Sad: Cardinals has permanently suspended Nolan Gorman today…
Series in Phoenix a special trip for Arizona native and Cardinals slugger Nolan Gorman
PHOENIX — The cheers were unmistakable when Cardinals second baseman Nolan Gorman was introduced before his first at-bat this weekend as a visiting slugger at Chase Field in Arizona.
The former standout at Sandra Day O’Connor High School, roughly a half-hour drive from the Arizona Diamondbacks’ home ballpark, also caused a modest roar from a group of fans with his first hit on Friday night.
“It feels good to be here,” Gorman said. “It feels good to play here. It’s cool — where I grew up — having all the friends and family out here that supported me throughout my career ever since I pretty much started playing. So I enjoy coming back here a lot.”
Gorman went three for 13 in the series and now is hitting .217 this season.
This latest trip to Arizona coincided with Gorman and his longtime girlfriend, Madison Rivers, getting engaged. Gorman, 23, proposed on Thursday, a day off in Arizona before the series opener. The Arizona natives have known each other since elementary school.
Gorman led his high school team to the school’s first 6A baseball state championship as a senior in 2018. That same year, the Cardinals selected him with the 19th pick in the MLB draft. He’d signed a letter of intent to play for the University of Arizona before he entered professional baseball.
A lot of close friends come to see him when the Cardinals come to Phoenix. Usually, his family and friends will get a section of seats together. This year, they were between the visiting dugout and the press box at Chase Field. Depending on the game, there often are others he knows also scattered throughout the crowd.
Gorman said he never played on the field as an amateur, either with his high school team or in travel ball. He’d attend games occasionally as a fan, but he wasn’t at the ballpark on a regular basis. As an aspiring big leaguer, Gorman followed the club, which was led by current Cardinal Paul Goldschmidt for a chunk of Gorman’s youth.
Gorman and Goldschmidt have batted back to back in the Cardinals’ lineup and have played beside each other in the field so far for most of this season, with Goldschmidt batting second and playing first base ahead of Gorman batting third and playing second base.
