Brandon Nimmo met with reporters Saturday afternoon to update his status as he continues to recover from a left index finger bone bruise.
“I’m feeling pretty good right now,” Nimmo said. “I feel like we’re pretty close to getting things going again. So, right now I’m feeling a whole lot better than I was a week ago. Very optimistic about the way things are headed right now.”
Nimmo, who originally injured his finger against the Phillies on May 3, made a rehab assignment for Triple-A Syracuse on May 13, but was immediately shut down after feeling more pain in his finger.
The outfielder said the he has been dealing with “a pesky little nerve” that’s been causing the issue, and experiencing swelling in his finger did not helped matters.
After feeling more pain in that first rehab outing, Nimmo and the Mets decided that the best course of action was to shut him down and let him rest as much as possible while receiving treatment. The first step back for Nimmo would be to start taking swings again before he can even think about getting in a game.
“We had to take a break. When I went back for that first game, unfortunately we reaggravated it,” Nimmo explained. “I kind of understood that I was going to have to be able to play through some pain, but when we finally got back to the game and game speed, I ended up reaggravating it and the swelling came back, so it unfortunately required more time and more rest, which is no swings. Hopefully getting back to swinging here pretty soon.”
Nimmo couldn’t give an exact timetable for when he might return to game action, saying that nerve injuries are often ‘personal’ and vary case by case. So for now, the Mets are taking things one day at a time and erring on the side of caution.
“The only thing is we’re trying to be cautious right now because we do not want what happened last time to happen again,” Nimmo said. “Obviously, I want to be back as soon as I can, but we also cannot risk going on another assignment and having it blow up again and set us back again.
“So, this time we’re going to be extra cautious going through it and make sure that when I go back, I’m back for good.”