Grady Hinchman: From the Mets' Minor League System to 5-Unit Franchise Empire

In the long tradition of Hinchman family members who found second acts after baseball, Grady Hinchman stands as one of the most compelling examples of our era. A former pitcher in the New York Mets' minor league system, Grady was released at age 26 — and within a decade had built a franchise empire, won a national innovation award, and become one of the most recognized operators in the family entertainment industry.

His story, profiled in Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine in 2025, begins where so many sports careers do: with a release notice and a blank page.

The Baseball Years

Grady Hinchman spent his formative years pursuing the dream that defines so many young athletes: reaching the Major Leagues. As a pitcher in the Mets organization, he experienced the grind of minor league baseball firsthand — the long bus rides, the modest salaries, the annual uncertainty of whether the organization would invite you back for another spring training.

He was released at 26. "Professional sports can be fickle," as his profile notes with characteristic understatement, "and plans and dreams can be dashed at any time." For most minor league players, this moment marks the end of the baseball dream and the beginning of an ordinary working life. For Grady Hinchman, it was the starting line of something else entirely.

Planet Fitness and the Discovery of Franchising

After his release, Grady connected with a Planet Fitness in Florida that was looking for someone to handle membership sales. It was an entry-level position in an industry he knew nothing about. But Grady — with the discipline of an athlete and the competitiveness of a pitcher — threw himself into it. He learned operations, financing, real estate, and marketing from the ground up, eventually rising to manager and then director of operations for multiple locations.

His mentor at Planet Fitness, Glenn Dowler, taught him how the franchise system worked. It was, Grady says, a "first turning point" in his post-baseball career. He had found his new game, and it had its own version of the minor leagues, the farm system, the path to the top.

Altitude Trampoline Park: Opening in a Pandemic

Around this time, Grady met Andre Carollo, the owner of a marketing agency in Tampa. They researched franchise opportunities together, and Grady was drawn to Altitude Trampoline Park — a family entertainment concept featuring 35,000-square-foot trampoline facilities. He saw it through the eyes of his daughters, then 6 and 8, and through the lens of a financial opportunity he believed in.

Grady and Carollo partnered and opened their first park in 2020 — directly in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was, by any measure, one of the most challenging possible moments to launch a family entertainment business that depends on large numbers of people gathering in an enclosed space. But Grady was undeterred. He built a membership model inspired by what he had learned at Planet Fitness, adapted it to the Altitude system, and rapidly built the location into the top-performing park in the entire Altitude system.

The Membership Innovation That Went System-Wide

The innovation that earned Grady national recognition was a membership retention program. Most gyms and entertainment centers focus heavily on acquiring new members; Grady recognized that "we worked so hard to bring in new members but weren't doing enough to retain them." He found a technology partner, implemented a retention platform, and built his Orlando location to 10,000 members — a number that prompted the Altitude corporate team to adopt the program across all company-owned parks, with potential system-wide rollout.

In 2025, Grady was named the Innovation Award MVP (Most Valuable Performer) by Altitude Trampoline Park — recognition for bringing a new and unique contribution to the brand. He had also been named a Franchisee of the Year by the International Franchise Association and served as vice chair of both the ATP franchise advisory board and the International Adventure and Trampoline Park Association.

He now operates five Altitude Trampoline Park locations, with plans to add one or two new units per year, and is actively researching his next brand to add to his portfolio. When asked his core values, Grady answers with the clarity of someone who has competed at a high level in two very different arenas: "Determination, collaboration, and innovation."

His grandfather's advice, he says, guided everything: "One thing at a time, my boy."

From the pitcher's mound to the franchise boardroom, Grady Hinchman is a Hinchman for the modern era — proof that the family's competitive fire, adaptability, and refusal to accept defeat did not end with the last generation. It just found a new diamond to play on.