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CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The barn is a solid 64-by-42 structure with blown-in insulation that offers shelter from the cold and the 70-80 mph winds that come ripping down from the northwest in this city of 55,000 that sits 6,100 feet above sea level.
The barn is bigger than the modest gray ranch house that sits in front of it on the six-acre plot of land. This is not just any barn, though. It doesn’t house horses, tractors or farm equipment. What’s stored in this structure is something different.
Here lives a dream.
No player from the state of Wyoming ever had been a first-round pick in the major league draft until the Mets selected outfielder Brandon Nimmo with the 13th selection earlier this month. The state boasts a population of just half a million. There are nearly as many antelopes in Wyoming as people.
The barn, built in 2005, is the place where Nimmo crafted his lightning left-handed swing, which on this day is launching rockets in the batting tunnel of his “baseball” barn.
Brandon’s dad Ron, a CPA, came up with the idea to build a structure that could be used year-round for hitting in the harsh climate of this beautiful state, after the youth team he was coaching was beaten soundly in a tournament in Texas.
“You learn as you go,” says Ron, who included a video area and five hitting stations in the barn, in addition to a ping-pong table, a basketball hoop, a dart board and, of course, “Guitar Hero.”
His wife Patti graciously went along for the financial ride, sacrificing funds that could have been used to build an addition on the house and instead investing in a better baseball future for Brandon and their older son Bryce, who played outfield for Nebraska and was a teammate of Joba Chamberlain on the Cornhuskers’ 2005 College World Series team.
“That’s the way it’s supposed to be, the barn is supposed to be bigger than the house,” Ron says. “It’s already paid off. Just because you’re from Wyoming doesn’t mean you can’t play with the best players. They just practice more than you.”
Says Patti with a smile, “They’re still trying to convince me about this.”
If the Mets don’t sign Nimmo, which is unlikely, he will play baseball for the University of Arkansas.
“If you’re worst option in life is to go play baseball in the SEC,” Ron says, “life isn’t all bad.”
“That barn has been huge. It was essential to everything that’s happened,” says the 6-foot-3, 190-pound Nimmo, who runs like the Wyoming wind. “I couldn’t have done this without it. In there, I’m able to get the hacks whenever I want them.
“Getting those extra reps during the winter, when you don’t want to go outside, was essential. Just walk out to the barn, turn the heater on, the heater is like a jet engine, and it’s 60 degrees in there.”
The combination of God-given talent, incredible desire, a 24/7 place to hone hitting skills, along with a strong American Legion program that travels extensively is the answer to the question: How could the Mets take a kid from Wyoming with the 13th pick in the draft, a place where they don’t even have high school baseball?
“I definitely think I’m ready for pro ball,” Nimmo says. “I’ve got a good support system with my family. I’m excited. Playing baseball is what I love, that’s been my dream ever since I was a little kid.
“I want to make it to New York as quick as possible and please everyone in New York and be an All-Star and be all that stuff everyone wants from their first-rounder. But it’s going to take a few years to do that, but I can’t wait to get started. I love goals.”
You can see Nimmo already has a big-league personality.
His American Legion coach Tagg Lain runs the Cheyenne Post Six program that produces a 70-game schedule, a schedule this year that included a week of “spring training” in Arizona so that the bevy of scouts following Brandon could watch daily eight-hour workouts.
“I’ve coached Bryce Harper in the Tournament of Stars,” says Lain, who has coached 18 years and has won nine of the last 10 American Legion state championships with Post Six. “That’s when I told [tournament officials] that I’ve got a guy who is that close to Bryce. There is not a huge gap between those two guys.”
That guy is Brandon Nimmo.
“People made a big deal about the fact that there’s no high school baseball in Wyoming. The thing about our program is that we play 70 games that are meaningful,” Lain says. “We play teams from Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, Washington, Nebraska, Montana and New Mexico. We play the best we can find and travel a long way to get there.”
There’s also a fall team, a scout team featuring players from Colorado and Wyoming. Whenever Nimmo faces the best, the best comes out in him. He was named co-MVP of the Under Armour All-American Game last summer at Wrigley Field. At the USA Baseball Tournament of Stars in Cary, N.C., last year, he hit .400, opening the eyes of scouts.
