Even though they were born and raised in Las Vegas, the boys came pretty close to growing up in Acton, Massachusetts. The boys’ father, Mike, lived the early part of his life in Acton and was drafted as an outfielder by the Red Sox in the ninth round of the 1980 draft out of the University of Massachusetts-Lowell.
Being a baseball player didn’t work out for Mike but his love for the game was still strong, specifically teaching the game. By 1988, Mike’s playing days were over so he and his wife, Susie, decided to move to Las Vegas to start a furniture business. Once they settled in Vegas, Mike realized an added perk of moving west was the benefit of being able to teach the game of baseball year round and as fate would have it, two years later Nick was born.
Two years after that, Kris came along.
Although only being two years apart, the boys personalities were polar opposites from an early age. Kris was quiet and played more of an “old school” type of baseball while Nick was more outspoken and operated under the “look good, play good/new school” mentality.
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In spite of their different personalities, the common denominator between the two boys has always been baseball. Every Sunday morning, they would religiously go to a nearby baseball field and play “home run derby” from as early as Nick could remember. By the age of seven, Kris was the first to take a ball over the fence and even though his little brother was the first to go yard, Nick said he knew at that point that Kris was going to be a special player.
“He had the kind of talent that I just knew he would play professionally one day.”
The Competitive Edge
Throughout the course of our discussion the word ‘competitive’ came up over and over again. And while the two boys were always competitive on the baseball diamond, Nick told me he and Kris competed in everything.
Including school.
Nick attributes their drive in school to their mother. Both the boys were told that they had to maintain a certain GPA that was up to HER standards, not the schools. Anything below a C and there would be no baseball. Those high standards paid off as both boys graduated high school with GPAs above 4.0.
The guys played two years of high school ball together and while Kris was the one who was drawing all the attention, Nick was a pretty damn good ball player himself. Their “old school vs. new school” personalities carried over from their childhood into high school as well. Kris used to tell Nick to not wear wrist bands because Kris believed that was a form of “showing up” an opposing pitcher which usually resulted in Nick taking a fast ball to the rib cage.
The boys’ high school coach, Derek Stafford, called Nick a “cerebral” player and even Nick himself said that the two were a pretty feared combo.
“DURING OUR TWO YEARS PLAYING TOGETHER, ONE OF US LED THE TEAM IN EVERY OFFENSIVE CATEGORY THERE WAS.”
The highlight of Nick’s career was defeating the Bryce Harper-led Las Vegas Wildcats in regular season action during Nick’s senior season in 2008. Nick drove in both runs to help his Bonanza Bengals defeat the Wildcats 2-0.
While the “Bryce Harper” game was Nick’s highlight, Kris had plenty of highlight moments himself. The one that stuck out to Nick actually occurred the year after he graduated high school but all of his friends and former teammates had to call to tell him exactly what happened.
During a mid-season practice, Kris destroyed a ball during a BP session when Kris was a junior in high school. Kris crushing a ball was nothing new but this time was different because the ball traveled over the fence and into four lanes of traffic on a road beyond the left field fence. Keep in mind, the left field fence at Bonanza field is around 370 feet, so tack on another 40-50 feet to reach the street and you’re looking at a 420 foot shot as a 17-year-old kid.
These bombs became so common that after every practice, Coach Stafford had to send a group of freshman to round up all the baseballs that accumulated in the ditch across the street.
This ball didn’t end up in a ditch however. The ball actually shattered a guy’s passenger window while he was driving down the street. The team heard the glass break and saw the truck take a quick right turn and head back towards the field where the ball came from.
Nick said the everyone was just standing around when the guy got out of his truck and was literally dripping blood from the shards of glass that embedded into his neck. One would assumed he’d be a raging asshole because let’s face it, he almost just died from a baseball.
Not this guy.
He approached Coach Stafford, handed him the ball and walked away. Players and coaches just kind of sat there in shock about the scene they just witnessed.
Personally, I’m glad to hear that guy avoided death AND had the courtesy to return the baseball.
As Nick’s high school career finished up, he knew his high school days would be the last time that he’d play competitive baseball. Nick graduated high school two years prior to Kris and he told me that he would always give Kris shit about not being able to beat his GPA (which was a robust 4.72).
Being the competitor that he is (and probably not wanting to let his big brother beat him), Kris ended up graduating high school with a 4.78.
Little brother wins again.
After high school, Nick went on to attend UNLV as a biology/pre-med major because as he put it,
“I knew my time with baseball was done.”
Kris decided to follow in his big brother’s footsteps by also deciding to major in biology/pre-med but unlike Nick, Kris was still playing baseball at the University of San Diego. Nick told Kris he was crazy trying to balance a pre-med major AND play baseball at the same time but Nick pointed out that’s just how competitive Kris is.
To his credit, Nick was right about it being too much and Kris eventually switched his major to accounting. Not that it really mattered however, everyone knew what Kris was going to do long term.
“My Younger Brother Is The MVP”
The two guys still maintain a very close relationship today. Nick kind of laughed at me when I asked him if he’s given Kris any “big brother” critiques on his game. Yes, I understand me asking Nick to critique the god damn NL MVP was a stupid question but big brothers can ALWAYS find something wrong with their little brother.
Not Nick.
“What’s there to critique? He’s the MVP,” he said with a laugh.
Nick added that even if he did have a critique, it wouldn’t matter much to Kris. Not because Kris doesn’t care about what Nick thinks but because Kris is his own biggest critic.
He said Kris really doesn’t even like to talk baseball most of the time. Nick said one time he and one of his buddies caught a Spring Training game to watch Kris and the Cubs. Nick’s friend happened to be a doctor and when Kris came over to greet them after the game, all he wanted to do was hear “doctor stories” and Nick said he was genuinely intrigued by what his doctor buddy had to say. It would have been easy for KB to talk about himself or the game he just played but that’s not the type of person he is, Nick said.
Besides, Kris doesn’t need critiquing from anyone else because as Nick put it,
“He’s a perfectionist.”
Although he didn’t have any critiques for this season, Nick told me that if he had to critique Kris going into last season, he would have told Kris to try and cut down on his strikeouts. In 2015, Kris struck out an astounding 199 times but staying true to his reputation of being a perfectionist, Kris busted his ass and dropped that number to 154 in 2016.
A MAJOR drop of 45 strike outs in between his first and second seasons.
“I’m Proud of What He’s Done.”
In the off season, the two guys still enjoying hanging out with each other when time allows. Kris recently hosted a Super Bowl party with friends and family and Nick said that the two like to golf when there is some down time.
Even as two grown men, they still compete on the golf course. Nick humbly acknowledged that Kris is a better golfer which is proven by the fact that Kris shot an 80 at Shadow Creek Golf Course in Vegas. And this isn’t an 80 like you or me would shoot, this is a legit 80 — no mulligans, kicked balls, or “drops.”
Nick didn’t have much critique for Kris’ baseball game but was quick to critique his little brother’s golf game.
“He can’t putt.”
Now THAT is an honest critique from a big brother.
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I finished off our conversation by asking Nick what was the best piece of advice he’s ever given his younger brother. He couldn’t recall anything he said specifically to Kris but he did share a piece of advice that the guy’s parents shared with them from an early age.
“From a young age, our parents always told us to love what you do with your life and you’ll never feel like you work a day in your life.”
Although the guys have two different loves now, Kris has baseball and Nick has medicine, they’ll always have the memories of how baseball formed a bond that is as strong as ever today.
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Nick, 26, holds a BA from UNLV and a Masters from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. He currently resides in Las Vegas, NV where he works as a Physician’s Assistant doing interventional radiology.
