Tag Archives: Brandon Nimmo

November 23, 2025

Swapping Veterans

There seems to be some excitement about the Mets and Rangers swapping veteran players:

The Mets’ first major move after missing the postseason involved trading their longest-tenured player.

They’re sending Brandon Nimmo — who had a full no-trade clause after inking his eight-year, $162 million deal back in 2022 — to the Rangers in exchange for infielder Marcus Semien, The Post’s Jon Heyman confirmed.

The Mets’ longtime outfielder approved the deal, according to Heyman.
NYPost.com

Rangers right fielders hit poorly in 2025, so Nimmo provides an upgrade at that position. He remains a solid two to three WAR player as he goes into his age 33 season. The Mets second basemen hit on par with Semien in 2025. Semien’s age 34 season proved to be an off-year for the late blooming middle infielder, after five of his previous six seasons saw him post fWARs over 4.0, and with three seasons of at least six fWAR. I suspect the Mets believe that he will bounce back at seasonal age 35, and his projections are for 2.9 fWAR.

Note that Semien didn’t just suffer and offensive decline, but a defensive one as well. The injury that shortened his season came at the end, so it did not factor into his poor performance. With an overall decline like that, I tend to think it is age related. If Semien can turn in a three-WAR performance for the Mets, the deal will probably be worth it.

May 3, 2025

Best Batter Today

Blow out Friday brings two new players into the top five of the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings. Yesterday saw eight games decided by five runs or more, with five teams scoring at least nine runs. Cal Raleigh of the Mariners posted the third highest game score of the day, a 78, and that was enough to push him to third place in the rankings. He went two for four with two home runs and five RBI in a 13-1 win over the Rangers. His twelve home runs lead the majors.

Alex Bregman of the Red Sox moves into fourth place with a two for four, a double and a home run, in a 6-1 win over the Twins. Bregman owns 13 doubles in 34 Red Sox games. That puts him on a pace for 62 doubles this season.

Aaron Judge of the Yankees stays of top with a two for four night, collecting a double and a triple. The triple is his second of the season, making 2025 only the second multi-triple season of his career. He is now batting .430. This spreadsheet tracks the probability of him hitting .400 for the season, the optimistic number now at 0.0000065. Note that his .430 BA is higher than his career OBP of .410. The Yankees beat the Rays 3-0.

Pete Alonso of the Mets holds second place with a two for five with a home run in a 9-3 win over the Cardinals. Alonso raised his slugging percentage to .664, which leads the NL. Seiya Suzuki of the Cubs rounds out the top five as his one for five helps blow out the Brewers 10-0.

Two players tie for the best game score of the day, a 79. Riley Greene of the Tigers went three for five with two home runs, becoming the first player to hit two home runs in the ninth inning. The eight-run ninth inning turned a 1-1 game into a 9-1 win over the Angels. Brandon Nimmo of the Mets posted a perfect night, three for three with two walks and a home run. Nimmo needed a big night as the game only raised his slash line to .229/.279/.441.

April 29, 2025

Best Batter Today

Monday proved to be a good day for the Mets as they scored 19 runs to the Nationals five. That helped put Pete Alonso second and Francisco Lindor fifth in the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings. Their teammate, Brandon Nimmo, produced a game score of 91, and his nine RBI tied a Mets record. Alonso went two for three with a walk, while Lindor got hit by a pitch twice. We’ve now had nine games scores of 90 or above this season. Last year produced 25.

Aaron Judge of the Yankees remains on top after a two for five game, leaving his batting average at .405. The Orioles won the game 4-3. Yes, when you’re hitting over 400, a two for five game will drop your BA. Fernando Tatis Jr. of the idle Padres ranks third. Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers moves up to fourth place with a one for two, adding three walks to raise his OBP to .392. The Dodgers beat the Marlins 7-6 in ten innings.

