No matter the obstacle, mental or physical, Nick Solak wasn’t going to change his mindset.
Thrust into the business side of baseball in February 2018, when the New York Yankees dealt him to the Tamp Bay Rays, Solak had to adjust accordingly.
Seventeen months later, another trade followed for the 2013 Naperville North graduate, this time from the Rays to the Texas Rangers.
“I think just getting traded was such a surprise, but at the end of the day, you’re still playing baseball,” Solak said. “So you realize that it’s still the same game no matter where you’re at.
“Players might be different. Players might be better between organizations, between levels.”
A journey hardened by persistence and perseverance paid off on Aug. 20 when Solak made his major league debut with the Rangers.
He hit his first career home run in the fifth inning of the second game of a doubleheader against the Los Angeles Angels.
A ground ball off Solak’s bat that Albert Pujols had trouble fielding then scored the winning run to cap a 3-2 victory in 11 innings.
“It was an absolutely amazing day,” Solak said. “It was pretty surreal.
“To play both games of a doubleheader the day I debut, to get the first hit out of the way in the first game, to hit a homer in the second game and to knock the ball past Pujols and allow the run to score — I couldn’t have drawn it up any better.”
Through seven games with the Rangers, a stretch ending with four games in Chicago, the 24-year-old Solak had reached safely in all of them.
After the Rangers acquired him on July 13, he hit .347 with 10 homers and 27 RBIs in 30 games for the Class AAA Nashville Sounds.
Solak’s major league debut came a little more than three months after former Naperville Central shortstop Nicky Lopez reached the majors on May 14 with the Kansas City Royals.
Solak kept an eye on Lopez from afar, understanding the importance and influence the two former high school standouts have on the Naperville landscape.
“The baseball up there is great,” Solak said. “It’s just a great area that produces a lot of great players, and it’s really cool for kids in that area growing up, knowing they can dream about playing in the big leagues.”
Solak is the third former Huskie to reach the big leagues, following Jerry Hairston Jr. and Scott Hairston. Solak is the highest Naperville North grad to be selected in the MLB draft, going 62nd overall in 2016.
Over three varsity seasons for coach Carl Hunckler, Solak demonstrated the innate ability to hit and drive the ball on a daily basis.
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He hit .442 with 27 RBIs as a junior in 2012. He followed that up by hitting .340 as a senior in 2013.
His freshman year at Louisville concluded with a College World Series appearance in 2014. He hit .346 with 10 homers and 94 RBIs in 159 career games for the Cardinals.
While Solak can enjoy the fruits of his labor, the sport’s pinnacle now in his grap, he wants to continue to hone his craft.
“You always have in the back of your mind that you want to play in the big leagues,” he said. “That’s what I dreamed about as a kid and I always thought about it.
“That was always a driving force in everything I did in high school, in college and then getting into pro ball.”
Blake Baumgartner is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.