Young Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo takes a swing at some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby.

Q: What drives you?

A: That dream that I had ever since I was a kid, that drives me to be able to be in a position to realize that dream, not a lot of people get that. The first thing is I’m a man of faith, and I believe everything that I do is as if I’m doing it for God. All of my family, they made sacrifices along the way to make this dream a reality. And so, I also want to make them proud. And I also want to make the state of Wyoming proud. If I can, for one kid, kind of say and prove that if you put your mind to it, and you’ve been given the abilities, and I believe they’re God-given abilities, that you can do anything. There’s gonna be people that are always telling you that you can’t, but that you can, if you really put your mind to it and you give it everything you have.

I always dreamed of giving my dad and my mom that call — have you ever seen the movie “The Rookie,” when he calls his wife back in Texas and he says: “Hey can you bring a sports coat to Arlington?” And she’s like, “Why Arlington?” He’s like, “I guess there’s a dress code in the big leagues.” — I always dreamed of calling them one day and saying, “Hey, you gotta figure out a way to get to this place because I’m making my big league debut.”

Two years ago I gave them the call, it was midnight, I was in Reno [Nev.], they were in Wyoming, and I was like (smile), “Hey, you guys gotta find a way to get to Atlanta, ’cause I’m going up to the big leagues tomorrow.” And they just couldn’t believe it, it was so emotional. I saw my dad in the stands, he came down — I have a picture of it — I was in my uniform [before the game] on a big league field. … (Eyes water) It makes me tear up thinking about it. … I grabbed my dad, and I just told my dad: “We made it! We made it!” That drives me, those moments. He was so proud (laugh). He was so proud that day.

Q: Who was your boyhood idol?

A: I really looked up to my brother [Bryce], because he was what I wanted to be, and I wanted to try and be a little bit better. I really respected my dad and I looked up to him because he was doing a job [CPA] that he’s good at and he does like. … We would just see him come back from tax season, he’d be working his 12-, 14-hour days every single day and he’d be stressed out. I just saw that, and I was like, “Man, I really gotta work hard to do what I want to do.”

Q: Who are players you watched growing up?
A: I saw Alex Gordon and I looked at him and I would be like, “Yeah, that’s kind of what I need to be like a little bit.” We would watch the Rockies every night, and so Todd Helton was a guy that I watched a lot. We emulated his swing in the fact that he would almost like end up in the other batter’s box when he would hit the outside pitch with his back leg because he brought his backside through so much.

Q: Who emulated his swing?
A: My dad and I when we would go out and hit.

Q: Where would you hit?
A: When I was 12 years old, we had six acres, and he had a barn built on the back half of our property, and we put a cage in there. It’s a 60-foot barn, so the cage was probably about 55 or so. Took some of the turf that they had cut off and that they had not used from our new field that my brother had gone to the city council for and we pieced it into the barn, and so we would go out there when my dad had time. He would toss to me, we had a machine out there that he would feed in to.

I didn’t have like one specific player that I was like, “That’s how I want to be,” or anything. I was like, “Who’s good at baseball? Who does things well?” And different people did different things well … so like Albert Pujols, and we would really work on swinging down on the ball. I wanted to be like all these guys. … Hunter Pence has always been an interesting player for me because he does things unconventionally. He gets the job done in his own way and he does it well. I really respected Troy Tulowitzki as a player, and CarGo [Carlos Gonzalez]. I even remember watching Adrian Gonzalez, in the minor leagues I remember putting him on my iPad.

Q: What is your on-field mentality?
A: I’m going out there to compete. I’m going out there to give it everything that I have. You’re gonna see me hustle all the time, I’m never gonna give up, try and never give an at-bat away. … Just a very, I guess, bulldog kind of mentality out there.

Q: Who is one pitcher in the history of baseball you would like to test your skills against?

A: Nolan Ryan. He was the bulldog mentality. We just hear the stories of how he just dominated. I’ve seen 100 [mph] a lot, and I’ve seen really good pitchers, and so I would want to know like, “How does this compare?”

Q: If you could pick the brain of one hitter in history, who would it be?

A: Ted Williams, because he’s the last guy to hit .400. But then he also took time off in his prime to go fight a war. I think that speaks a lot about his character of the person that he was. And I’ve read some of his books. If you could take his brain out and put it in your head for baseball knowledge, I think that’d be the guy.

Q: When you were 11 or 12, Bryce Harper slid into you and left a scar on your left ankle?

A: He got on second base, and I was playing shortstop, he would get these huge leads. He played the same way when he was 12 years old. I went in behind him, and we had the pick play going. I used to kind of put down a little bit of a leg, give him just a little bit of room on the base, but it was a good way when we were younger to kind of pick guys off. I don’t know if Harper had seen it before or not, but he came back feet first that time. He put his cleat right in my ankle. Plus he was like 6-2, 185 [pounds] back then. He kind of gave me something to shoot for because I was like, “OK, this guy’s the best at our age range, I need to try and be as good as him.” Little does he know, he probably doesn’t even hardly know me, but he fueled me to get better at baseball.