April 28, 2025

Nimmolution Number Nine

Brandon Nimmo tied a Mets record as he drove in nine runs in a 19-5 win over the Mets. Carlos Delgado also accomplished the feat. Nimmo hit a three-run homer and a grand slam:

Nimmo became the first player in MLB since the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani on Sept. 19, 2024, to record at least nine RBIs. He became the first player to tally nine RBIs in a three-inning span (the sixth through eighth) since Sammy Sosa of the Cubs in Colorado on Aug. 10, 2002 (innings three-five).
MLB.com

Nimmo needed a good day. Even with the four for six at the plate and the two extra-base hits, Nimmo is hitting .218/.261/.418 on the season. Up until today he had been an out machine.

April 9, 2024

Best Batter Today

Three of the top five batters in the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings produced game scores of 72 on Monday. Yordan Alvarez of the Astros goes three for five with a double and home run to stay in first place. Houston downed the Rangers 10-5. Less than a point behind him sits Juan Soto of the Yankees, two for three with a walk, double, and home run in the 7-0 win over the Marlins. Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers ranks fourth after a three for five night with two doubles and a home run in a 4-2 win over the Twins.

Ohtani’s teammate, Mookie Betts, ranks third after collecting a single and a walk in the same game. Fifth place belongs to William Contreras of the Brewers. He goes two for five with a double in a 10-8 slugfest won by the Reds.

Brandon Nimmo of the Mets posted the highest game score of the day, a 92. He went four for four with two home runs and a walk in a perfect night at the plate, the Mets edging the Braves 8-7. Nimmo was off to a slow start hit wise, as his big night raises his batting average to just .212, but his OBP to .395. He now owns seven hits and eight walks on the season.

May 1, 2023

Best Batter Today

Luis Arraez of the Marlins moves back into the top slot in the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings. He posts a one for three day with a sacrifice fly, the SF coming in the bottom of the eighth inning and driving in the winning run in a 4-3 win over the Cubs. Arraez lowers his batting average to .438. Yordan Alvarez of the Astros climbs to second place as he singles and walks in a 4-3 win over the Phillies.

Mike Trout of the Angles drops to third place after an 0 for 4 day with three strikeouts. The Angles pitch a shutout against the Brewers, winning 3-0. Brandon Nimmo of the rained-out Mets sits in fourth place. Player of the Month Matt Chapman of the Blue Jays goes three for five with two doubles to tie a record for doubles in April. Seattle wins the extra-inning slugfest 10-8.

Two players post a game score of 77, best on the day. Catcher Jonah Heim of the Rangers goes three for four with two doubles, a home run, and three RBI in a 15-2 blowout of the Yankees. Heim, in his fourth season, never had an OBP above .300, but is slashing .303/.386/.592 so far in 2023. Taylor Walls of the Rays goes four for five with a home run in a wild game won by the White Sox 12-9. The game featured six home runs, five hit by pitches, and a melt down by the Rays bullpen as the White Sox score seven times in the bottom of the ninth inning to win the game. Walls like Heim, had a MLB history of week hitting, but is off to a .302/.397/.571 slash line to start 2023. He’s listed as a shortstop, but looks more like a Ben Zobrist type, playing all over the infield right now.

April 30, 2023

Best Batter Today

Mike Trout of the Angels takes over the top slot in the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings as Saturday shakes up the top five again. Trout posts a game score of 80, third highest on the day as he goes three for four with two home runs. The Brewers prevail, however, 7-5. Trout owns a .320/.408/.612 slash line, basically what we expect from the greatest hitter of this generation.

Luis Arraez of the Marlins drops to second place, as he goes three for four with a walk to raise his batting average to .442. He is putting on a clinic of what can be accomplished by not striking out.

Yordan Alvarez of the Astros returns to the lineup and posts a a two for three day with a walk to sit in third place. The Phillies triumph, however, 6-1. Jose Ramirez of the Guardians reaches base four times on three singles and a walk, but the Red Sox take the game in ten innings 8-7. Brandon Nimmo and the Mets did not play due to weather, and Nimmo ranks fifth.

The best game score of the day goes to Manny Machado of the Padres. In a game in Mexico City that generated 30 hits, twenty of them for extra bases, Machado goes three for four with a double, two homeruns, and two walks for a game score of 88. Machado was off to a slow start, as they amazing performance raises his slash line to a still poor .245/.289/.406. The Padres prevail over the Giants 16-11.

