The Barn in Cheyenne

The Barn

Brandon Nimmo tried riding a calf at age seven in Cheyenne, got bucked off, and had his ankle stepped on. His parents told him that in rodeo it is not if but when you get hurt. The bull-riding ambitions faded, and baseball took over.

The trouble was, Wyoming does not sanction high school baseball. Nimmo played American Legion ball for Cheyenne Post 6, where he hit .448 with 15 home runs in 2010. His father Ron, a retired CPA, built an insulated barn on the family's six-acre property to combat the long cold winters — batting cage, nets, a pitching machine with a self-feeder, room for other activities. Nimmo and his brother Bryce spent hours in it. Teammates used it too. It is how a big leaguer developed in a state without high school baseball.

The Mets took Nimmo 13th overall in 2011 out of Cheyenne East, the highest-drafted player ever from Wyoming. He signed for $2.1 million.

Five Hundred

On July 18, in his first season with the Texas Rangers, Nimmo collected his 500th career RBI. He has 502 now, across 1,162 games and eleven seasons. Ten of those years belonged to the Mets, from his debut on June 26, 2016, through 2025. Last November, New York traded him to the Texas Rangers for Marcus Semien. The career line: .262/.361/.437, with 145 home runs, 210 doubles, 36 triples, and 634 runs scored. He has 99 hits in 96 games for Texas this year.

Tater

They call him "Tater" — known for his enthusiastic demeanor and for staying late after games to sign autographs. He met his wife Chelsea, a registered nurse, while playing in the minors in Savannah. They married in November 2017; their daughter Tatum was born in November 2024.

Nimmo is 33, in his eleventh major-league season. He plays outfield for Texas.

Reporting: MLB.com, New York Post, Wikipedia. Career and biographical data: MLB StatsAPI, via the Fever engine.