There aren’t many athletes with both division one U.S. college baseball and soccer on their resume, but Winnipeg Goldeyes second baseman Tucker Nathans is one of them.
Nathans played both sports competitively right through college, and if not for his brother, Nathans’s athletic career might have gone down a different path.
“I saw a little brighter future I think in baseball, and I think that’s where my heart was,” Nathans said.
“I had an older brother that played baseball for the [Boston] Red Sox for a couple years and I always wanted to be like him. He was my idol growing up and I wanted to follow his path.”
While most athletes choose their sport of specialty prior to college, Nathans played both division one baseball and soccer for the Fairfield University Stags in Connecticut.
“I have some of my best college memories playing soccer,” Nathans said. “I split my time basically half and half throughout the year. I did it my whole life growing up, so it wasn’t a big difference when I got to college, but I had a blast doing both.”
“Whether it was soccer or baseball, I loved doing it.”
After getting his economics degree, Nathans played for 12 different teams over the last eight years, including five seasons in the Baltimore Orioles farm system. He joined the Goldeyes about a month into their season and he’s already fourth on the team with seven home runs in just 36 games. And the 29-year-old is on a quest to get back to a big league organization.
“I’m here to show everyone that I’m still relevant,” Nathans said. “And I’m still ready to play and my best years are ahead of me, and I’m going to do whatever it takes to get back.”
And it sure can’t hurt that he’s played every position on the field except for pitcher and catcher.
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