Canadian baseball player (born 1976)
Baseball player
Kevin Ronald Nicholson (born March 29, 1976) is a Canadian former professional baseball shortstop . He played part of the 2000 season for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball , and for the Canadian Olympic baseball team in 2004.
Career
Nicholson was drafted by the California Angels in the 43rd round (1182nd overall) of the 1994 MLB draft , but did not sign, choosing instead to attend Stetson University , where he played college baseball under head coach Pete Dunn . In 1996, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Wareham Gatemen of the Cape Cod Baseball League , and was named the league's MVP.[ 1] In 1997, he was named conference Player of the Year .
In the 1997 MLB draft he was chosen in the first round, 27th overall, by the San Diego Padres .
Nicholson spent three seasons in the minors, playing in 1998 and 1999 with the Class AA Mobile Bay Bears , and in 1999 had a batting average of .288 with 13 home runs and 81 RBIs. Nicholson played 37 games for the Padres in 2000.
He later spent time in the Colorado Rockies , St. Louis Cardinals , and Pittsburgh Pirates organizations, but never saw action for their major league clubs.
He was a member of the Canadian national baseball team for several years. In 2001, he was with their Baseball World Cup team, and was a member of Team Canada's fourth place team in the 2004 Summer Olympics . He played for Canada at the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006 , being the last season in which Nicholson played professionally, appearing with the Somerset Patriots of the independent Atlantic League .
His final appearance for Team Canada came at the 2007 Baseball World Cup .
See also
References
Sources
ASUN Conference Baseball Player of the Year
1969 : Elliott
1970 : Ivie
1971 : Franklin
1972 : Roberts
1973 : Winfield
1974 : Almon
1975 : Lentz
1976 : Owchinko
1977 : Greer
1978 : Hawkins
1979 : Lansford , Geren
1980 : Pyburn
1981 : McReynolds , Castro
1982 : Jones
1983 : Hayward
1984 : Mack , Green
1985 : Cora
1986 : Howard
1987 : Garner
1988 : Benes
1989: None
1990 : Beckett , Sanders
1991 : Hamilton , Anthony
1992: None
1993 : Lee
1994 : Hermanson
1995 : Davis
1996 : Halloran
1997 : Nicholson
1998 : Burroughs
1999 : Faison , Baxter , Ortiz , Burns , Bynum , Trzesniak
2000 : Phillips
2001 : Gautreau
2002 : Greene
2003 : Stauffer
2004 : Bush
2005 : Carrillo , Ramos
2006 : Antonelli , Burke
2007 : Schmidt , Kulbacki , Cumberland , Canham , Luebke , Payne
2008 : Dykstra , Decker , Forsythe
2009 : Tate
2010 : Whitson
2011 : Spangenberg , Ross , Kelly , Austin , Peterson
2012 : Fried , Eflin , Jankowski , Weickel
2013 : Renfroe
2014 : Turner
2015 : None
2016 : Quantrill , Sanchez , Lauer
2017 : Gore
2018 : Weathers
2019 : Abrams
2020 : Hassell
2021 : Merrill
2022 : Lesko
2023 : Head
2024 : Mayfield