Mets' Brandon Nimmo hosts Little Leaguers for sandlot game in Queens
NEW YORK -- Nearly two dozen Little Leagues played a baseball game to remember Friday in Queens. The event was hosted by Mets center fielder Brandon Nimmo.
It was far from 11-year-old Kenneth Diaz's regular baseball warmup.
"It's like the best day ever and I feel very excited," Kenneth told CBS2's Aundrea Cline-Thomas.
Nimmo joined Little Leaguers for a sandlot game at Hinton Park in Flushing. The players took the field after getting a pep talk from Nimmo.
"I tried to impress on them you never know where the game can take you if you keep having fun and have a passion for it," Nimmo said.
Twelve-year-old Alyssa Lindeta, the only girl on the field, said Nimmo is her favorite player. She likes him so much, she also wears number 9.
"Whenever he gets a hit, he always hustles. Even when he walks, he still runs to the base. Stuff like that. He's an amazing fielder," Alyssa said.
It's a responsibility Nimmo doesn't take lightly.
"I try to come out everyday and play the game hard and play it with respect because, for this reason, that kids are looking up to you," Nimmo said. "I want to be that person that they say, 'I want to be like that guy. I want to play like him.'"
They say kids can't be what they can't see. So for these players, making it to the Majors may have become more than just a dream on Friday. After all, as kid from Wyoming, Nimmo said the odds were stacked against him.
"It was like I was playing an actual baseball game. I was like in the MLB playing with him," 11-year-old Michael Rizzo said.
This game, no matter the score, was all smiles as everyone left a winner.
If this day wasn't fun enough, every player went home with a bag filled with Mets swag, including a replica of the batting glove Nimmo wears on the field.