Mets' Brandon Nimmo still uncertain about Opening Day role amid knee injury

The Mets have taken a cautious approach to Brandon Nimmo's spring training workload since the outfielder expressed soreness in his right knee on Feb. 28. And while his return to the lineup as a designated hitter on Thursday reaffirmed optimism in his availability for Opening Day, his role for the start of the regular season remains undefined.

Nimmo is expected to be the Mets' designated hitter again on Saturday against the Washington Nationals. But he believes his assignment for Mar. 27 against the Houston Astros is up in the air, since the discomfort in his knee isn't completely gone yet.

"All I know is we're trying to progress every day and see if we can get a little bit of gain every day," Nimmo said on Friday. "I don't know what it means for Opening Day, I just know we're trying to get the at-bats. As soon as I can get close to 100 percent, then I'll be able to play the outfield. But before that point, it's probably going to do more harm than good to try and get out there before it's ready.

"I'm hopeful [to play the outfield]. But I also know, if you're not playing near 100 percent, you're probably a liability out there. I'll go and progress every day and do my best to be ready for the outfield on Opening Day. But right now, I've never been through this process before... I'm good at the plate right now, we're still working on getting the percentage higher on running. Sometimes it's a little bit of a slow process."

Nimmo, who received a gel injection in his knee last week, resumed baseball activities in Port St. Lucie on Monday. He ripped a single in his first-bat against the Boston Red Sox on Thursday, and proceeded to strike out in the third inning and fly out to left in the sixth. So far, he's logged only four spring at-bats.

At full strength, Nimmo will be valued in the heart of the Mets' batting order. But the team isn't focused solely on his knee recovery -- he also dealt with plantar fasciitis in his left foot throughout the 2024 campaign.

The 31-year-old veteran still managed to play 151 games last season, and drive in a career-high 90 runs with 23 home runs and 25 doubles across 663 plate appearances. In the meantime, the Mets can only hope that Nimmo's bat speed remains sharp and his lower-body movements become more pain-free.