April 29, 2023

Best Batter Today

Friday brought about a big shakeup to the top five of the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings. Luis Arraez of the Marlins moves into the top slot after going one for two with a walk and a hit by pitch and moves into the top slot. Arraez is not hitting .427/.495/.549 on the season. I currently estimate his probability of hitting .400 for the season at .00018, or about 9 in 50,000. He likely will hit .400 for April, and even hitting .400 for a month is a difficult task.

Brandon Nimmo of the Mets drops into second place after an 0 for 3 with two strikeouts in a rain shortened game. The Braves take the contest 4-0 in five innings. The game score calculation penalizes players with three or fewer plate appearances in a game, so all the Mets and Braves took a hit last night. The idea is that someone who regularly gets few plate appearances in a game is batting at the bottom of the order, and therefore is less likely to be a great hitter. In the same game, Ronald Acuna Jr.of the Braves goes one for three and now ranks third.

Fourth place belongs to Yordan Alvarez of the Astros who did not play in the 3-1 Philadelphia win. Jose Ramirez of the Guardians sits fifth as he collects a single and a walk in a 5-2 victory over the Red Sox. Note that one reason we can see big changes is that 10 points separate first from twenty second in the rankings. In the time this is tracked, I don’t remember so many players being so close.

The best game score of the day goes to Brent Rooker of the Athletics, three for three with a home run and a walk in an 11-7 Reds win. That was good for a score of 80. Rooker is a bright spot for Oakland this season, slashing .339/.455/.758 so far in 2023. It’s well above his career averages, so don’t expect this to last.

April 28, 2023

Best Batter Today

Mets Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeill top the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings after topping the Nationals 9-8 as both teams produce eighth inning heroics. Nimmo goes two for five to keep his OBP well above .400, and McNeill posts a two for five day with a triple.

Alex Bregman of the Astros places third as the team took the day off. Ronald Acuna Jr.of the Braves sits in fourth place as he draws a walk in four trips against Miami, the Marlins coming back with five runs in the ninth to win 5-4. Yandy Diaz of the Rays moves into the top five as his team punishes the White Sox 14-5. He goes three for five with a home run and a walk. Note that three lead-off men down occupy the top five.

Diaz’s teammate, Brandon Lowe posts the best game score of the day, a 79. He misses the cycle by a double as he goes three for four with a walk. He’s slugging .581 with a .257 BA. Of his 19 hits, 17 are either home runs or singles. Note that it was a good day for Brandons as Brandon Drury of the Angels posted a game score of 78.

April 27, 2023

Best Batter Today

Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves makes his way into the top five of the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings. He ranks second after posting a one for three with two walks, his hit going for a home run. That brings his slash line for the season to .363/.449/.569. Thirteen of his 37 hits have gone for extra bases, including nine doubles, tied for second in the NL. The Braves down the Marlins 6-4 with four runs in the eighth inning.

Brandon Nimmo of the Mets remains at the top of the list as he draws a walk in four trips to the plate in a 4-1 Washington win. He also owns a .449 OBP, and it’s nice to see two lead-off men at the top of heap. Nimmo’s teammate, Jeff McNeill ranks fifth after a two for three with a walk. He owns a .415 OBP.

Alex Bregman of the Astros stands third as draws a walk in four trips, but his RBI on a reach on error in the first innings proves to be the only run of the game as the Astros beat the Rays 1-0. The Astros held the Rays scoreless for the second day in a row.

Fourth place belongs to Mike Trout of the Angels, who drew a walk in five trips in an 11-3 win over the Athletics.

The best game score of the day came off the bat of Paul Goldschmidt of the Cardinals. He posts a four for five game with a double and two home runs for a score of 85. That puts him fourteenth on the list. Goldschmidt is right on his BA and OBA numbers from 2022, but the power is down a bit. Maybe this game marks a turning point for the slugger. The Giants win the game 7-3.

April 26, 2023

Best Batter Today

Brandon Nimmo of the Mets stays atop the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings after reaching base twice in a 5-0 Washington victory. He raises his OBP to .456. His teammate, Pete Alonso, takes the collar with an 0 for 4 and ranks fourth in the standings.

