PHOENIX — Their long Mets journey began together way back in the summer of 2011 in the Florida heat.
Brandon Nimmo, 18, had just signed with the Mets out of Wyoming American Legion ball as a first-round draft pick in mid-August. That was soon after the Mets had traded Carlos Beltran for Zack Wheeler, a 21-year-old highly touted San Francisco Giants pitching prospect.
The two met in Port St. Lucie that day. Nimmo was playing for the rookie league Gulf Coast Mets. Wheeler was with the Florida State League St. Lucie Mets.
“We were the two big prospects and I was a little naïve at that time,’’ Nimmo told The Post on Sunday at Chase Field.