Ex-Mets Ace Mike Hampton Had a Different Career Prediction for Patrick Mahomes

Former New York Mets ace Mike Hampton saw the professional career of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes playing out differently than it has.

Feb 3, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) talks to the media during Super Bowl LIX Opening Night at Ceasars Superdome. / Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

While the New York Mets are gearing up for the 2025 MLB season, the Kansas City Chiefs are gearing up to play the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl. Leading the way for the Chiefs is superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who has a chance to become the first signal caller in the history of the NFL to three-peat should they win.

25 years ago, Mahomes was just a five-year-old kid who would go to work with his father. The difference between Mahomes and other kids his age, however, was that his father was Patrick Mahomes Sr., a pitcher for the Mets.

Former ace Mike Hampton shared a locker room with Pat Sr. during the 2000 season and remembers Pat Jr. all too well.

"My memories of him are when he had his hair cut down tight," Hampton said of his memory of Pat Jr. "He was a little thin. He was a five-year-old boy hanging out with my son, Gage, in the batting cages in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Every time I listen to him talk with the country accent, it brings back those memories in 2000, for sure."

Hampton always thought Mahomes would be a SS, not a QBhttps://t.co/zdiYJYpczG #Mets #Chiefs #Royals

— William Ladson (@ladsonbill24) February 8, 2025

This time of year, seemingly every year with how dominant the Chiefs have been, a picture of Pat Jr. and Hampton shagging flyballs in the outfield makes its way back onto the social media feeds of many. Hampton has that picture on the wall of his office and fondly reminisces on those memories and how comfortable Pat Jr. was at reading fly balls at five years old.

“The photo gets circulated this time of year because Patrick is in the Super Bowl every year,” Hampton said. “We are deep in the outfield and he is five years old, tracking a Major League flyball like it’s a little Sunday popup in Little League. When you see things like that -- how natural it came -- you could see he had the potential to become something special.”

How natural it was for little Mahomes led Hampton to believe that the youngster could grow up to be a superstar. He just never thought that the stardom would come in the NFL, but that it would come in MLB with Pat Jr. becoming the next Derek Jeter or even Ken Griffey Jr.

It is hard to imagine Mahomes as anything but the gunslinger quarterback that he has come to be. However, with some of the acrobatic plays that he is able to make on the football field, an image of him making the Jeter jump throw from deep in the hole can come to mind.

Before becoming one of the most successful quarterbacks the NFL has ever seen, Mahomes was drafted out of Whitehouse High School in Whitehouse, Texas in the 37th round of the 2014 MLB draft by the Detroit Tigers. Mahomes did not sign, instead going to college where he would play only three baseball games with the Texas Tech Red Raiders, taking only two plate appearances. He would soon give his full attention to football.

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