KANNAPOLIS, N.C. – As the sun pours down onto the green grass and blue seats at Atrium Health Ballpark, the humid heat is far more oppressive than California native Nick McLain is used to.
Lucky for McLain, his journey to Kannapolis, where he patrols the outfield for the Cannon Ballers, has proven him to be battle-tested.
Growing up in a sports-crazed house in Orange County, California, with two older brothers, Matt and Sean, is far from the hardest challenge McLain has faced to this point. In fact, he shares that it is probably one of his biggest blessings. Until his oldest brother Matt, who is now an infielder for the Cincinnati Reds, turned 16, all three brothers shared a room and set of bunk beds.
“(Life growing up was) ultra-competitive,” McLain said. “We had a basketball hoop at the house, so that was the main way to compete. We started golfing at a pretty young age. My mom would drop us off and we would do lessons over there, and there was always a putting contest or something.”
As McLain watched his older brothers progress in their journeys in baseball, the youngest earned attention of his own with distinction as the No. 3-ranked outfielder in California as a high schooler. Despite attention as a draft prospect, McLain journeyed not far from home to UCLA, where his oldest brother Matt had spent three seasons and got drafted in the first round of the 2021 MLB Draft.
Despite being in the closest thing to paradise, McLain encountered the first setback of his career, stress-fracturing the L4 and L5 vertebrae in his lower back, forcing him to miss his entire freshman season.
“I broke it in January and then for that next month, I tried to play on it,” McLain said. “I wanted to start. I wanted to contribute. That was my journey of getting on the field as a freshman and getting my name back out there again. I had some high school draft interest and I said no, so I wanted to really go to crush it as a freshman and get my name out there. I think our team was going to be really good. So, it would have been exciting, but the cards did not work out that way.”
After going through the rehab and recovery necessary, McLain opted for a change of scenery by following his other brother Sean, who is now in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. McLain departed the Bruins and began his next chapter at Arizona State.
But of course, not without a bump in the road or two. A broken hamate in his left wrist sidelined McLain just before his first season as a Sun Devil, but he quickly rebounded to earn an All-Conference honorable mention distinction in his 23-game debut season. McLain amassed an 11-game hit streak to begin his collegiate career, setting records in what he can look back on as a successful season despite the early injury.
With a big year coming in his third season of eligibility, McLain entered with a mindset of proving himself before the impending MLB Draft in 2024. But a second break of his hamate, this time in his right wrist, derailed McLain from an easygoing season.
“I broke the other (hamate) and I'm thinking, it's a draft year. I have to play as much baseball as I can,” McLain said. “I got back in like 26 days. I could barely swing a bat and I was just holding on. It was uncompetitive. It was really bad. I'd say, I think May, is when I started turning it around and everything started clicking again, when my hand felt normal.”
Just two months after it all seemed to click for McLain, the 2024 MLB Draft arrived, knowing he would find himself drafted somewhere in rounds three through five. On draft day, everything fell into place, with the Chicago White Sox believing in the pedigreed outfielder who has proven success when on the field.
“I got a call at the time from my previous agency and they told me, ‘you’re getting picked’ and I'm like, well I don't know where I'm getting picked and two picks later I got picked by the White Sox,” McLain said. “After that, it was a really easy process. The White Sox did a great job with all the contract stuff and meeting my needs. It was a great day. It was a life-changing day. I got to see my dreams come to reality and I was waiting on that for a while.”
Following draft camp and an offseason that included the removal of a bone McLain joked, "Apparently had to not be in my body anymore," he was assigned to Kannapolis' Opening Day roster for the 2025 season. McLain played 13 games with the Ballers and tallied 12 hits but hit another speed bump with a flare-up of back pain stemming from his injury as a freshman at UCLA. Later in the process of recovery, McLain found out that he had tears in both hip labrums, requiring bilateral hip surgery.
Injury after injury would take a toll on anyone. But for McLain, despite doubts he’d ever play baseball again, the people around him provided the most help mentally.
“I have honestly, a really, really good support group,” McLain said. “My brothers are great and my dad is the best. He’s a huge role model in my life. He has unbelievable life advice. He's raised, I'd say, three pretty, pretty good kids. He always put things into perspective of, yeah, baseball is your job. You love it. But it's not your life. And after all these injuries, I'm not going to lie, I really thought about medically retiring. My mom was there for me too. She's awesome. She's a little more emotional so she was there on the emotional side for me.”
Even through all the injuries and rehab to get back on the field, McLain credits the brotherhood by blood and by locker that has gotten him back in the lineup.
Now, as the Cannon Ballers push for a second-half playoff spot, McLain has a clear path to a successful 2026.
“(My goal is to) try not to get ahead of myself, try not to get too big, try not to go have a little rough stretch and start changing things up,” McLain said. “Stick to an approach, stick to a plan that has been proven successful when I'm on the field and healthy. Have fun with it, have fun with my teammates and take the pressure off me and try to go out there and win some baseball games. Usually when you can take care of that, the game comes a little bit easier. You're not putting so much pressure on yourself. It is not just you. It is a team game.”