Doug Nikhazy always had the credentials.
The Windermere, Florida, native was the student body president at West Orange High School, and a participant in debate tournaments nationally with the National Speech and Debate Association. His refute debate expertise took him to Yale, University of Pennsylvania and the University of Colorado.
Also, while in high school, Nikhazy was the main organizer for his school in the Warriorthon, a 12-hour dance marathon that raised more than $80,000 for the Children’s Miracle Network and Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children. He didn’t sit for the 12 hours, moving and initiating different challenges to up the amount.
“You never know, but you hope for people like him,” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said about Nikhazy’s character and accolades during the left-hander’s freshman season.
Oh, yeah. He can also pitch the hell out of it. Nikhazy was the face of the Ole Miss program during his three seasons, and after a successful minor league progression, the Cleveland Guardians called him up from Triple-A Columbus on Thursday. He’ll be in uniform for the series against the Red Sox this weekend.
Nikhazy and his sister, Amanda, wore out a white lattice fence in their yard as kids, pitching games to each other and imagining different game scenarios. Amanda, who played collegiately at Stetson, felt the brunt of Doug’s burgeoning fastball when she was 14 years old and he was 12 – the velocity ticking up to the point she felt it in her palm.
“Some of the pitches got me,” Amanda said. “He throws strikes now, but I had to deal with it when he didn’t.”
Nikhazy committed to Ole Miss at 15 years old in December 2014, and when he finally showed up in Oxford, the success was immediate and electric. He took a no-hitter into the seventh inning of his first SEC start. Nikhazy led the Rebels to victories in must-win super regional games as a freshman and a junior – toppling Arkansas and Arizona, respectively, on the road.
He threw a complete game one-hit shutout at Mississippi State on Super Bulldog Weekend. Nikhazy struck out 16 to tie the school record in a regional home win versus Florida State. The Covid-19 pandemic cheated us out of most of Nikhazy’s sophomore year.
With Alice in Chain’s Rooster as the soundtrack, Nikhazy became one of the more beloved players in Ole Miss history. He was emotional, consistent and puzzling, as he didn’t throw that hard, but it didn’t matter. Opponents often didn’t hit it and very rarely squared it up.
When Ole Miss assistant Carl Lafferty walked toward the dog pile in the seconds following the Rebels’ national title in 2022, he thought about Nikhazy – one of the first names of former players he wished were on that field in those moments.
I had the same thought. He was at the top of my list of Ole Miss players who deserved to celebrate under confetti. And, and is now reality, he deserves to pitch in Major League Baseball.
After a college career that included unanimous All-America honors and the program record for wins and the second-most strikeouts in a season, Cleveland’s second round pick in 2021 has a career 1.37 WHIP in the Minor Leagues and excelled with a 2.87 ERA and a strikeout per inning in Triple-A.
College athletics has its issues, and the business of sports sometimes bulldozes over the joy that’s supposed to come with the pastime. Nikhazy’s promotion is a needed reminder of what’s good about the game.
“I love that dude like no other.”
“He’s moving on up!”
“I saw it and teared up. He just did everything you want a teammate to do.”
Those are samples of texts I received in the aftermath of Nihazy’s call-up. There were others. Who said each one doesn’t matter; everyone agrees about who he was and who he is. Not perfect but maybe the perfect competitor.
That’s who he is. That’s now a Major Leaguer.
