In baseball, it’s easy to get wistful about what could have been. Edwin Thompson, the current head coach at Georgetown University, wonders aloud about the potential of his 2019-20 squad at Eastern Kentucky University, which held a 12-2 record when the COVID-19 global pandemic cut its season short. He points to the fact that they had around 10 guys continue on to play professional baseball from that particular team. Yet, there’s not a tone of regret in Thompson’s voice -- in fact, he beams with pride when discussing the ecosystem that was cultivated on that team, with the focus surrounding graduate assistant Nic Wilson and catcher AJ Lewis.
“You don’t know what could happen, but that group we had with Nic and AJ -- those guys kind of evolved as our leaders,” Thompson said. “And the funny part is, Nic and AJ really became close, just because Nic loved to be in the cage. He loved to hit. So it was just one of those moments where you can kind of see the growth of everything [and everyone].”
Their joint stint at EKU stands as a watershed moment for Wilson and Lewis, who saw their paths take new shapes at the program. Wilson, now one of two hitting coaches for the Rockies, and Lewis, an assistant on Cubs manager Craig Counsell’s staff, were in attendance for a seminar at the 2019 Andre Dawson Classic led by Tyrone Brooks, the senior director of the front office Diversity Pipeline Program at MLB.
At the talk, Brooks discussed the potential avenues for what life could look like after one’s baseball career ends on the field, then took the time to link individually with players and staff members afterwards. Part of the battle of breaking into baseball hinges on the fact that somebody is willing to help open the right doors for you, and put you in touch with the right people. For both Wilson and Lewis, it meant the world to realize that Brooks was on their side from the moment they met.
“Man, Tyrone … I definitely think that [talk] was necessary,” Lewis said. “I think there’s a picture of me sitting in the front row, leaning forward listening to him. That stuff has always intrigued me. I was always an OK baseball player, but I knew that I could set myself up beyond baseball and make a bigger impact beyond my playing career if I took that advice and made those decisions.”
“You know, I thank Tyrone regularly for this when I see him,” Wilson said.
It wasn’t as though coaching at the Major League level was the endgame for either man. Wilson, an Atlanta native, played professional baseball for a couple years in the Rays' organization after being selected in the 24th round of the MLB Draft in 2014. After coming to terms with his chances of making the big leagues, he went back to school to finish his undergraduate degree.
During Wilson’s first semester back, Thompson, who was an assistant at Georgia State University where Wilson played college ball, called him to let him know that there was a need for a graduate assistant at EKU. In search of an answer to the eternal “What’s Next” question, Wilson agreed to join Thompson’s staff in 2018.
“Edwin at EKU really provided me a lot of space and a lot of freedom to try things there, and to hone my craft,” Wilson said. “Things really took off there.”
Wilson’s path converged with Lewis’ during the 2019 season. After leaving the University of Missouri following his sophomore campaign and logging a season at John A. Logan College at the junior college level, Lewis was searching for an entry point back into Division I baseball, where it most made sense. In a realm of walk-on and partial scholarship offers, EKU offered Lewis a full ride to come aboard -- a rarity for baseball programs and a “no brainer” for him.
“I set up my schedule that year, Nic was coaching to where I only had classes on Wednesday and Thursday in the late morning,” Lewis said. “So every day of that fall, I’d end up meeting Nic at the cages at 8:30 every morning. And we would work for about an hour-and-a-half, sometimes two. Obviously, what he was teaching me was amazing: I put together a pretty good fall, and then a good year, and then we just kept rolling that over.”
Thompson wasn’t the least bit surprised that Wilson and Lewis’ time in the lab bore fruit for EKU (Lewis was named an All-American in 2020 after having a .451/.541/.843 slash line with 21 RBIs), and that there were clues about their aptitude for guiding others as coaches in the future.
“I coached Nic in college and I followed his career … he was always a leader. When he got here, he caught the bug in a good way,” Thompson said. “AJ, being a catcher, you’re naturally a leader. He had those qualities. He was always helping out the younger guys, he did a great job with that.”
The 2019 Andre Dawson Classic became the linchpin for their next steps. After their discussion at the seminar, Brooks connected Wilson with former Rockies coach Jerry Weinstein, who managed the Wareham Gateman in the Cape Cod League. Wilson coached under him that summer, learning the ropes at the unique intensity of Weinstein and the country’s most infamous summer offseason league. Lewis played for the Orleans Firebirds in the Cape that same season before getting hurt and pivoting to an internship at CAA, where he “met some of the most influential people” in his career.
Wilson was hired by the Rockies as a hitting coach for the club’s then-Short-Season Boise Hawks prior to the cancelled 2020 season, steadily rising through the farm system. From 2021-22, Wilson was the hitting coach with Single-A Fresno before becoming the organization’s Minor League hitting coordinator -- a role that he held until he was named one of Colorado’s interim hitting coaches on May 12. The dizzying range of responsibilities at every stop (college ball all the way to the big leagues), combined with the growing intricacies within the game itself, presented unique challenges for Wilson. But they were trials that only served to sharpen his craft and understanding of how to best exist as a coach.
“I think the baseball part is the most consistent aspect -- it’s the same game regardless of skill, there are 27 outs, four balls and three strikes -- it’s still baseball,” Wilson said. “ … But with this jump here, this is the highest level of the game: The prep is extremely important. You can’t waste time or days. But it is still baseball, and you’ve got to remind yourself that. You’ve got to focus on that.”
Lewis was added to the Cubs’ Major League staff as an assistant and bullpen catcher following the final year of his professional career in December this past year. Holding aspirations to break into the ranks of a Major League front office, Lewis is contributing his trademark leadership and competitiveness into wins for the Cubs, while retaining the principles that made him so successful on the field.
“It goes back to the idea of ‘What are your principles?’” Lewis said. “‘How do you want to show up?’ For me, one is being a good person that’s compassionate and understanding of people. Two is just having the will to win at all costs in any situation. Winning looks different in every situation, though. … I feel like it’s been the most natural transition. I was like, ‘Man, I might have been a coach before I was a coach.’”
This past Memorial Day Weekend, Colorado visited the North Siders for a set at Wrigley Field, giving Wilson and Lewis a cherished opportunity at a reunion, this time as adversaries. And though they met wearing opposing uniforms, it was a joyous full-circle moment that almost felt scripted for the pair -- “It’s one of those things you hear about in a movie,” Lewis said.
Wilson and Lewis recognized the emotional ramifications of their reunions, and the way their journeys are almost bigger than themselves -- a duo of Black coaches on a Major League staff, forging paths after the game decided their on-field travels were over.
“I hugged him, I squeezed him and I told him I was proud of him,” Wilson said. “I think for both of us, it’s something tough to think about while it’s happening. … It’s kind of like, ‘Job’s not done.’
“I think it’s important: If we all had the same perspective and brought the same thing, we wouldn’t be good. And that’s in any field. Having a different flavor and variety makes things special. That’s really important to me, because all I know how to do is show up and be myself. … I trust my abilities, I think that’s important.”