Nimmo, 18, has drawn comparisons to Paul O’Neill. Lain says his game is similar to the Cardinals’ Colby Rasmus and offers this fascinating scouting report: “The way Brandon lifts weights and works, it wouldn’t surprise me if his body doesn’t end up looking like Josh Hamilton’s. He’s got the frame to get there.”
Nimmo is smart, too. He earned straight A’s his four years Cheyenne East High School.
“There’s so many things to like about him,” says the Mets J.P. Ricciardi, the former Toronto GM who is special assistant to Sandy Alderson. “But I really like the fact that he is so smart. That’s going to go a long way.”
Says Hall of Fame baseball writer Tracy Ringolsby, a Cheyenne native: “What Brandon carries with him is the pride of a state. Wyoming isn’t the most populated state, but it has a lot of pride. We refer to the state as a small city with a long main street. We take pride in the folks who come from Wyoming.”
Soon after the Mets’ selected Nimmo, Lain received texts from many disappointed teams. The Rangers, Red Sox, Braves, Phillies, Padres, Diamondbacks, Royals and Yankees all wanted to draft Nimmo, who originally was viewed as a sandwich pick, but shot up the list.
The Red Sox projected Nimmo as a center fielder who could play right field in Fenway Park and be a clubhouse leader. Right field in Citi Field is the same type of challenge as Fenway’s right field. A Rangers official told The Post that the club viewed Nimmo as a “build-around” player. Scouts from every team visited, some arriving ill-prepared for the wintry Wyoming spring weather.
“Some of them had to go over to the Wrangler and loaded up with heavier jackets,” Lain says.
Nimmo had plenty of chances to move to star-studded showcase teams that crisscross the nation, but he’s all about loyalty. He grew up playing baseball with many of his American Legion teammates and wanted to stay with them in his final year of amateur play. He could have gone to the Area Code Games last summer but was committed to American Legion.
Nimmo wants to bring that same loyalty to the Mets.
“It’s all about getting to October,” Nimmo says the overall goal.
Nimmo has played against Harper, the No. 1 pick by the Nationals in last year’s draft, in various tournaments since he was 10 years old.
“He would catch, he would pitch, he would do it all,” Nimmo says of Harper. “I remember Bryce saying in that [Sports Illustrated] article that these are my goals: ‘I’m going to wear the pinstripes. I’m going to be in the Hall of Fame and I’m going to be the best baseball player that ever lived.’ That’s what he said. Well, you just made things a lot harder for yourself, but you know what, he has that confidence in himself. If he thinks he can do it, he can do it.”
Nimmo has the same type of confidence. He wears No. 24, the same number his older brother Bryce wore. Brandon is well aware that his brother helped pave the way for his success, often through the hard lessons that baseball can throw at you.
“Hitting is all about confidence,” Brandon says. “I learned that through Bryce because there was a point where he lost his confidence. If you are not confident in yourself, you can have all the talent in the world, it doesn’t matter. You have to walk around with a swagger.”
He already has shown his toughness and willingness to work by overcoming a torn ACL, a football injury he suffered the first game of his junior year. He is completely recovered now.
On this clear big sky night at picturesque Powers Field, Nimmo confidently strides to the plate against a team from Twin Falls, Idaho. In his first at-bat he rips a liner to right off a curve ball and doesn’t stop running, turning the single into a double. In his next at-bat, the pitcher works him away with a fastball. Nimmo lines a shot over the left-fielder’s head and flies around the bases for a triple.
Nimmo possesses a square-it-up, line-drive swing, and plate discipline, the kind of swing that will play at Citi Field.
“Two things separate him, makeup and his bat,” Lain explains. “His bat is legitimate. The way his mind works, getting into professional baseball is the best thing for him because he’s a kid who is going to invest 100 percent in anything that he is doing. He’s a guy, in my opinion, who is going to play the game a long, long time. He’s a leader and he judges himself on team success.”
It all started with a dream built in a big “baseball” barn.
kevin.kernan@nypost.com