If Tom Hackimer gets the call to the Mets it will complete the cycle of playing in Queens in high school, college, and the majors. He grew up on the Nassau County side of Floral Park and “could walk out my front door and throw a ball to Queens.” He was even drafted in the 15th round in 2015 by the Mets but was unable to come to an agreement, so he returned to St. John’s for his senior year.
Amazingly he pitched at St. John’s in a tournament while at Archbishop Molloy High School, and pitched at Citi Field in 2013 while at St. John’s. He has a picture from that appearance in his living room. Can you say destiny?
He’s one class short of a Physics degree from St. John’s: Intro to Quantum Mechanics. He fully intends to complete his studies, which his mother reminds him about often. That’s for another day. Right now, Hackimer is pitching for the Syracuse Mets after a July 28 promotion from the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, the Mets Double-A affiliate. He’s a sidearming right-handed reliever, in the mold of former Met and current Astro, Joe Smith.
Surprisingly, he didn’t pitch regularly until he was 18 and a freshman at St. John’s. He was only a shortstop at Archbishop Molloy High School in Briarwood. The last time he pitched before college was when he was 13.
“My hitting coach up through high school was pretty friendly with the St. John’s coaches,” he said. “I was at a camp playing short, throwing across the diamond and [Ed] Blankmeyer [current manager of the Brooklyn Cyclones] saw me and made an offhand comment to the effect of that kid, good arm, kind of weird and lanky, probably be a good sidearmer and that was basically the genesis of my career.”
Blankmeyer is also the reason Hackimer is now in the Mets organization. He called Hackimer after the Twins released him earlier this season and asked him if he wanted to keep playing. Yes, was the answer. Within a few days, the Mets reached out and signed Hackimer to a contract and assigned him to Double-A.
The Mets have a collection of diverse and intriguing players, and Hackimer fits right in with his sharp sense of humor and multiple interests, including music, vlogging, and beer-making (paging Aaron Loup and Anthony Banda, the Beer Boys). It’s easy to picture Hackimer and Trevor May teaming up on some vlogs or Hackimer playing guitar behind a team sing-along of Meet the Mets.
He can also pitch really well, especially when he throws strikes. His main goal for this season is to work on his mental focus and get another shot at Triple-A. Consider that second part already accomplished. He features a fastball, slider, and changeup, with his laterally breaking slider his out pitch.
He’s also into analytics and using tools like Rapsodo to fine-tune his pitches. He’s not focused on creating new pitches as much as commanding the fastball, slider, and changeup that he already throws. He appreciates the access to the information that the Mets organization provides through The Portal.
“I don’t like to dig too deep into past performances apart from what percentage of pitches did I throw in the zone, whether they were swung at or not, a general indicator of the way the ball is moving. What axis it’s spinning on,” he said. “That’s usually how I judge where my arm slot is. Just make sure it’s not changing too dramatically. Velocity is always important and if it starts dropping off it’s usually a concern.”
At this point, refining his mental focus is the key to making it up the majors. The Mets have provided mental skills support for the Binghamton team, including sending Mental Skills Coordinator, Samantha Gilmore, to visit the team.
For Hackimer, his goal this season is to get back to Triple-A (after a “massive hiccough there” with the Twins organization) just accomplished on July 28 with a promotion.
“I would like to get the chance to refigure things out at Triple A, hopefully that happens later on this season,” he said. “Just getting back into the swing of things and throwing the baseball over the little white thing on the ground. That’s really all I’m going for, the mental focus part of it. Keeping the same routine and making the tiny adjustments that are needed and do that pitch to pitch.
“I throw in a unique manner. I know guys don’t really take comfortable swings or at bats off of me normally. A lot of it comes down to the me vs. me fight of can I just focus enough to throw the ball over the plate. I don’t truly believe that most hitters, at this (Double-A) level certainly, are going to beat me. And if they do, tip of the cap. They get paid, too.”
He has confidence that his stuff plays, and judging by his stats, it seems to be true. His cumulative minor league numbers as of 7/29 include a 3.15 ERA in 197.1 innings, 131 hits, 3 home runs, 99 walks, 61 HBPs, 1.166 WHIP, and 230 strikeouts.
Get to Know Tom Hackimer
Favorite pizza place in Queens: Vincenzo’s on Union Turnpike by St. John’s (Wednesday’s special $1.25 slices).
Mottoes: No one cares; work harder. Memento Mori (remember that you will die, one of his teammates has that as a tattoo).
Nicknames: Hack, Spare Parts (which he puts on his glove every year, from a Mariners organization scouting report that “described my physical build as a small build of spare parts because I’m short and have really long arms, I have very thick legs, this guy just kind of looks weird out there”).
Starting playing the trombone when he was in elementary school (wanted to play the saxophone but there were too many saxophone players already) and now plays the guitar.
Played shortstop for the JV City Championship winning Molloy team.
Biggest influences growing up were his older brother (baseball) and sister (softball) who both played at Iona College. Their dad worked with all of them throughout childhood and he got the benefit of all the extra practice by joining them whenever they practiced.
Played with current Met Travis Blankenhorn in Twins organization.
Drafted again in fourth round of 2016 by the Minnesota Twins after his senior year at St. John’s.
A Wilpon story: “When I was in Cape Cod in 2015, the signing deadline was coming up. The Scouting Director at the time, Tommy Tanous, came up and actually had a conversation with me, we went out to dinner and obviously things didn’t work out but I joked for a good month or two afterwards for the Wilpons to send me a bill for that dinner.”
“Where were you in 2020?” During the early part of the pandemic, he stayed in Ft. Myers working out with his friend Tyler Wells of the Orioles and “enjoying life as much as I ever have. I spent the year working out, playing golf, playing guitar, and making beer.” He pointed out the lack of restrictions making it much easier to get his throwing in, as opposed to coming back to Floral Park where his family still lives. Something good about Florida other than the St. Lucie Mets.
What he wants Mets fan to know about him: “The whole story I have is pretty cool. I played baseball in Queens my whole life, that would be a cool, roundabout story to get back and play on the biggest stage there is in Queens.”
