Catching With Brett
- Updated: April 20, 2022
In 2008 a young Brett Nicholas came to the Kelowna Falcons for the summer season with one goal on his mind; develop and transition from a first baseman to a catcher.
He was in Kelowna following a season with Gonzaga University who had a top ranked catcher already in the system. For Nicholas to get a fair shot at the position and potentially get drafted he would have to transfer out of Gonzaga, which he did and played a season at Scottsdale Community College before making the jump back into Division 1 at the University of Missouri in 2010. The move paid off because following that year at Missouri he was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the sixth round as a lefthanded hitting catcher.
He played in the Rangers minor leagues before making his Major League debut on April 11, 2016 in a game against the Seattle Mariners. In that contest at Safeco Field, he collected two hits including a double and threw out a would-be base stealer helping the Rangers to a 7-3 victory.
In his season and a half at the big-league level with the Rangers he hit .252 with four homeruns and 15 RBIs. He was traded to the San Diego Padres in 2017 and spend that season and 2018 back in the minors. In November of 2018 he signed a minor league contract with the Colorado Rockies but before the season started in 2019, he requested and received his release. A couple weeks later he signed a minor league deal with the Chicago White Sox, but then a month later decided to retire on May 5th.
Today, Nicholas is a real estate agent in Phoenix, is married to Rachel who he was dating when he played for the Falcons. They have a young family and are hoping to visit Kelowna sooner than later.
He talks with Ryan Watters.
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