MIAMI — Brandon Nimmo doesn’t know what this winter will bring, but he has come to realize he is appreciated by the Mets.
During the All-Star break, Nimmo — who can head to free agency after the World Series — said it was communicated to him by the front office that the Mets want him to stay long-term with the organization. But contract negotiations will have to wait.
“They are very interested in me being a Met after this year, but they are going to leave that talk until after the season,” Nimmo said Saturday before going 1-for-5 in the Mets’ 4-0 win over the Marlins. “I think that is great for both of us. Quite honestly I am only worried about winning right now. I don’t know where that will lead, but I know they are interested in it and they have expressed that from Buck [Showalter] to the front office. I am very appreciative of that.”
Nimmo, who switched representation last winter to mega-agent Scott Boras, expressed a desire in spring training to discuss a potential contract extension with the club, but talks never became serious.
The 29-year-old outfielder entered play with a .264/.347/.429 slash line with 10 homers and 36 RBIs, and has emerged as a top defensive center fielder over the past two seasons. Nimmo has appeared in 92 games this year and managed to avoid the injury bug that has plagued his career.
“I love being a part of the Mets. I love being a part of this team,” said Nimmo, the organization’s first-round pick in the 2011 draft. “This is all I have known, it’s what I have grown up in. It would be very special to stick around here.
“There are not many guys that get to spend their whole careers with one team, but it has to fit for both sides. They have come and expressed they would like me to be a Met and we’ll see what that means after the season … they like what I have brought to the table.”
Nimmo revealed his All-Star break communication from the front office during a conversation with The Post about the potential of him becoming the next team captain. The Mets named David Wright their team captain in 2013 after he had reached agreement on a new long-term contract with the club.
Keith Hernandez, Gary Carter, John Franco and Wright are the only Mets to have held the team captaincy.
“[The captaincy] is something I haven’t really thought about before, but it would be awesome,” Nimmo said. “It would be really special, but there are so many guys on this team that lead by example and it’s hard for me to say you put that on one guy. You see Pete [Alonso], you see Starling [Marte], you see Max [Scherzer]. I would like to think I am a part of that.
“But you see those guys just lead by example and Francisco [Lindor] in different ways and bring different elements to the table, whether it’s vocally, whether it’s what they are doing, whether it’s the attitude that they bring every day, whether it’s the hard work that you don’t see and only the guys in the clubhouse see.”