Mike Trout of the Angels moves into second place as he goes two for four with a double in a 5-3 win over the Athletics. He owns a .605 slugging percentage on the season. Alex Bregman of the Astros stands third as he draws a walk in five trips to the plate in a 5-0 win over Rays, ending Tampa Bay’s home win streak. His teammate, Yordan Alvarez sits fifth after sitting the game out with a minor neck injury.

The best game score of the day belongs to Danny Jansen of the Blue Jays, an 81. He goes three for four with two home runs and four RBI as Toronto shuts out the White Sox 7-0. Jansen hasn’t produced many hits or walks this season, but the hits have been long ones. as he’s slugging .432 on a .205 BA.

April 25, 2023

Best Batter Today

The Mets took Monday off, and three of their hitters remain in the top five of the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings. Brandon Nimmo, Pete Alonso, and Jeff McNeill rank 1-3-5 respectively. They get back into action Tuesday evening as New York hosts Washington.

Alex Bregman of the Astros did play and ranks second after going two for four with a double in an 8-3 Rays win. Mike Trout of the Angels ranks fourth after a one for six in a ten inning, 11-10 Oakland win. The A’s allow ten runs or more again, but this time the offense bails out the pitching and defense.

That game produced the three highest game scores of the day. Brandon Drury of the Angels comes out on top with an 84. He goes three for four with two home runs and a walk. Drury needed that game as he is now hitting just .211/.247/.380. Jesus Aguilar and Brent Rooker posted game scores of 79 and 77 respectively. Aguilar goes three for four with two home runs, while Rooker goes two for four with two home runs and two walks. Rooker is slugging .729 on the season, Aguilar .500.

April 24, 2023

Best Batter Today

Brandon Nimmo of the Mets stays atop the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings with a sacrifice fly in five plate appearances against the Giants. San Francisco won the game 5-4. Nimmo’s teammates, Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeill rank third and fourth respectively. Alonso posted an 0 for 4, while McNeill collected two singles.

Mike Trout of the Angels moves back into the top five with a three for four game, two doubles and a home run. Trout raises his slash line to .329/.440/.632 in the 4-3 win over the Royals. Alex Bregman of the Astros also returns to the top five, going one for three with two walks in a 5-2 in over the Braves. Bregman is not posting much in the way of hits, but walked 17 times in 22 games for a .369 OBP. He owns a six-game hit streak.

The best game score of the day goes to Matt Carpenter of the Padres. His three for three with two doubles, a home run and a sacrifice fly helped beat the Diamondbacks 7-5. Seven of his ten hits this season went for extra bases.

April 23, 2023

Best Batter Today

Adolis Garcia of the Rangers posted an historic performance Saturday night as he hits three home runs, collects two doubles, gets hit by a pitch, and drives in eight runs for a game score of 111. That is the fifth highest game score since divisional play (and the lowered mound) began in 1969, and the sixth highest in the home run era that starts in 1920.

Player	Date	Game score
Shawn Green	5/23/2022	117
Josh Hamilton	5/8/2012	113
Anthony Rendon	4/30/2017	113
Scooter Gennett	6/6/2017	113
Joe Adcock	7/31/1954	112
Adolis Garcia	4/22/2023	111

Highest Game Scores Since 1920

His final hit game against position player Jace Peterson, who was throwing in the mid 50s. The Rangers win a blow out against the Athletics 18-3. It’s the ninth time in 21 games that the Athletics allowed at least 10 runs in a game, and the second time they allowed at least 17 runs. Garcia now ranks 53rd in the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings.

Brandon Nimmo of the Mets remains at the top of the list as he homers in four trips in a 7-4 Giants victory. His teammate, Pete Alonso, took an 0 for 4 with two Ks but remains in second place. Another teammate, Jeff McNeill, drops to fifth place with a one for four in the game.

Yordan Alvarez of the Astros sits in third place as he homers in five trips to the plate in a 6-3 win over the Braves. He’s driven in 25 runs in 19 games.

