, Pete Alonso and others will continue.
“Honestly, for the Mets and me, it was more of a precaution. Everyone was pretty concerned and sent out prayers. (My wife) just wanted to relay hey, it’s not that serious, and this was more of a precaution and I’m fine, and I’m going to be fine,†Nimmo said about Chelsea, his partner, going to Twitter to clarify his health state.