Mets’ Brandon Nimmo optimistic for Opening Day

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Things appear to be better than expected for outfielder Brandon Nimmo.

Nimmo pulled a hamstring last weekend playing for Italy in the World Baseball Classic, but on Wednesday, he was back in Port St. Lucie, ready to test it.

Nimmo said his hamstring felt fine and that it had improved over the past two days, with the saving grace that he was shut down immediately after he felt it.

“It’s tough, but everybody understands kind of what everybody’s role is, what everybody’s vying for,” Nimmo said. “There’s a bigger picture in mind, but if you’re able to give 110 percent, they want you to do that, and I wanted to do that, too, but just being in that position, we came to a team consensus … they were, like, shut it down, you’re done for at least this round.”

Nimmo was initially expected to miss at least two weeks, but Wednesday he seemed optimistic about the severity of the injury. He said he thought it was feasible he would be ready for Opening Day.

Whether that’s Opening Day in Las Vegas or in New York is another question.

If he’s healthy, Nimmo, the team’s No. 5 prospect by Baseball America, could grab the Mets’ fifth outfield spot.

Nimmo spent most of last season with the 51s and showed marked improvement, hitting .352, second in the Pacific Coast League, and improving defensively.

He also made his major league debut, playing 32 games for the Mets.

Before leaving for the World Baseball Classic, Nimmo was 10-for-21 (.476) in spring training games. He’s battling Michael Conforto for the fifth spot.

“I’m very disappointed, very, very disappointed that he got hurt,” Mets manager Terry Collins told reporters earlier in the week. “He was making a huge impact here. Obviously he made a huge impact on the WBC. It really disappoints me that he got injured to when he get back here, he’s not going to be able to perform because I wanted to get him in that lineup some more.”

Though his experience ended with an injury and him missing the tiebreaker game against Venezuela — which Italy lost — Nimmo had a positive experience playing in Mexico.

Nimmo, who was born in Wyoming, has Italian ancestry on his mother’s side of the family. For Italy, he hit .182 with three runs and one home run in three games.

“I think this is as close to playoff baseball as you can get, and to have that in March is amazing,” Nimmo said. “I just loved every second of it because every pitch mattered, and you were tuned into everything and … it didn’t matter what you were doing individually, and so I loved that aspect of it.”

Asked whether he would go again, even though his experience ended in an injury, Nimmo didn’t have to think twice.

“I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” he said.

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Contact Betsy Helfand at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BetsyHelfand on Twitter.