Luiz Arraez of the Marlins moves up to fourth place after a four for eight day in a doubleheader sweep of the Guardians. Arraez also doubled and walked twice raising his batting average to .444. He would need to go 0 for 9 to drop below .400 at this point. A slightly generous calculation of his chance of hitting .400 for the season comes in at 1 in 20,000. That really isn’t bad for April.

April 22, 2023

Best Batter Today

Three Mets sit atop the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings after New York shuts out San Francisco 7-0. Brandon Nimmo ranks first after a two for four and a sacrifice bunt, Pete Alonso comes in second with a two for five and a homer, the first player to reach double digits. Jeff McNeill sits third as he goes two for four with a hit by pitch.

Yordan Alvarez of the Astros moves back into the top five with a one for four, his two-run homer in the ninth inning breaking the tie with the Braves and paving the way for the 6-4 Houston victory. Anthony Rizzo of the rounds out the top five despite an 0 for 4 in a 6-1 Blue Jays win.

The best game score of the day goes to Nico Hoerner of the Cubs, a 79. He goes four for five with a home run, his first of the season, in a 13-0 win over the Dodgers. Hoerner is now sporting a Rickey Henderson like .407 OBP out of the lead-off slot, and has stolen nine bases in eleven attempts. He’s giving the batters behind him plenty of RBI oppotunities.

April 21, 2023

Best Batter Today

New York hitters occupy the top five slots in the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings. Jeff McNeill of the Mets posts a game score of 80 on Thursday, the highest of the day to move into fifth place in the rankings. He reaches base five times with two singles, a home run, a walk, and a hit by pitch in a 9-4 slugfest win over the Giants. McNeill posted an off year in 2021, but otherwise consistently generated OBPs over .380.

His teammates, Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso rank 1-2 respectively. Nimmo collected three hits, including a double, while Alonso hit his ninth home run of the season to go with a walk and a single. His nine home runs lead the majors.

Anthony Rizzo of the Yankees moves into third place, his game score of 72 tied for the second best on the day. Rizzo goes three for three with two walks in a 9-3 win over the Angels. He is batting .344/.449/.578, his BA 120 points higher than his 2020 final mark. His teammate, Aaron Judge ranks fourth after a going one for four with a walk.

April 20, 2023

Best Batter Today

Brandon Nimmo of the Mets ties for the best game score of the day, an 84, to propel himself into the top slot in the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings. Nimmo goes five for five with a home run to increase his OBP .481 as he continues to cement himself as the best lead-off hitter in the game. That helps the Mets beat the Dodgers 5-3. In the same game, Pete Alonso of the Mets goes one for four for second place, and Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers draws a walk in four trips for third place. Notice that hitter does not need to be a slugger to occupy the top of the list.

Aaron Judge of the Yankees homers and draws two walks in a 3-2, ten inning win over the Angels. He sites in fourth place. Yordan Alvarez of the Astros matched Freeman’s line as he falls to fifth place, the Astros downing the Blue Jays 8-1.

The other game score of 84 goes to Tommy Edman of the Cardinals. Edman goes three for four with a walk in the 14-5 win over the Diamondbacks, missing the cycle by a single. Edman is posting a .366 OBP this season, but the new rules involving base running have not helped him. He made just two attempts this season after going 32-3 in 2022.

April 19, 2023

Best Batter Today

The top three hitters on the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings squared off in Los Angeles Tuesday night. Pete Alonso of the Mets now leads Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers by one and a half points, with Brandon Nimmo of the Mets in third place, a little over two points behind Freeman. Alonso and Nimmo both posted 0 for 4s, while Freeman went 1 for 4 in a 5-0 Dodgers victory. Clayton Kershaw showed he’s still one of the great pitchers in the game as he tossed seven shutout innings, allowing three hits and no walks as he struck out nine. It was one of six shutouts on the day, including two 1-0 games.

Yordan Alvarez of the Astros sits in fourth place after a one for three with a walk in a four two Toronto victory. Bo Bichette of the Blue Jays used a one for three with a walk to move into fifth place.

Taylor Walls of the Rays misses the cycle by a double as he goes four for five with a triple and two home runs in a 10-0 win over the Reds. That gave him a game score of 90, the highest on the day. Walls was the definition of a light hitting infielder his first two seasons in the majors, hitting .182/.281/.288. After last night’s explosion, he’s hitting .351/.429/.730 in just 42 PA. He owned a high OBP in the minors, so maybe at seasonal age 26 he’s adjusted to major league pitching.

