New York Upstate of Mind: Road Trip Diary 2026 Day 2: From Doubt to Damage: Jacob Reimer and the Making of a Mets Prospect in Binghamton

The next stop on our two-day New York Upstate of Mind tour took us from Syracuse down the winding roads of Central New York to Binghamton, where the baseball feels a little grittier, the coffee tastes a little stronger, the air a little colder (ok a lot colder) and every kid in uniform still looks like he’s one phone call away from either Citi Field or selling insurance.

There is something wonderfully romantic about minor league baseball in Binghamton. Maybe it’s the way the hills wrap around the city like an old wool blanket. Maybe it’s the smell of spiedies, those marinated chunks of meat grilled on a skewer and served on a roll, drifting through the parking lot before first pitch. Maybe it’s the simple beauty of Mirabito Stadium, where the seats sit so close to the field you can practically hear the infielders arguing over who forgot the scouting report. Or maybe it’s because places like this still remind you what baseball looked like before every fan became an amateur launch-angle consultant with three fantasy teams and a podcast.

One night after catching up with Mets prospects A.J. Ewing, Ryan Lambert, and Alex Carrillo in Syracuse, the road trip continued in Binghamton with another rising Mets prospect who looks like he may someday make pitchers in Philadelphia cry into their cheesesteaks: Jacob Reimer.

Reimer has the kind of batting practice sound that turns heads before people even know who’s hitting. Some guys make contact. Some guys make noise. Reimer makes the kind of sound that echoes through a ballpark like somebody dropped a piano off a roof.

And yet, for all the thunder coming off his bat now, the story of his last year started with frustration.

After missing part of 2024 with a serious hamstring injury, Reimer admitted the comeback tested him mentally as much as physically.

“Yeah, it taught me a lot about myself,” Reimer said. “The adversity, dealing with the doubt that my leg would ever be the same, I could be the same player. Because you come out the gates and you’re not the same player for a little bit. It takes time for that hamstring, especially how bad my hamstring was, to really get back to normal.”

That’s the thing fans rarely see with prospects. Everybody loves the home runs on social media. Nobody posts the video of a 22-year-old lying awake in a Double-A hotel room wondering if his body will ever cooperate again. Minor league baseball is equal parts dreams and ibuprofen.

Reimer leaned heavily on the people around him to get through it.

“It just really took a lot of belief in myself, supporting cast around me from teammates to parents to family to coaches,” he said. “So, I’m super blessed to have one in my life to keep me in the right spirits to get through that.”

And the doubt? Oh, the doubt absolutely creeps in.

“Definitely, yeah,” Reimer admitted. “I feel like with anyone, you’ve got to believe you’re the guy on the field, no matter what. I believe that no matter who you are, you’ve got to believe you’re the best player on the field to be a professional baseball player.”

Then came the line that perfectly captures the strange beautiful madness of baseball players everywhere.

“Someone in a nine-hole might not be better than Mike Trout,” he said with a grin. “You’ve got to believe it, though, in yourself. You don’t got to say it, you’ve got to believe it. Otherwise, this game will lose you a lot.”

That mentality seems to be showing up in his numbers.

Reimer’s transition to Double-A has included noticeable growth offensively, particularly in his ability to elevate the baseball and drive it with authority. According to Reimer, the biggest changes were mental before they were mechanical.

“The game’s really mental,” he said. “I think approach is the key to things. Getting more of a professional approach, not just trying to put the ball in play, but trying to do damage, or trusting my contact ability while doing that.”

There was also a mechanical tweak.

“A little mechanical adjustment in my hips to get me more behind the baseball is another thing,” he explained. “Get the ball in the air, do more damage.”

And yes, if you’ve been around batting practice this season, the damage sounds different.

Reimer laughed while talking about the changes that unlocked more power.

“I’d say being athletic in the box. Just trusting my athletic ability. Being free, flowing, not tight in the box,” he said. “Your muscles are a lot stronger when they’re flowing. They’re faster when they’re flowing. They’re not tight and trying to create speed.”

Baseball players have a funny way of simplifying incredibly difficult things. Hitting a baseball may be the hardest task in sports, yet sometimes the explanation boils down to: relax and let it rip.

The Mets organization has also challenged Reimer defensively, giving him opportunities at third base and the outfield during spring training while injuries and World Baseball Classic absences created openings.

“It was great,” Reimer said. “I work really hard over in third base, so to get that amount of action over there, it was huge for not only my physical ability, but the mental approach to defense as well.”

He talked about learning the rhythm of the game, the “internal clock” in the field, understanding when to rush and when not to.

“The game can speed up,” he said. “Stuff like knowing your runner, you’re a slow runner, you don’t have to panic and rush.”

That awareness is part of growing from talented kid to polished professional.

One thing Reimer clearly appreciates is the culture shift happening around the Mets organization. Gone are the old-school days where prospects quietly hid in the corner while veterans acted like they were guarding nuclear secrets.

Reimer described soaking in knowledge during major league camp from players like Francisco Lindor, Ronny Mauricio, and Mark Vientos simply by observing how they prepared every day.

“Just getting to watch them,” he said. “Not only just talking to them, but watching them, you can learn a lot. So really just not trying to talk too much, trying to ask questions, and try to just watch and perceive everything going on.”

Like many young Mets prospects, Reimer tries balancing ambition with patience. That’s not always easy when you can practically see the bright lights of Citi Field from the edge of your dreams.

“That’s actually one thing I work on,” he admitted. “Because I want to get my game up so bad, so I can sometimes press where I’m at.”

Still, he keeps tabs on fellow Mets prospects climbing the ladder alongside him, names fans are becoming increasingly familiar with.

“I do pay attention for my buddies up there,” Reimer said. “Like Benge, AJ, Morabito, those guys. Clifford. I love to watch them, see how they’re doing, and check in with them all the time.”

Then came perhaps the most exciting part of the entire conversation.

When discussing the growing wave of young talent moving through the Mets system together, Reimer’s eyes lit up.

“It could be electric,” he said. “I feel like the group coming up will play really well together. We all want to play in the Major Leagues together, and doing it in New York… just playing in front of a Mets crowd would be unlike anything ever.”

There’s something beautiful about hearing that in a place like Binghamton.

Because on nights at Mirabito Stadium, when the sun starts disappearing behind the hills and kids chase foul balls down the concourse while somebody in the crowd argues about whether the Rumble Ponies should bring back the two-dollar hot dog special, you can almost see the future taking shape in real time.

Some of these kids will make it.

Some won’t.

That’s the brutal poetry of minor league baseball.

But for now, in cities like Syracuse and Binghamton, the dream is still alive every single night. And somewhere in that dream is Jacob Reimer, standing loose in the batter’s box, believing he’s the best player on the field, waiting for the next baseball to leave his bat sounding like thunder rolling through the Southern Tier.

Here is the full interview :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZd7_VDU-xI