Nathan Fick signs commitment to attend Pacific Lutheran University
- Klas Stolpe
- 3 hours ago
- 6 min read
JDHS senior catcher/third baseman will play baseball for Lutes
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
Roughly 15 years ago, Nate Fick was dragging a plastic baseball bat across a living room floor. On Wednesday, the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé senior catcher and third baseman for the Crimson Bears celebrated his acceptance to Pacific Lutheran University and plans to play baseball for the Lutes.
“I picked PLU because it is a great academic school that has good baseball, obviously, and I just overall liked the school,” Fick, now 17, said from the JDHS commons surrounded by family, friends and coaches. “I think it is a good fit for me and I am really excited to get on campus and start playing baseball. They have really good facilities, a nice culture in their school and I had great communication with the coaching staff.”
Fick is leaning toward a major in environmental science or in business. He received an academic scholarship from PLU. The NCAA Division III program does not offer athletic scholarships, focusing more on the balance between academic and athletic excellence.
“I think I am a pretty well-rounded ball player,” Fick said. “I have been working really hard and will keep trying to get better at everything. I think I have good defense catching and at third base and can hit pretty good…I think I definitely need to get a little bit bigger and stronger, and just kind of play more games and get up to speed with college baseball.”
PLU is located in Parkland, Washington, a suburb of Tacoma. The Lutes play in the Northwest Conference and are a perennial sports power.
“We are very much a blue-collar program,” PLU head baseball coach Nolan Soete said. “Our players are well-rounded individuals who work hard on the field, in the weight room and in the classroom. They also represent the program in a professional manner throughout the community. The players play the game with enthusiasm and truly support each other.”
Fick and Soete first communicated in late fall.
“He sent me some video by email, and we started to talk about PLU and baseball at that point,” Soete said. “He looked athletic and like he had a lot of upside in future development. He visited PLU a month or two after we started talking and shortly after committed to PLU.”
First-year college players coming out of high school face physical adjustments, not just on the field but also in the classroom.
“The level of competition and time management are two areas where first-year college players learn to adjust the most,” Soete said. “It is their first time living away from home and their schedules are more time-consuming than the average college student. Fall baseball is their first experience of the initial grind of college athletics and it gives them a quick preview of what the regular season might look like. Fortunately, there are plenty of resources for them to access when it comes to academic support at PLU and general support from coaches and fellow teammates. I would say the first year is always the most difficult in terms of adjustments because everything is a new experience for them.”
The grind of the college baseball season also demands mental toughness.
“The college season is a marathon and it is challenging from a mental and physical standpoint,” Soete said. “You are lifting weights three to four times a week in the mornings, practicing or playing games six days a week, attending class every day and traveling on the road every other weekend. The average fan doesn't understand how truly demanding the time commitment is. They also might not understand that student-athletes maintain a higher GPA and graduate at a higher rate than the average student.”
PLU is no stranger to JDHS athletes. 2018 Gatorade Alaska Baseball Player of the Year Michael Cesar, a 2018 JDHS graduate and the state’s only prospect for the MLB draft that season, earned the number one catching position for the Lutes his freshman year.
Soete is excited for Fick to be entering his program.
“I see Nate as an athletic freshman with tremendous potential,” Soete said. “As far as his senior year and summer are concerned, he just has to continue to play and develop his overall game. The competition level he will face in college will be much more advanced than what he has experienced in Alaska, but I am confident with time he will adjust to it and really develop into a good college baseball player.”
For Fick, that development started with the Gastineau Channel Little League.
“I remember there was one Little League season when I was too young to play,” Fick said. “But all my friends were playing in T-Ball. I remember thinking, ‘Man, all I want to do is play baseball.’ The next year I was old enough and ever since then I just never wanted to not play baseball.”
That interest continued through Little League and club seasons. During a Nike Baseball Camp at George Fox University in Oregon, before his freshman high school year, Fick realized he was serious about college baseball.
“And since then I just kept working and I am here now, signing,” he said. “So it is a pretty great feeling.”
Between his high school sophomore and junior seasons, he slept in an extended family member’s basement while playing summer baseball in Seattle. The first summer was with the Seattle Select and the next for the Shoreline Royals.
“That definitely helped me a lot,” Fick said. “And then unseen things like after practice just going out every day with the guys, just trying to get better at baseball, lifting weights and just doing all the extra things.”
He acknowledged the support he has received and gestured to the gathering.
“All my teammates are great,” Fick said. “We have a great team this year. I am super excited to play. I think we are definitely one of the teams to look out for among the top teams in the state. And it is just great to see all my friends and teammates out here. I mean, my journey is not possible without them and my parents and my coaches.”
His mom, Holly Handler, remembers the young baseball slugger with the plastic bat.
“I am super proud of him,” she said. “I remember the first time I saw him playing baseball. He must have been about two years old, running around with a plastic wiffle ball and bat.”
That wiffle ball gave way to cork, woven wool yarn and leather.
“Oh man, we played catch in the yard ever since he could barely stand up,” his dad, Tyson Fick said, overcome by emotion. “All the way from T-ball through, you know, to today…And he gets to play on. Some of those same kids that he has been playing with that whole time are here…That has been the best part. It is a real community thing.”
JDHS baseball coach Luke Adams said, “We are happy for Nate. He has completely dedicated his life to being, and is, a pure baseball player. He loves the game and the way plays is really special. PLU is getting a player that is committed, dedicated, loves the game, and is going to give everything he can to make them a better program. And we are pretty confident he is going to do that.”
Nate Fick said his advice to younger players is to “just keep going. Put as much work in as you can. Try to find whoever is working the hardest on the team and try to work harder than them.”
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@gmail.com.
