Long road to majors pays off for Cubs pitcher Nance
Tommy Nance became the fourth Cubs pitcher to make his major league debut in 2021, joining Justin Steele, Keegan Thompson and Trevor Megill.
Nance, 30, might have the best story of them all, though. The Long Beach, Calif., native needed Tommy John surgery after his senior year at Santa Clara University and was out of baseball for two years while rehabbing the injury.
Eventually, he went to a tryout in Palm Springs and was signed by the Windy City ThunderBolts from the independent Frontier League. A couple times in 2015, he made the drive from Crestwood to watch a Cubs game at Wrigley Field.
"From that day, I was like, 'This is the coolest stadium I've ever been to,' so that was a special moment," Nance said. "It was cool to step on the actual field this time."
Nance was also signed by the Cubs after that season and made the journey through the minor leagues at roughly the same time as Steele, Thompson and Adbert Alzolay. At Iowa this season, Nance had 10 strikeouts in 6 innings, and was part of the four-way combined no-hitter last week.
"Everybody loves a good story, right?" manager David Ross said. "Not everybody's the first-rounder who gets all the hype and gets to go on the path that KB (Kris Bryant) gets to go on. Those are so few and far between. We were talking in the dugout yesterday before the game.
"We're staring out at Wrigley Field with the ivy all green and fans starting to flow in. I asked him, 'Is it what you imagined?' And he said he's been a Cubs fan since coming to his first game here and he was showing me where he sat and we were talking about the game. He seems like a kid that loves to be at the ballpark, that wants to be out there competing."
Nance pitched a perfect ninth inning on Monday to finish off the Cubs' 7-3 win over Washington. He hit 97 a couple times on the radar gun, mixing mostly a two-seam and curve. He said he got the game ball from Anthony Rizzo and also the ball from his first career strikeout, and of course called his dad when it was over.
"It was everything I imagined and more," Nance said. "It was always my dream to suit up and step on a major league diamond. I've done it in spring training, but it's not quite the same. When I came up the tunnel and up the stairs and stepped on the field, it was a whole different atmosphere.
"I think even more so when I go called to go into the game and I step out of the bullpen and go through those doors. It's just lights on me, I can hear fans behind me calling my name and I'm jogging out to the mound. It was just an unbelievable experience and atmosphere."
All the Cubs debut pitchers have fared well. Heading into Tuesday's action, Thompson has not allowed an earned run in 10 1/3 innings, Steele has a 2.38 ERA with 17 strikeouts in 11 innings. Megill tossed 2 scoreless innings before going on the injured list.
Twitter: @McGrawDHBulls