Texas Rangers outfielder Brandon Nimmo leaves the game after he was injured running out a single during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Globe Life Field on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in Arlington.
Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News
Grab a chair and pull up a seat. Seriously. If you are going to chat with Rangers outfielder Brandon Nimmo, the conversation is going to be warm and inviting, sure, but you are also going to be there a while.
His answers are as detailed as his routine. Especially when the subject is his routine.
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When Nimmo arrived from New York in a swap that sent Marcus Semien to the Mets, it was easy to see his enthusiasm over even banal things, like a welcoming press conference, and his curiosity over even the smallest details, like a leather jewelry tray in his locker.
Once the season began, it became clear Nimmo was also very particular when it came to how he gets ready to play. Maybe we noticed because he was constantly on base. Or maybe because it stuck out so differently.
He is the last Ranger to arrive in the clubhouse every day. If he makes a pregame appearance in the dugout or on the field, it’s in shorts, a cutoff T-shirt and shower slides that allow him, if he feels so inclined, to walk barefoot in the grass at stadiums where that’s still a thing. He gets hot one time only, for game time, because, as he says, he can only give 100% effort, and if he’s giving 100% on shagging fly balls, 100% of what he has left is ultimately going to be less than 100%.
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He is also the last to leave, though you wouldn’t know it, because nobody is still around when he exits. On the road, the Rangers either send a car or send a team bus — the Nimmo Bus — back for him. When he gets back to the house or hotel, it’s another hour or two to study the next day’s opponent and to decompress. Then he gets eight hours of sleep. Nonnegotiable. And begins the cycle anew, always with avocado toast (walnuts, balsamic vinegar, a little olive oil and occasionally some goat cheese) when he gets to the park.
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“He is obsessed with winning,” is the way manager Skip Schumaker explains it. “From what he eats to how he trains to the video work and metrics he uses to being the best teammate. All in. We all know we are getting everything he has every day.”
All of the detail involved has had us fascinated since the start of spring training. We decided to ask Nimmo about the origins and the purposes of his meticulous and unique cycle of prep:
“It’s been a learning process, figuring out how do you seem to perform your best,” Nimmo, who often refers to his process as a team (“we”) rather than in the singular, said during a long dugout chat recently. “I do like things planned out and I am pretty meticulous, probably just by nature. Even my wife has talked about it. Like, we get on the road and I like things folded and organized and put in certain places, so that I know where everything is and, then, when I go to pack up, I just know this goes back in and everything.”
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Just a little OCD, Brandon?
“A little, for sure. But that’s how I operate best and it’s how I feel best prepared for the game. So much of this game is failure that you have to find confidence in your preparation because it’s not always going to work out. [The routine] really evolved, particularly over the last three years, of just being more precise. It’s a signal to my body to do something. Like, ‘OK, it’s time to go.’”
Or allow Schumaker to interpret: “He cares about every facet of the game.”
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Texas Rangers right fielder Brandon Nimmo (24) walks to the plate for an at-bat to lead off the fourth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Globe Life Field in Arlington, May 13, 2026.
Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News
Charging bull
When Nimmo, the 13th overall pick in the 2011 draft, first reached the majors in 2016, he was a curiosity. He was (and still is) the highest drafted player from the state of Wyoming. He approached every day as if it was his last — sprinting to first after walks, running into the fence in pursuit of catches. It was something to behold.
Alas, it didn’t get beheld much.
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In 2017, he punctured a lung. In 2019, he ran into the wall in Atlanta to track down a catch for Jacob deGrom. A highlight catch. Also one that left him with a bulging disk in his neck, though he played through the pain for another month, then missed 12 weeks to recover. It was a conversation with Mets outfielder Jay Bruce, one of his earliest mentors in the game, that initially got him thinking.
“He said, ‘Brandon, I love the way you play the game. I love the way you work. But if you want to get to the next level, you need to learn how to work smarter, not harder. You need to learn to be efficient. You need to learn how to get the most out of yourself and be ready for that day and then be able to do it again the next. You need to be able to play a lot.’
“He put the thought in my head first.”
Shortly after that, he’d changed agents to Scott Boras, who was proud of the training institute he’d built for his clients. Boras is also diligent in his research on players. He’d seen Nimmo reach 125 games just once in his first five seasons. One of the first things he mentioned was the rarity of center fielders in the last decade reaching 150 games.
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It only tripped wires in Nimmo’s always curious mind.
“It told me something was wrong with the system.” Nimmo said. “I’ve got to do something different than what we’re doing. And the idea of doing things the same because this is what we’ve always done, that’s not a good enough reason for me anymore.”
Wise old owl
A bit of happenstance in 2022 triggered by ownership locking out players led to an abbreviated spring training. Nimmo followed it up with the best season of his career: 151 games and an .800 OPS. And it only made the wheels inside his head turn more. He realized he didn’t need to do as much on-field work in spring training as he had, so he started tailoring his spring ramp-up more slowly, allowing him to go much harder once he got on the field.
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That’s when he really put together the details and the schedule of the routine, which ultimately resulted in him eschewing on-field work for other prep that allows for the slower, one-time ramp-up.
“My body was not responding well to getting warm and then cooling down again and then getting warm again; that was something I noticed,” he said. “Even my parents had said that when I was young, once school and sports were over for the day, I’d just melt into the couch. Like, there was no getting back up.
“And so with the trial and error and talking to Boras and other guys, we arrived at this slow, one-time ramp-up, and I give what I’ve got for that day and the energy I have for that day, and the game is the most important part of the day.”
Texas Rangers outfielder Brandon Nimmo scores past Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Gabriel Moreno on a grounder by Rangers shortstop Corey Seager during the fifth inning of a baseball game at Globe Life Field on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in Arlington.
Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News
The system may not be fully injury proof. Nimmo has dealt with his old nemesis, the hamstring, early this year, though it hasn’t yet sent him to the IL. He’s had to come out of games three times because of what he described, diligently, of course, as irritated fascia tissue around the muscle.
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Still, he’s remained perhaps the most consistent bat in the Rangers offense. And even when he’s not playing, he’s found a way to contribute. He and Josh Jung, who has thrived this season, have bonded. Nimmo shares his prep plan with Jung, who says “Brandon Nimmo and I speak the same language when it comes to baseball.”
An example: Nimmo is the guy most likely to pick up a tip from a pitcher and relay it to teammates. Jung is the guy most likely to respond to that. Jung has taken to carrying a notebook around with him to keep notes. What Nimmo learned as a young player from the likes of Bruce and Curtis Granderson, some of the younger Rangers are now gleaning from Nimmo.
Said deGrom, the teammate who has known him since the start of both of their careers with the Mets: “The game has changed since he broke in and he’s changed with it. He is very smart and he uses so much information and comes up with a really good approach. His at-bats are always so impressive. They’ve always been impressive, but even more so with all the prep he puts in. He’s figured out what he needs to do, where it’s not too much, so that come 7 p.m., he’s ready to play.”
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And to give 100% of his 100% percent.