Independent route gives King shot at dream

In high school, Nick King was a three-sport athlete, playing baseball, football, and basketball. Of the three sports, baseball was his worst sport. But he pursued it in college anyhow.

When the Palm Springs, California, product was making the decision to choose a sport, his baseball coach was the one who helped him and supported him. He said his basketball and football coaches weren’t helping him or pushing him like his baseball coach was.

So after two years at Riverside City College in California, he moved on to Georgia and started to focus on his baseball career. After two successful seasons with the Bulldogs, he was ready for the major league draft.

June 12 was a bitter day for King as he sat at his home in California, watching the draft with family and friends, waiting for the call from one of the 30 teams.

He never got that call.

“Everything happens for a reason,” King said.

A few days later, he received a call from an independent baseball team in Chicago for a tryout.

He flew to Georgia to get his car, to make the road trip to the Schaumburg Boomers’ facilities. This gave him a lot of time to think about his career.

“During the drive, I was thinking of all the scenarios,” said King, a shortstop. “If I don’t make the Schaumburg team, then I’ll go back to Georgia and finish school.”

King made the Frontier League team, but his stay in Chicago was short, thanks to the second big call of his career.

Pittsburgh gave King a call to join the Pirates’ organization, an invitation he accepted.

Now, King is enjoying the sport he almost lost faith in. Although he had plans to finish school and play independent baseball had he not gotten those calls, it would not have been the same.

After being signed by the Pirates, he was assigned to the West Virginia Black Bears, Pittsburgh’s short-season Single-A affiliate. King is enjoying his new team, although things aren’t like they used to be.

King was used to starting almost every game he played. With the Black Bears, he said he is playing about every four to five games. His role is now as a backup.

“I’m really just trying to be the best backup I can,” he said.

He said the one thing he needs to work on the most is improving his hitting. He has been spending a lot of time in the batting cages, as well as putting in extra work to continue his growth. Doing so can get him back to the starting role he is more familiar with.

Bigger than getting the right calls to get him to where he is right now, King has learned a lot about himself through this whole process. He said he was able get back to his old self. He said that with school, he was trying to balance school with athletics. Now he can truly focus on baseball.

King is on a mission. He feels like he plays with a chip on his shoulder. He now wants to go out and prove to the other 29 teams they made a mistake on passing on him.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what else happens,” King said.

This story was originally published July 17, 2016 at 6:56 PM with the headline "Independent route gives King shot at dream."