Q: You tore your right ACL as a high school junior playing football.

A: The supposed best player in Wyoming was a safety, and I caught a 5-yard out, and I looked up field and I had daylight. I got about probably 10 more yards, and then I see him coming. Right from the beginning I thought, “I’m gonna send a message right away.” And so I lower my shoulder to go run him over, and little did I know he didn’t tackle people up high, he would always shoot right through the legs. His helmet went right through my knee and my leg happened to be planted just in the right way. My ACL, I heard it pop. It kind of sounded like a rifle going off in my head.

Q: How devastating was that emotionally?
A: It was really just devastating just because with any surgery, you don’t know if it’s gonna go well. It made me re-evaluate life a little bit, because sports were my everything to that point. It really made me realize that sports are such a short part of our life. What, at the end of my life, am I going to be able to lean on and what is really important in our lives? It really helped my faith going through that struggle, but during that time was a lot of struggle of identity — who was I gonna be at the end of my life? How important were sports? Am I ever gonna come back the same?

Pretty much my days were just focused on rehab and trying to get all the mobility back and trying to get the strength back in the knee. It was a lonely time, but it was a time that I needed, because I needed a little reevaluation in my life. And I also learned to play guitar a little bit during that time (smile). Just another reminder how thankful I am to be in this position.

Q: If I made a list of the happiest men in baseball, where would you appear on that list?

A: (Laugh) I’m just really thankful to be here, so I don’t know, you would have to tell me where it would rank.

Q: I think you’d be high up there.

A: (Smile) I think so. There’s a lot of guys that really enjoy it and love it, but while they’re on the field it’s all business, and they got other things on their mind. For me, I’m not hiding anything. When I get on base I’m excited, I’m glad and that smile just pops through. I think that’s what people resonate with it when they see me smile and just having fun, to be able to kind of go back to their days when they were in Little League or whatever. I try and keep that same approach out here.

Q: What is it like being a New York fan favorite?

A: I’m very, very thankful for it. Here’s the deal: New York people are a different crowd, and I had to learn that. They’re extremely loyal, but it’s tough to get their loyalty. It’s one of those things where — especially during like Brooklyn [Cyclones] — I was like, “Man, I’m not sure that I’m ever gonna be cut out for this.” Because, good game, they were just like: love you. Bad game, they hated you. I was like, “Man, it’s such a what-can-you-do-for-me-now?” I was like, “Man, this is why they say if you can make it in New York you can make it anywhere.” So, to be able to be considered a fan favorite, is such a blessing, because I love New York fans, how loyal they are. I’ve also learned that it’s just being able to take your criticisms, being able to stand up and just be a man about it and be like, “Yeah, I didn’t do well today,” or, “Yeah, I did do well today,” but I’m just going about trying to stay the same and go about my business the right way. They respect that.

Q: Describe married life.

A: Marriage is a character-builder, but it’s got a lot of great attributes to it that I’m so thankful for to have [wife Chelsea] in my life.

Q: Why do you have a two-bedroom apartment in Long Island City?

A: So that family can come up and visit whenever they want. The reason that they weren’t going to come up wasn’t going to be because the hotel rooms are very expensive here.

Q: Favorite NYC things?
A: I really enjoy Broadway. I went to “Wicked” the first time, and I absolutely loved it.

Q: Why do you like Harry Potter World in Orlando?

A: Oh man (smile), because I get to be a kid. I think I was like 10 years old when the first book came out, and I read those all through my childhood, from 10 to high school. It was a family outing to go see the Harry Potter movies. I love Disney movies, I love Pixar movies because there’s just such an innocence behind them, they’re such just pure humor, there’s teaching like basic moral principles if you want to learn. And I am not hard to entertain — if you wave a wand and it makes some lights turn on over there, I’m like, “Man, that is so cool (smile).”

Q: Three dinner guests?
A: Jesus, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln.

Q: Favorite movies?
A: “Forrest Gump” and “Gladiator.”

Q: Favorite actor?
A: Tom Hanks.

Q: Favorite actress?
A: Reese Witherspoon.

Q: Favorite singer/entertainer?
A: MercyMe.

Q: Favorite meal?
A: A filet with a sweet potato. If I’m going home and I’m going to Wyoming, we’re definitely having chicken enchiladas one of those nights. Because my mom makes the best chicken enchiladas.

Q: What are your career goals?
A: I reach for the stars but try to keep my feet on the ground. I’ve wanted to play 15-20 years in the big leagues. I don’t really have like numbers in mind, but I want to be a great player, and I want to play this game in the big leagues for a long time.

Q: If you were not a baseball player, what would you be?
A: At one time I thought I’d maybe start off as like a fighter pilot and then go finish off, retire into an airline pilot kind of thing (smile). Another one of those great jobs would be if you were a PGA golf player.