WASHINGTON -- The neck issues that have sporadically bothered Brandon Nimmo since a major 2019 injury cropped up again on Wednesday at Nationals Park, when Nimmo exited the Mets’ 5-4 loss to the Nationals in the second inning due to neck stiffness.
Nimmo expects to miss around 48 hours, as he did the last time this issue surfaced in May. He should return to the lineup Friday or shortly thereafter.
“It’s just unfortunately a chronic thing that I’m going to have to deal with for the rest of my career,” Nimmo said. “We’ve been able to do a pretty good job of keeping it at bay for the most part. Unfortunate for it to show up again this year.”
Ever since Nimmo crashed into an outfield wall on April 14, 2019, suffering whiplash and a bulging cervical disc, his neck has periodically bothered him. On many such occasions, it doesn’t prevent him from taking the field.
Wednesday, however, Nimmo woke up feeling stiffness that worsened throughout the day. By the early innings of the game, he had trouble looking up to field fly balls.
Manager Carlos Mendoza removed Nimmo after the top of the second, replacing him with Starling Marte.
“It just didn’t get better,” Mendoza said. “It got to a point where he couldn’t do it.”
The last time this issue surfaced, Nimmo exited during the third inning of a May 23 game against the Dodgers and sat out two additional contests before returning. In 2022, Nimmo missed Opening Day due to neck stiffness but returned the next night.
Nimmo planned to receive a regimen of muscle relaxers and heat treatment, while also performing stability exercises designed to promote healing. He travels with his own pillow and intended to sleep Wednesday night with a soft collar around his neck. But the most effective way to treat this issue, Nimmo has learned, is “unfortunately just time.”
“We’ll be throwing all the modalities we can at it,” he said. “My experience in the past is just 48 hours, roughly. It can be a little bit longer. It can be a little bit shorter. But you have to just let the area around it relax and let go again.”
In 122 games this season, Nimmo has a .254/.325/.436 slash line with 20 home runs and 12 stolen bases.