PORT STA LUCY – Brandonnimo's return to action on Thursday has been on good terms, but he is dealing with right knee pain in the near future and is still unsure when he will return to the Mets outfield.
Nimmo will return to designated batting on Saturday, even if he admits that the pain remains in his knee after receiving three DH at-bats at Clover Park on Thursday.
“It's certainly still some pain [and] I still have pain when I go above those levels,” Nemo said as he ran at over 80% after receiving gel injection in his knee. “We try to keep things at a controlled level of pain. You're fine up to a certain threshold, but if you go beyond that, you'll do more damage than you're trying to get.”
Nemo said it was likely due to the “fine tweaks” he made on the swing this spring, but Nemo said it was probably due to the “fine tweaks” he made on the swing, but there is still a mystery.
“In spring training, you're always trying to find the last 10% of your swing,” Nemo said. “I think I'm here [ticked] That's off because I did there. Hindsight is 20/20. I wish I hadn't done that. Now we know and move on. ”
Nemo believes that ACL restructuring of his right knee, who he played high school soccer 15 years ago, may play a role in his current injury.
The pain is not currently in the ACL, but he said that due to that long ago injury, he stressed his MCL and cartilage.
Nemo said, coupled with the wear and tears of playing in the majors for nearly a decade, “I'm starting to need a little extra help on some things.”
Asked if he needed to explore postseason knee procedures, Nemo said: The hope is that you can still go for years without arthroscopic surgery or anything like that, but I don't know the future. When we get there, we deal with it. Currently, this is the best course of action. I'm going to go out there [in the outfield] as soon as possible. “
For now, he hopes his knees will be at least “90-95 percent” before he tries to play the field.
He tracked the ball and did other drills on the field, and was hesitant to make more pushes than ever before.
“It's here. In the outfield, my most valuable asset is my feet,” Nemo said. “So if I could run 100%, I would be a better outfielder. …The biggest thing for the outfield is trying to heal and improve my knees.”
Nemo said on whether he can play defense by opening day on March 27th or simply play DH, “We're trying to see if we can progress every day and get a little profit every day. I don't know what that means for the opening day. We know we're trying to get a bat. As soon as we get closer to 100%, we can play in the outfield. At that point, I'll probably do more harm than trying to get out there when we're ready.”
Carlos Mendoza said he was not worried about Nemo's availability at the start of the season.
“We're going to be flexible,” Mendoza said. “The trainer said he could always go around. I wouldn't be surprised if he said he was ready to go right away. We still have two weeks. We still have time.”
And, on the bright side, plantar fasciitis, which has been causing trouble for Nemo since last year, has improved.
“That's a bit funny,” Nemo said. “I left it behind and then I had her knees lifted.”
