November 27, 2024

By Melissa Verga

Canadian Baseball Network

It was a rough night for Chris Nakashima.

The only sleep he was getting?

A nap inside his dad’s car, parked in a McDonald's, beside his Team Ontario teammate.

It wasn’t glamorous, but the accommodations (or lack of) didn’t matter to the then 18-year-old.

Nakashima was following his baseball dream.

“I was like, ‘we’ll sleep in the car if we have to,’” Nakashima said.

He ended the day before, packing up his gear in Mississauga, ready for this impromptu all-night road trip.

There was less than 24 hours notice. The first baseman had to be in Virginia by noon with his teammate, Jake Forgrave (Toronto, Ont.), for a college tryout set up by his Team Ontario coach Jason Booth (Scarborough, Ont.)

It was an almost 11-hour drive. The clock was ticking. Nakashima immediately called his dad. He needed the car, he told him.

The two teens packed it up with their baseball gear, and headed down south, following that dream.

“It was just a wild ride,” he said, looking back on the drive that started it all, not just on the ball field, but to finding love and his future home.

At the time, he was taking a year off after high school, unsure where life was going to take him, but knowing he wanted ball to be a part of it. He’d spent his days working his first real job, washing cars at Mazda. His spare time was dedicated to Team Ontario.

He’d go to what was then called The Dugout Baseball & Softball Academy in Mississauga. He wouldn’t just go to the practices for his age group, though. He’d also show up for the 16U time slot, to get in all the work he could to hopefully help propel him to the next level.

“I showed up to every single practice time we had as an organization, as a commitment to try to make it,” he said.

The first tryout in Virginia didn’t go anywhere. Same with the next one in North Carolina. Yet, both found success at their third stop” Garrett College in Maryland did.

The coach offered them two scholarships on the spot.

That’s what kicked off Nakashima’s career in the U.S., a journey that took him to play at Rogers State University in Oklahoma, and ultimately, to meet his wife, Addison (Addy).

At Garrett, he hit .305 with 12 doubles, two home runs and 26 RBIs. He was named male scholar athlete of the year. At Rogers State, he hit .167 between 2017 and 2018, with 10 hits, including two doubles.

Years earlier, he had started his playing career in Mississauga, where he played for the Mississauga Southwest Twins. It began unexpectedly - there was a kid who didn’t have a car to get to the field. So Nakashima signed up for the sport so that they could carpool together.

He was always big for his age, a large presence on the field, said coach Bruce Thompson of the now 6-foot-2 Nakashima.

“He’d stand up on the mound and people would just go ‘oh my gosh,’ it was just more intimidating than anything,’” said Thompson (Mississauga, Ont.).

He was also coached by Thompson’s son, Aaron Thompson (Guelph, Ont.) , who he also coached alongside. He began coaching early, at 15. He’d walk to the diamond in Mississauga and volunteer. He was dependable, relatable, an asset on the coaching staff, Aaron Thompson said.

“He was sort of that teenager that they could look up to and communicate better with,” Aaron said.

That early experience coaching would foreshadow things to come for the Canadian.

Although Nakashima’s playing career ended with college, the game has remained a part of his life through coaching.

He coached at Rogers State, and now, has remained involved with a similar sport as a high school softball coach in Tulsa, Oak.

His wife, Addy, was met in the mix, through baseball. Her dad, also a college player, had started to help out with the team when Chris was playing for Rogers State. Nakashima visited their home for bible studies and eventually built a relationship with her that turned into love.

They’ve now been married for four years, and Nakashima has made Oklahoma his home. When he’s not teaching eighth grade American History, the expat is still taking the field, this time, at Union High School Redhawks as their softball coach.

“I love it,” Nakashima said.

“I love getting to be in the classroom, I love getting to work with students — but the fun part is getting to go to softball after school.”