Rangers Boss Chris Young Recalls Mets Connection with Brandon Nimmo

The Texas Rangers traded for Brandon Nimmo, but president of baseball operations Chris Young has known about the former New York Met for a while.

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Baseball is a game filled with connections. The cool part is when those connections come together years later.

Texas Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young had a long career in the Majors as a pitcher. The former Highland Park star and Princeton product played for five MLB teams — his hometown Texas Rangers, the San Diego Padres, the Seattle Mariners, the Kansas City Royals and … the New York Mets.

He went 79-67 with a 3.95 ERA for his career and won a World Series ring with the Royals in 2015. But it’s his experience in New York that is relevant to new Rangers outfielder Brandon Nimmo. Young has known of Nimmo since the vet was 18 years old.

The Chris Young-Brandon Nimmo Connection

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In 2011, Nimmo was the Mets’ first-round pick out of East High School in Cheyenne, Wyo. Typically, a first-round pick visits his new team at its home ballpark and he gets to meet the current players and leadership. He’ll usually do interviews and take batting practice, if he’s a hitter.

As it turns out, 2011 just happened to be Young’s first season with the Mets after a five-year stretch with the Padres. Their paths likely crossed, either that day or at spring training. But Nimmo didn’t make his MLB debut until 2016. By then, Young was in his second season with the Royals and was wrapping up his career. But, in his three years with the Mets, Young came to understand the connection between that team and that fan base, especially the players that are as well-liked as Nimmo.

Young didn’t have to mine that connection as he worked on the trade. But he had to be respectful of Nimmo’s connection the fan base. He’s a beloved player who spent his entire career with the Mets. Plus, he had a no-trade clause. He didn’t have to approve the deal.

Young followed his career. He knew how the leadership in New York valued Nimmo. He also knew that Nimmo had just built a house in Port St. Lucie, the location of the Mets’ spring training facility. In some ways, the whole endeavor was set up to fail.

So he had to close. In one of his final conversations with Nimmo before the veteran approved the trade, the Rangers boss found that his new outfielder was in “complete alignment” with what he wanted, not only next season but for the next several years.

“I think one of the great things that I enjoyed in the process was when the trade was close, being able to connect with Brandon and talk to him about, who we are as an organization, what we're looking to accomplish, why we're going to win moving forward, and how he's going to play a significant role in that,” Young said.

Nearly 15 years later, a small connection paid off big for Young and the Rangers.