TORONTO — Mentioning the name Arjun Nimmala can elicit Francisco Lindor’s signature smile. Lindor, the New York Mets’ superstar shortstop, has worked out with the Blue Jays prospect over the last two offseasons and considers himself a big fan.
“Oh, of course I’ll talk about him,” Lindor responded with a big grin when asked about Nimmala this week at Rogers Centre. Lindor and Nimmala are both represented by SportsMeter, and their partnership dates back to the fall of 2022, when the agency invited a group of players to practice in Montverde, Florida.
Lindor observed that Nimmala, who was entering his final year of high school, had a polished swing and he possessed incredible tools, but he was also a sharp and inquisitive player.
“He has an ability to adapt to new things very, very quickly,” according to Lindor. “When you teach him something, he immediately goes out and puts it into practice. He gets it, and I adore that about him.”
The Blue Jays were similarly intrigued to that trait, which influenced their decision to select Nimmala in the first round (20th overall) of the 2023 draft. The six-foot-one right-handed hitter will turn 19 in October and is presently finishing up his first full season in professional baseball.
Nimmala, considered the No. 5 prospect in the Blue Jays’ system by MLB Pipeline, struggled to begin the season but has since caught fire in A-ball and was named the Florida State League player of the month in August.
Over 22 games in August, the Valrico, Fla. native batted.296 with five home runs and an.871 OPS, leading the league with 29 hits and 53 total bases.
In addition, his 16 home runs tie for fourth in the Florida State League. Nimmala is beginning to show his true talent, and Lindor, a four-time all-star who is currently leading the National League MVP race, believes the youngster has a bright future.
“His arm is fantastic,” Lindor stated. “He has terrific range, is extremely fast, can hit for power or average, and has a wonderful eye.
To be honest, if he continues to progress at the same rate, he will be one of the top players in their organization. “I see him as becoming one of the faces of the franchise, for sure.” Aside from the agency that represents them, the two players share similar characteristics.
Both were drafted out of high school after committing to Florida State University, and they play with a notable sense of arrogance. When I met Nimmala last year for a feature story, he cited the latter as the primary reason Lindor is his favorite player.
“You could see how calm and collected he is in anything that he does,” Nimmala told me. “He has an excellent capacity to adjust and adapt. If he does have a terrible reputation, you’ll see it addressed in the next one.
“I learned a lot from that because I understood I couldn’t keep failing and not change anything. I need to be able to swap things up and make changes to help me improve.”
Lindor has noted Nimmala’s strong drive to develop and believes the teenager must learn how to negotiate this without deviating from his own abilities. “His challenge is going to be to not try to be somebody else,” Lindor told reporters.
“His struggle will be wanting to be great and relentlessly pursuing that excellence. “He’s going to see something from me and he’s going to want to do it,” Lindor told me. “Then he’ll watch something from another big-league player and want to do it.
That’s going to be his challenge, to make sure he sticks to what he does best and makes the best use of his tools, so people watch him and want to be like him.
The two chat frequently, but when Nimmala was going through a hard patch early this season, Lindor chose to “let him be,” allowing the youngster to navigate his own growing pains and finally emerge stronger on the other side.
That’s exactly what happened, leaving Lindor with a broad smile on his face. “I’m super excited for him and what the future is going to bring for him,” says Lindor.