April 18, 2023

Best Batter Today

Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers returns to the top five in the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings with a big game against the Mets. He posts the highest game score of the day, an 80, as Freeman goes three for four with two home runs to move into second place. He is sandwiched between two Mets hitters. Pete Alonso stands at the top of the rankings after a three for five game, and Brandon Nimmo sits in third place as he goes three for five with a double. The Mets take the game 8-6.

Aaron Judge and the Yankees had the day off, Judge now occupying fourth place. Yordan Alvarez of the Astros did play, and drew a walk in four trips as Houston beats Toronto 9-2.

April 17, 2023

Best Batter Today

Pete Alonso of the Mets takes control of the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings with a home run and a walk in fives trips to the plate in a 4-3, ten inning win over the Athletics. His eight home runs lead the majors. His teammate, Brandon Nimmo, moves into third place with a single and walk.

Yordan Alvarez of the Astros sits second after a one for four in a 9-1 Rangers win. Fourth place belongs to Bo Bichette of the Blue Jays two for four in an 8-1 Rays win. Aaron Judge of the Yankees rounds out the top five after drawing a walk in four trips in a 2-0 win over the Twins.

Jeimer Candelario of the Nationals posts the highest game score of the day, a 77. He produces a four for five with a home run in a 7-6 win over the Guardians. For his career, Candelario’s strength is his ability to draw walks, producing a decent OBP with a poor batting average and little power. He turns that on it’s head this season, with his BA and Slugging percentage much higher, but his OBP down.

April 16, 2023

Best Batter Today

Pete Alonso of the Mets sits atop a very tight leader board in today’s Baseball Musings Batter Rankings. Alonso posted a one for four with a home run in a 3-2 victory over Oakland. He his teammate, Brandon Nimmo, ranks fifth after going two for four with a double in the game game. Nimmo sits three points out of first place.

Yordan Alvarez of the Astros places second as he doubles and walks in an 8-2 win over Texas. Aaron Judge of the Yankees moves back into the top five with a as he doubles and walks twice in a 6-1 win over the Twins. That’s good for third place. Jose Ramirez of the Guardians sits fourth as he homers and walk in a 6-4 win over Washington. It was Ramirez’s first home run of the season. With six doubles and a triple, he is slugging .500.

Ten points separate one from thirteen in the standings, so expect some churn going forward.

The best game score of the day goes to Wil Myers of the Reds. He collects four hits in five trips, including a double and two home runs for a game score of 88. Myers needed the boost, as the big day at the plate raises his slash line to .269/.326/.423.

April 15, 2023

Best Batter Today

Friday night brought a huge shakeup to the top five in the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings. Pete Alonso goes two for five with a walk in the Mets monster game in Oakland, New York winning 17-6. That propels him to first place. His teammate, Brandon Nimmo, goes two for four with a double and two walks to move into fifth place. Bo Bichette of the Blue Jays uses a five for five night with two doubles to help beat the Rays 6-3, ending the Rays win streak. Bichette’s game score of 80 ranked second on the night, and he now ranks second in the standings.

Yordan Alvarez of the Astros sits in third place as he homers in four trips to the plate in a 6-2 Texas win. Jose Ramirez of the Guardians takes fourth place after a two for three night with two walks in a 4-3 win over the Nationals.

Ian Happ of the Cubs post the best game score of the day. He goes four for four with two doubles, a home run, and a walk for a score of 87. His three RBI were enough to beat the Dodgers 8-2. Happ is off to a great start with six doubles in twelve games and a .349/.481/.628 slash line.

April 5, 2023

Best Batter Today

The top five of the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings show little change from yesterday. Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers remains on top after drawing two walks in a 5-2 win over the Rockies. Mike Trout of the Angels goes one for four for second place in an 11-2 Mariners win. The game featured A.J. Pollock and Teoscar Hernandez each hitting two home runs, the second game of the day with two players posting multi-HR games.

