Nick Cimillo: Late round pick playing well in Greensboro this May
Nick Cimillo has taken control of the first base position in Greensboro.
Sometimes, it takes a little bit to find your footing in the pros, which is something you can certainly say about Nick Cimillo and his first shot at High-A Greensboro.
After being drafted in the 16th round out of Rutgers, Cimillo played a few games in Bradenton to close out the 2022 season.
He would start the 2023 season back in Single-A, crushing the ball to the tune of eight home runs in 51 games played (155 wRC+) before getting promoted to Greensboro down the stretch.
Cimillo would struggle, and despite hitting three home runs in 19 games, finished with a slash of .147/.256/.294 in Greensboro, with a wRC+ of 56.
Going into 2024, the Grasshoppers had two former 2022 draft picks, Cimillo and Josiah Sightler, vying for the first base spot. It appeared the latter won the job because Cimillo began the season on the Development List.
He was activated off the Development List on April 17 but played in just three games the rest of the month.
The month of May has seen Cimillo get more involved, playing in 13 of his 16 games this season. Of those 13 games, he’s recorded multiple hits in six of them, becoming a key part of the Grasshoppers’ offense.
Cimillo has slashed .304/.365/.543 in May, with a 152 wRC+, three home runs, two doubles, and has driven in 12 runs. He’s been hot lately, hitting home runs in two of his last three games.
With his struggles, Sightler was placed on the Development List, paving the way for Cimillo to get the majority of starts at first base (they’ve also been involving Maikol Escotto there).
There’s some power in the bat with Cimillo, but he’s also 24, playing in a very hitter-friendly ballpark, and does have some swing-and-miss issues. He’s also limited to first base positionally, putting even more pressure on the bat.
Among the Pirates’ full-season teams, Greensboro easily leads in runs scored per game, more than a run than the next (Indianapolis. They are scoring more than two runs per game than Altoona currently), and Cimillo has been a big part of that recently.
Support the site by becoming a paid member, and get access to all of our premium content, including our Top 25 list with complete player write-ups and video breakdowns, which come out weekly.
It will also give access to my player feature articles from on-site trips.
We have monthly and yearly plans available, with the latter coming out to an average of $4.16/month.
FCL Bucs won again today. They're 10-5.
Some of their hitters seem to be too much for the pitching at that level. Severino hit #4 today, tied for the league lead, and has an OPS of 1.190. Yordany DLS has an OPS of .987. Richard Ramirez, 18yo C I'm liking more and more, hit his first HR and has an OPS of .961. And they've got other guys hitting well.
Of course, they could all totally crap out at the next level. Severino is striking out a ton. YDLS already struggled at Bradenton last year. I'm more and more convinced that leaving a guy at a level he can already dominate doesn't do anything to ready him for the next level, maybe even makes him LESS ready by making him dependent on the weaknesses he's finding in the opposition at the lower level. But I guess we'll see. Some of these guys need to move up. In the FCL, the pitcher's always going to make a mistake here and there and these guys are going to punish those mistakes.
Good to see Cimillo hitting. I saw him occasionally at Bradenton after he was drafted. And I mean occasionally—he seldom played, had to hit his way into more time and they didn’t warm up to him quickly. Good on him.