MLB

Mets take gamble, draft high school senior Nimmo

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In recent years, the Mets often have been criticized for being too conservative in baseball’s first-year player draft.

But the Mets signaled they are going to operate differently under general manager Sandy Alderson by taking high school outfielder Brandon Nimmo from Cheyenne, Wyo., with the 13th overall pick in last night’s draft.

“When we went into this, to be quite frank with you, we weren’t that interested in making what we thought was making the safest pick,” Mets vice president of player development Paul DePodesta said. “We were interested in making the pick that we thought had the most impact.”

Nimmo’s story certainly is uncommon. Because Wyoming is one of three states that don’t have high school baseball (Montana and South Dakota are the others), the 6-foot-3 center fielder instead played on the local American Legion team, Post 6.

“This is a dream come true for me,” Nimmo said on a conference call. “Getting drafted, getting picked in the first round by the Mets. . . . I’m real excited about this right now.”

After bursting onto the scene last summer by winning the MVP award at the annual Under Armour All-American Game at Wrigley Field, he hit .569 (33-for-58) in 22 games this spring with two homers, 34 RBIs and 14 stolen bases.

DePodesta said the Mets entered the draft looking for a position player, and the organization decided if they were going to get an impact bat, they had to get one with their top pick.

“This draft is certainly deep in college pitching, but we felt there were only a few potential impact bats, and if we were gonna get one of them, we had to take them up high,” DePodesta said. “There are some other bats on the board that we like, so we’ll see how it plays out . . . but we felt like if we were gonna get a guy like this that had a chance hit near the top or the middle of the lineup, we needed to take him right away, so that’s what we did.”

Nimmo, who has committed to play college baseball at Arkansas, was ranked as the 37th best prospect in this year’s draft class, according to Baseball America. He tore his right ACL playing football during the fall of 2009, and played with a brace on the knee last summer.

Both the Mets and Yankees also had picks in the supplemental first round.

With the 44th overall pick, the Mets took Michael Fulmer, a right-handed pitcher from Deer Creek High School in Edmond, Okla. Fulmer went 10-2 with a 0.72 ERA in 15 games, striking out 127 and walking 24 in 68 innings.

“He’s a big physical right-hander,” Mets Director of Amateur Scouting Chad MacDonald said. “If you like 92-97 [mph] with a plus-sink[er] and a plus-breaking ball, you’re going to like this guy.”

After losing their first-round pick to Tampa Bay as compensation for signing Rafael Soriano during the offseason, the Yankees took Dante Bichette Jr. from Orangewood Christian High School in Orlando, Fla., with their first pick at No. 51 overall.

The son of four-time All-Star outfielder Dante Bichette, the 6-foot-1, 215-pound third baseman hit .640 (55-for-86) with 10 home runs, 40 RBIs and 15 stolen bases.

“Dante is one of the guys in this draft we thought had an impact bat, and the potential to hit for big power in the middle of the order,” Yankees vice president of amateur scouting Damon Oppenheimer said. “He’s someone with an advanced makeup and work ethic who possesses the desire and drive to be a special major leaguer.”

tbontemps@nypost.com