Aaron Judge of the Yankees remains in third place as he draws a walk in four trips, the Phillies winning their first game of the season 4-1. Brandon Nimmo of the Mets moves into fourth place, going three for four in a 9-0 Milwaukee win, the second shutout in a row against the Mets. It looks like Max Scherzer has not figured out how to use the pitch clock to his advantage.

Yordan Alvarez of the Astros falls to fifth place as he goes one for four in a 6-3 Detroit win.

The best game score of the day belongs to Brian Anderson of the Brewers. He hits two home runs, adds a double, and drives in six runs for a score of 84. His teammate, Garrett Mitchell, also hits two homers in the game for a score of 72. Anderson nows ranks 87th on the list. The former Marlins player had an off year at the plate in 2022. His hot start has to be encouraging for the Brewers.

April 4, 2023

Best Batter Today

Mike Trout of the Angels continues his rise in the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings, moving into second place with a single and three walks in a 7-3 victory over the Mariners. He passes Aaron Judge of the Yankees, who falls to third place with a single and a walk in an 8-1 win over the Phillies.

Both trail Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers, who extended his lead to about six points, going three for four with a double and a walk in a 13-4 win over the Rockies. On a big night for offense, the Dodgers were one of five teams to score in double digits. Games averaged 12.0 runs per game with 3.5 home runs per game.

Yordan Alvarez of the Astros sits in fourth place after a 1 for 6 in a 7-6 Tigers victory. The hit was a three-run homer and Alvarez did drive in four runs. He is tied for the AL lead in RBI with 9. Brandon Nimmo of the Mets ranks fifth, drawing two walks in a 10 Milwaukee win. Nimmo currently sports a .167 BA with a .421 OBP.

Ronald Acuna Jr.of the Braves, Luke Raley of the Rays, and Gleyber Torres of the Yankees tie for the best game score of the day, a 78. Torres posted a perfect night, two for two with a homer and three walks. Raley hit two home runs and walked once in a 6-2 win over Washington. Acuna singled, doubled, homered, and walked in five PA to help down St. Louis 8-4.

April 2, 2023

Best Batter Today

Aaron Judge of the Yankees moves just ahead of Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers in the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings. Judge posted a three for five game in a 7-5 Giants win, while Freeman goes one for three with a walk on his bobblehead night. The Dodgers down the Diamondbacks 10-1.

In that game, Trayce Thompson of the Dodgers hit three home runs in four plate appearances for a game score of 91, the second highest of the day.

Yordan Alvarez of the Astros matched Aaron Judge’s game to stay in third place, just three points out of first. The Astros beat the White Sox 6-4.

Mets Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo rank fourth and fifth respectively as New York downs Miami 6-2. Alonso collected two hits, including a double, and walked twice, while Nimmo singled and walked twice. Six points separate the top five, so a great game by any of them might move them into first place.

The best game score of the day goes to Adam Duvall of the Red Sox, as Baltimore and Boston eschewed pitching for the second game in a row. Once again, Baltimore got out to a big lead early, but this time Boston came all the way back. Duvall came up with two out and a man on in the bottom of the ninth after Masataka Yoshida reached on a two-out error, a dropped fly ball, by Orioles outfielder Ryan McKenna. Duvall came up, three for four on the day, needing a single for the cycle. He instead hit his second home run of the game to send the Boston crowd home with a 9-8 victory. His came score for the day came in at 93.

That’s two game scores of 90 in the same day. Austin Hays of the Orioles posted an 87 in the game, giving us five game scores of at least 87 on the season. There were 14 games last season of at least 90 and 29 games of at least 87. It’s a data point toward more action this year.

April 1, 2023

Best Batter Today

The few games Friday night brought the top five in the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings closer together, less than nine points separating one from five. Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers remains in first place despite an 0 for 5 night at the plate in a 2-1 Diamondbacks victory. He now leads the idle Aaron Judge of the Yankees by two points. Yordan Alvarez of the Astros posted a one for three with a double and a walk in a 6-3 win over the White Sox. He three-run double in the seventh inning put Houston ahead.

Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso of the Mets rank fourth and fifth respectively. Nimmo drew a walk and Alonso hit a solo home run as the Marlins take the game 2-1.

