NICHOLSON, THE BEST CANADIAN INFIELDER EVER
Kevin Nicholson devoured groundballs like The Terminator. He made Arnold (I can’t spell Schwarzenegger) look like the proverbial 98-pound weakling. Kevin attacked charges, backhands and double play feeds like a heat-seeking missile. Drive something within a city block of him and you might as well veer off and head to the dugout.
Nicholson blitzed blistering one hops like Warren Buffet scooping stocks. He was as quick as a panther, as sure as a lock, as confidant as Brad Pitt on a set. If there’s ever been a better Canadian infielder it must have been Ozzie Smith’s clone.
When I coached the Twins I saw Kevin at short with the Whalley Chiefs far too many times. So I asked him who nurtured his attacking, take no prisoners style. And he gave me exactly the answer I expected.
“It was Dennis,” he said.
Dennis Springenatic. Who coached the Chiefs like General Patton directing the U.S. Third Army. How tough were they? As battle ready as storm troopers. They gave you nothing. You earned every hit, every run, every at bat. The Chiefs were assassins.
And Kevin is back where he belongs. Chiefs GM Paul Hargreaves hooked him as Director of Baseball Operations, a title that sounds as big league as Yankee Stadium.
Ed Cheff and the legendary centerfield boxing ring
It brought back shades of the 1990’s. “When I was 14 Dennis invited me to take groundballs with the team,” Kevin recalls. “He kept telling me to go get the ball, don’t sit back, play the ball, be aggressive.”
It was sage advice, indeed. You can’t play shortstop if you’re timid. PLAY THE BALL, DON’T LET IT PLAY YOU is the mantra for all great infielders. And from there Kevin absorbed the nuances. “You learn to create your own hops,” he explains. His 16-year-old son Markus has obviously absorbed this info like a thirsty sponge. He floats through groundballs as smooth as butter.
Dennis Springenatic played at Lewis and Clark State for the legendary Ed Cheff, renowned for being as tough as a Navy SEAL walking barefoot over red hot coals on a bed of broken glass.
This Cheff cooked hardnosed wins
Cheff was known to erect a boxing ring in centerfield so a pair of prospects could punch it out for the right to start at second base. Do that these days and the legal team of Pussies, Lames, Wimps and Kiss My Glutes will be on your doorstep faster than it takes to say, “The subpoena is in the mail.”
Springo took notes. “He had his way,” Nicholson grins. “He created an atmosphere, a competitive edge. He was demanding but you weren’t scared of him. It was more respect than anything else.”
“There was a great chemistry between them.”
Of course, Dennis wasn’t alone. His brother, Ted, was more laid back but a strong mentor and they complemented each other like Jobs and Wozniak. “They worked so well together,” Kevin says. “They were like yin and yang. Dennis was more aggressive. Ted was the polar opposite, relaxed, the older brother who didn’t get as excited. And they were both full of knowledge. There was a great chemistry between them.”
Kevin remembered one day when the guys weren’t swinging too well in a tournament at LC State. “Ted told us it isn’t really that hard. Then Dennis threw him some BP. And Ted ripped line drive after line drive after line drive. He probably hadn’t swung a bat in years but he made it look easy.”
Adam Loewen before the metal plate in his arm.
Now get this. Dennis Springenatic developed three…yes, THREE…first round draft picks. And two in the same year.
1997—Kevin Nicholson, Padres, 27th pick
1997—Aaron Myette, White Sox, 43rd pick
2002—Adam Loewen, Orioles, fourth pick, signed for $4 million.
I’ve coached five major leaguers but I can’t match that. There are very few programs anywhere that can.
All three played in The Show. Without doubt Loewen, a 6-6 lefthander, is the ultimate prospect to ever see the diamond in Canada. He was nurtured by Springo and pitching coach Ben Gasiorowski, who’s name was a promise. When he threw for the Chiefs a decade earlier Big Ben sat on 90 mph gas as if he owned a patent on four-seam heat.
***********************************************************************
“Your guys played the game hard. They always brought out the best in us.”
***********************************************************************
Loewen was magic. Watching him throw was like visiting The Louvre. Smooth, easy, perfect rhythm, the absolute definition of See How Easily You Can Throw Hard. The ball exploded out of his hand like a nuclear eruption. He sat on 93-94 and peaked at 96. At 18 years of age.
He was in tune to becoming an MLB all-star, an icon, quite possibly the Hall of Fame. Until the Baltimore Orioles got hold of him and he started throwing at least a foot against his body, his velocity plummeted to 88, a stress fracture buckled his elbow, and he wound up with a metal plate holding his arm together.
We’ll examine all that soon when we talk about Balance and Direction.
The Chiefs were so stacked in those days Nicholson often hit in the bottom third of the line-up. The Killer’s Row included crusher’s like Chris “Archie” McGregor, Ben Taylor, Jeff Danton, Kevin Butterfield and Reid Ogden. These guys could rake and it was blood and guts when we had ace guns like Ryan Dempster or Jason Odegard on the hill.
Dennis and the mural of his dad, Orest, who built a Little League dynasty.
Kevin fondly remembers those battles with the Twins. “Your guys played the game hard. They always brought out the best in us.” That included one memorable extra inning Canadian championship before a packed house at Whalley Stadium. The lights were on a timer and they went to pitch black at 11 p.m. with a fastball halfway to the plate.
Switch-hitting and the 1994 draft.
Nicholson was a switch-hitter, which means you have to make sure you get enough swings from both sides. Close to 20 per cent of MLB hitters switch but they have the luxury of as much BP as they want. For a high school kid it’s not that easy.
So he hitched his wagon to the batting cage that once inhabited the basement of Pro-Stock. “I was there after school with Al Mauthe almost every day we weren’t playing.” Ultimately, all this commitment got him drafted for the first time in 1994 in round 42 by the Angels at the behest of local scout Don Archer.
Of course, he remembers Draft Night very well. It was also his Grad and he was at a party with his girlfriend. “Dennis called and asked me to be there the next day at Ambleside.” The Chiefs were tackling the Twins with grade 11 Dempster on the bump throwing flames. And it’s a tribute to the respect he has for Dennis that he showed up with very little sleep. “I had to go,” he says.
In those days the Vancouver franchise was a AAA farm club of the Angels. So Archer invited him to a pre-game workout with the likes of Garret Anderson, who notched a .293 average over 17 MLB seasons, and Jose Uribe, who spent a decade at short with the Giants. Kevin took some BP and groundballs but he wasn’t at home. “I didn’t feel ready for pro baseball.”
So he didn’t sign, a good move. The cards were still being dealt and Stetson University was his Ace in the Hole.
More on Kevin in the near future. Don’t go away.
Follow My Blog
Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.
Dave Talks Baseball 