51s’ T.J. Rivera, Brandon Nimmo honored by New York Mets during pregame
NEW YORK — Both T.J. Rivera and Brandon Nimmo have earned their fair share of honors this season.
And for good reason.
The duo finished first and second in the Pacific Coast League in hitting at .353 and .352, respectively, and both made his major league debut with the New York Mets this year.
Monday, the Mets honored them for their prolific seasons during a pregame ceremony. Nimmo was named a Sterling Minor League Organizational Co-Player of the Year, along with Double-A shortstop Amed Rosario who will likely play in Las Vegas next season, and Rivera was the Sterling recipient at Triple-A.
“I know every year they pick one guy from each level, so it’s pretty cool to have that,” Rivera said.
Rivera said throughout the year that he didn’t judge his season by awards and numbers, but his eye-catching numbers finally earned him a well-deserved promotion.
He finished the season with statistical bests in nearly every offensive category throughout his minor league career and has proved his worth with the Mets, too. He is hitting .344 entering Monday’s contest and coming through with three RBIs and his first major league home run during a crucial victory over the Washington Nationals on Sept. 13.
His teammate, Nimmo had a breakout season, prompting former 51s manager Wally Backman say multiple times throughout the season that he’s never seen a player improve as much over the course of the year as Nimmo.
Nimmo had a slow start to the year at the plate and in center field, where he misplayed some fly balls. But by the end of the year, one at-bat separated him from a batting title and he proved himself capable of playing all three outfield positions.
After being selected by the Mets 13th overall in 2011, Nimmo battled his fair share of injuries throughout his minor league career. But this year, he remained mostly healthy, which he said helped him play the games he needed to make the adjustments he needed to make.
This is the second time Nimmo has been given a Sterling award, winning one in 2014 when he played for the St. Lucie Mets.
Last year, Michael Conforto was the organization’s player of the year and Robert Gsellman was the pitcher of the year. Both played in Las Vegas this season.
Current Mets David Wright, Lucas Duda, Wilmer Flores and Kevin Plawecki are all past player of the year winners.
“You definitely want to be in that group because those are people that the organization thinks highly of and that means that you had a terrific year and so it’s definitely something you want to be a part of,” Nimmo said. “You go back through and you look at the names that have been on those Sterling awards and those are people that you want to be like so it’s definitely a great honor.”
Betsy Helfand can be reached at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @BetsyHelfand
