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Brandon Nimmo seldom posts on Twitter, but jumped on the platform this week to reference the new style of batting gloves he has started wearing.
For the 30-year-old Mets outfielder, the red, white and blue batting gloves, made by Bruce Bolt, are as symbolic as much as stylish. Nimmo, who started wearing the brand’s gloves in 2021, spoke to Post Sports+ in recent days about his latest pair.
You posted about your new batting gloves the other day. Why so much excitement about them?
Brandon Nimmo: I wanted to go more patriotic this year. For me, it’s closer to home. Because we have the freedoms that we have, I’m able to be this small-town kid from Wyoming who ends up making it to the big leagues for a team in New York and playing my whole career there. It’s so special to be born here and have that opportunity. I’m of those examples of the American dream, coming from such a humble background and being able to make it in the greatest city in the world. I wanted to go with the patriotic color theme.
In what other ways is that patriotism displayed?
BN: We always do at Citi Field the Military Veteran of the Game, and we’re always involved in the military and those who sacrificed for us and we give to a lot of organizations: the [Disabled American Veterans] and Wounded Warriors Family Support. It’s really near-and-dear to our heart, so we decided ‘Let’s go with that color scheme,’ and it kind of fits New York, too, and the resiliency, and still fresh in everyone’s mind is 2001, so for me it kind of hits home.
How are these different from the batting gloves you wore last season?
BN: Last year it was blue, orange and I think the lightning bolt was silver. It was Mets colors. This year I wanted to switch it up and make it a little bit different, and the red isn’t too egregious where it isn’t really different from our colors..
Who else is wearing this style of batting gloves?
BN: I don’t know anybody else on this team who has that, but guys are being a little more adventurous with the cleats they are wearing and the batting gloves they are wearing.
What about your cleats?
BN: I’m just going white. I found a pair of cleats that I really like this year with New Balance, and I just really like the clean, white look. Sometimes they say white makes you look faster.
You mentioned your interest in veterans’ groups. Pete Alonso has also donated generously on that front; do you guys compare notes on various organizations?
BN: Pete is doing an amazing job with his philanthropic efforts. We do ours a little quietly, just giving to the organizations that we really believe in. But Pete, he has done so much with giving away cleats and designing the cleats [to honor first responders on] 9/11, and he’s really doing it on a public level. It’s great what he is doing. We all talk about how fortunate we are to live in this country and have the freedoms we have. We are all extremely fortunate to be here. We do talk about that, and it’s something that hits near-and-dear.
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Daniel Vogelbach tried to steal second base in a commercial filmed during spring training. And with the running game across baseball so wide open, Buck Showalter joked this week that the slow-footed Vogelbach might actually be stealing bases in games soon.
More seriously, Showalter wonders if the dramatic increase in stolen bases this season — prompted by the new rules that limit a pitcher’s ability to hold the ball (because of pitch clock constraints) and pickoff attempts — is adding any entertainment value to the game.
The manager compared the easier stolen bases to home runs hit against a position player who has come in to pitch in a lopsided game.
“I am wondering about stolen bases, and [if] nobody gets thrown out, is it really entertaining?” Showalter asked. “There’s no way to defend it. Everybody in baseball is trying to figure out a way to defend it. We have got a couple of things that we are trying, but the biggest thing that hasn’t happened is you can’t hold the ball anymore. Everybody is getting a running lead. They are in full spring while the pitcher has still got the ball. And it’s bringing in average runners that steal bases now.”
While the runners might have an inflated sense of accomplishment, the flip side is catchers deflated by their inability to throw out base stealers.
“You almost have to pep-talk catchers,” Showalter said. “But really good throwing catchers are being made to think they can’t throw. [Francisco] Alvarez can really throw. [Tomas] Nido can really throw. And all of a sudden you go, ‘I am not throwing anybody out.’ I am wondering sometimes if arm strength and throwing by catchers has been diminished [as a tool].”
Mets players held a brief ceremony for Starling Marte before a game this week to celebrate his reaching 10 years of MLB service time. Last season a similar ceremony for Eduardo Escobar — with Max Scherzer as the toast master — was captured on video (and went viral on the internet).
Ten years of service means a player is fully vested in the major league pension plan, but the significance runs deeper than retirement dollars.
“I just feel like it’s one of those milestones that you shoot for,” Adam Ottavino said. “When you first start out it feels real far away, but then as you go it’s kind of a carrot. Ten years is symbolic more than anything, but it means you stuck around and you lasted a while, and I think that should be celebrated.”
Ottavino reached 10 years of service time while playing for the Red Sox in 2021 and recalled feeling proud about an individual accomplishment for maybe the first time in his career.
Only eight percent of active players have reached 10 years of MLB service time. On an average roster, that equates to two players.
The Mets have eight such players: Marte, Escobar, Scherzer, Ottavino, Justin Verlander, Jose Quintana, David Robertson and Carlos Carrasco.
Mark Canha is closing in on eight years of MLB service time and admitted the thought of getting to 10 is something he has considered.
“As you get older it’s something you think about,” the 34-year-old outfielder said. “Not a lot of guys do it, so it’s something that would be nice to say you have done.”