BRIDGEWATER – The drive from TD Bank Ballpark to Bainton Field in Piscataway is 15 miles, but Nick Cimillo’s journey the last few years feels much longer.
The 24-year-old New York City native played his first three years of college baseball at Manhattan College before transferring to Rutgers for the 2022 season, where he put himself on the map. The Scarlet Knights primary catcher hit .385 with 16 home runs and 52 RBI on the way to being a 16th round draft pick by the Pirates later that year.
Now, it’s all come full circle for Cimillo, save 15 miles or so.
The 6-foot-3, 215-pound righty slugger made his Double-A debut with the Altoona Curve against the Somerset Patriots Friday night, summoned from High-A Greensboro after a breakout year.
“It’s really special,” Cimillo said before the game. “I played right down the road at Rutgers, and I already got texts from some of my coaches, some of them are going to come out. I get to play in front of my family, a couple friends, so it’s special and I’m more than happy to be here.”
One of the more prolific players in the MAAC with Manhattan, the finance major racked up honors – including conference Rookie of the Year and All-First Team – in what’s perceived to be a lower-level conference than the “Power Five,” and said that transferring to Rutgers is what changed his career path completely and put him on a bigger stage.
That was never a guarantee, though. The move to the Big Ten made a significant jump in the level of competition, but he ended up leading the conference with .385 average, .707 slugging percentage and 1.199 OPS.
“I didn’t think it was going to be that smooth (of a transition),” said Cimillo, who went 0-for-3 Friday night. “But I put my head down, kept doing what I needed to do on the field and off the field, and it ended up just working out.”
It isn’t the only transition he’s been able to make with relative ease, either. He’s caught just 14 times thus far in his pro career, having made the move to primarily play first base, a spot he never saw time at either Manhattan or Rutgers.
“At first, it was definitely challenging, I’d never really played in the infield before,” he said. “But I really feel like I’ve stepped up to the plate and gotten really comfortable over there. It’s been a little rough at first, but now I’m comfortable and getting better every day.”
That trajectory seems similar to Rutgers baseball, on the way up over the past few years, and with four players selected in the most recent 2024 MLB Draft, including Franklin Township's own Josh Kuroda-Grauer, who went to the Athletics with the first pick of the second day in round three.
“It’s cool, seeing the program and more and more guys getting drafted each year,” Cimillo said. “There’s a lot of good players here in Jersey – most of those guys are from Jersey, myself from Jersey – so it’s cool seeing hometown guys get picked up in the draft and continue their career in baseball. For the program, it’s really good, and it shows us northeast guys can continue to play ball … There’s always going to be a level of pressure (to continue that legacy), it’s pro ball, but I just go out there, play my game and let my game do the talking.”
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