Baseball has been pitched to Nicky Delmonico all 23 years of his life.
When he was born, his father, Rod Delmonico, was head baseball coach at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
“It was unbelievable. Growing up, the baseball field was pretty much like my home. We had to love baseball growing up. That was somehow thrown at us but I fell in love with this game. We were very blessed to be able to have a baseball atmosphere in the SEC, a dominant conference, to grow up and watch,” said Nicky Delmonico, a recent third baseman for the Birmingham Barons.
From 1990 to 2007, Rod Delmonico coached the Volunteers and became the winningest coach in school history with a 699–396 record.
After playing on four Tennessee state championship baseball teams at Farragut High School in Knoxville, including his 2010 junior year when he hit a walk-off home run to defeat Houston High School of Germantown in the state championship game, Nicky Delmonico signed to play at the University of Georgia in Athens. He wanted to play with his brother, Joey Delmonico.
He never got the chance. He went from preps to pros. Drafted in the sixth round of the 2011 Major League Baseball Draft by the Baltimore Orioles, Nicky Delmonico was later traded to the Milwaukee Brewers.
Ready for pro ball
It was a “tough decision” not to play at Georgia, he said.
“At the end of the day, I felt like I was ready to go play (professionally),” said Delmonico, who played 62 games for the Birmingham Barons in 2015 after becoming a member of the Chicago White Sox organization. He batted .238 with an on-base percentage of .313 and slugging percentage of .386. He had 26 RBIs, 24 doubles, 53 hits and three home runs. He currently is on the active roster of the Glendale Desert Dogs in the Arizona Fall League.
In 2014, however, Delmonico’s career took a detour. On July 28, 2014, he was suspended 50 games for testing positive for amphetamines. Milwaukee released him but a week later Chicago gave him a second chance.
“I felt like I was in a place where I didn’t really understand what my purpose was in life. … I felt like I didn’t have a reason to do anything. I had a couple of rough years in pro ball where it led me to a different mindset.
“I felt like I could do everything on my own. I kind of fled away from my family and I didn’t have a huge faith. I had a hard route over the past two years with baseball and figuring it out. There has been a lot of growing up in pro ball, just overcoming things,” Delmonico said.
“I felt like that was God’s way of humbling me, bringing me back to my family and being thankful for what I have. It led me back to Him.
“I had a lot of people praying for me. I was raised in a church atmosphere but I never really had a relationship with Him. This past year was when I decided to give myself up and let Him lead and give me a path. He has given me that purpose. I turned my life around … because of God.”
Delmonico was five years old when he was baptized at First Baptist Church, Concord, Tennessee, and attends there when he is in town.
Delmonico turns to James 4:7 when he faces struggles: “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
“That is the reason why I picked it. Every day we have temptations. You have got to humble yourself. You can’t be bigger than anything you are doing. You’ve got to be thankful and be appreciative. That verse reminds me always to let God lead me and to follow Him. As a person, I am powerless over a lot of things as in temptations. I understand God has a plan and for me to live by that.”
Delmonico also uses the devotional book “Jesus Calling” and feels like it “changed my life because it is God’s Word every day,” he said.
When on the field, Delmonico feels a great sense of gratitude. Teammates see his happiness, which Delmonico said he uses as a witness for Christ.
Birmingham shortstop Tim Anderson said, “He is always happy. He brings a lot of excitement to the table and is a great guy to be around.”
Since giving God the reigns, Delmonico’s perspective of the game he loves has shifted.
“I am more appreciative of having my teammates around and just enjoying life. … Every single day I wake up and thank Him for another day because we are not guaranteed tomorrow.”
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