Charlie Blackmon of the Rockies and Garrett Cooper of the Marlins tie for the best game score of the night at 67. Cooper goes three for four with a triple in the Marlins win. Blackmon posts a two for two with a hit by pitch and a home run in the 4-1 win over the Padres, making Colorado the first team to two wins.

March 31, 2023

Best Batter Today

Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers stays atop the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings after going two for four with a walk in the 8-2 win over the Diamondbacks on opening day. Aaron Judge of the Yankees gained a bit of ground as he went two for four with a homer and two RBI. Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil of the Mets move into third and fourth place respectively as they both reach base twice in the 5-3 win over the Marlins, Nimmo hitting a double. Yordan Alvarez of the Astros takes the fifth spot as he homers and is hit by a pitch in the 3-2 White Sox victory.

The best game score of the day goes to Adley Rutschman of the Orioles, five for five with a home run and a walk in a 10-9 victory over the Red Sox. That was good for a score of 89, beating out CJ Cron of the Rockies by one point. Cron went four for five with two home runs and a double in a 7-2 win in San Diego.

Rutschman now has 66 walks in 114 MLB games.

March 30, 2023

Best Batter Today

The Baseball Musings Batter Rankings show Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers at the top of the list as the 2023 season gets underway. The explanation for the rankings is here. This is meant to be a way to show greatness at a point in time. I suspect few would argue that Mike Trout of the Angels is the best hitter in baseball, but Trout gets injured and goes into slumps. Since those injuries accrued over the last couple of seasons, he now ranks ninth. The Mets actually come into the day with three players ranked four five and six, Brandon Nimmo, Pete Alonso, and Jeff McNeill. Aaron Judge of the Yankees sits second, and Alex Bregman of the Astros rounds out the top five in third place.

I very much like that the three best players of their generation, Trout, Manny Machado at eleven, and Bryce Harper at thirteen all make the top 20. Harper will start dropping faster as he heals from Tommy John surgery. Over the winter, there is a decay in score of 0.25 points a day. After 200 days, that increases to 0.75 points per day. Since Harper played in the World Series, his count down was delayed a bit, but it’s tough to be the best batter today if you’re not playing for an extended period of time.

Another reason for the decay is to give early season games more impact. We add a portion of the game score calculation to 97% of the previous score. We want good players starting out to move up quickly, but we don’t want already great players getting two far ahead of the pack. Keep your eye out for shakeups early in the season.

December 9, 2022

Keeping Nimmo

Reports indicate the Mets will keep Brandon Nimmo in Queens with an eight-year, $162 million contract:

A quality leadoff hitter with an excellent eye and a .385 career on-base percentage, Nimmo became a free agent last month for the first time. He was a key performer as the Mets returned to the playoffs this year for the first time since 2016.
Chron.com

Nimmo represents a throwback to the classic lead-off hitter, a great OBP with not too much power. He came up in 2016. If you look at the list of top OBPs since the start of the 2016 season, Nimmo stands out among the batters around him by his low slugging percentage.

That may be why the Mets made a very good deal. Nimmo should produce about 24 WAR over the life of his contract; at $10 million per WAR that should put his deal at about $240 million. Instead, Nimmo gets about $7 million per WAR, more in line with Trea Turner than Aaron Judge. I suspect his injury history and a home town discount had something to do with it. Other teams, it strikes me, could have come up with $200 million for eight years, and done very well with Nimmo at the top of the order.

November 6, 2022

Best Batter Today

The season ends with the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings showing Freddie Freeman, Aaron Judge, Alex Bregman, Brandon Nimmo, and Pete Alonso the top five in that order. Bregman went one for three with a walk in game six of the World Series, and missed catching Aaron Judge for second place by just over a point.

The best game score of game six goes to Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies, one for three with a home run and a walk. That was good for a 60 in a game that did not produce much offense. Schwarber ranks ninth, .26 points behind Yordan Alvarez, whose home run won the game for the Astros.

Jeremy Pena, who won the World Series MVP with a .400/.423/.600 slash line finishes the season ranked 25th. He ranked 86th at the start of the post-season.