“I actually thought I was done with baseball.” 

For most collegiate baseball players, their path is relatively clear-cut: perform well in high school, land some sort of college baseball offer, use every year of your eligibility and either enter the MLB Draft or obtain a degree for your future; there is rarely a deviation from that path. 

For Nolan McCracken, he is an exception to this trend. From his hometown of Windsor, Colorado to UCSD to Grand Canyon to Arizona State and now to the Arroyo Seco Saints, McCracken has been all over the map in his search for sustained success at the college level. 

As a young lad in Windsor, McCracken dominated his youth days. Despite his disdain for the frigid weather in Northern Colorado, his arm was anything but cold. 

“I wouldn’t say it’s great competition, by any means; [it is] not like SoCal,” said McCracken. “[High school baseball] was more of the same; [Windsor High School] is a small school. I had some crazy stats because not everyone else played college baseball after [high school].” 

As the Saints pitcher mentioned, he dominated his high school days at Windsor, earning First Team All-Conference and 4A First Team All-State honors during his senior year. McCracken also logged 28.1 innings on the mound in his final year of high school, posting a 1.73 ERA and 62 strikeouts. 

While his statistics were impressive, McCracken’s fastball velocity jumped off the page as he matured in high school. As his senior year of high school approached, his fastball consistently sat in the 91-94 mph range. McCracken shared his thoughts as to why he made such a jump in velocity at a relatively young age. 

“I was actually bigger in high school, I was about 15 pounds heavier, so that definitely helped,” McCracken mentioned. “I actually threw different in high school; I was more of a max-effort guy. That is kind of what I had to do to get [to the 90-mph range]. I also think I had a really good [training] process; I was fortunate enough to get with good coaches [who] could show me the way.” 

As McCracken’s velocity increased, so did the interest level of various collegiate baseball programs. He was aware of his control issues and inability to throw consistent strikes, but McCracken was also aware of his upper-level velocity, and he used that as his main selling point. 

“[COVID-19] was tough [because] you can’t get out and play games,” McCracken shared. “My development was more velocity-focused, and I think it hurt me later on. My recruiting was more based on [Twitter/X] videos and things like that.” 

After high school, McCracken committed to play baseball at UC San Diego because of the high-quality education and the weather, among other things. However, as he previously mentioned, the lack of strikes thrown by McCracken plagued his time as Triton, forcing him to enter the Transfer Portal after the 2023 college baseball season. 

After UCSD, McCracken was part of Grand Canyon’s 2024 baseball team as a walk-on, but would end up at Arizona State in 2025, continuing his search for a more permanent and productive home. As McCracken arrived in Tempe, he realized that he was further from collegiate baseball than he had ever been before. 

“I ended up leaving Grand Canyon and entered the Portal again, and it did not work out, so I thought I was done,” said a reluctant McCracken. “I was going to finish my degree at Arizona State, that was the plan. [However], I was not going to graduate from ASU in four years, it was going to take an extra year. [Since I had] an extra year of eligibility and I was not going to graduate [as quickly as I hoped] anyways, maybe I should give [college baseball] another shot.” 

2025 has been a year of realization for McCracken and, as he mentioned, he did begin to pitch at ASU, but not for the Sun Devils. As he realized that his baseball dreams were slowly slipping away, McCracken decided to take ownership of his own path and future. 

As McCracken’s time on the diamond became less and less of a distant memory, he began throwing around two bullpens per week since the turn of the new year. He would get all of his pitches on video, edit them to include various metrics (mph, spin rate, etc.) and post them to Twitter/X in an effort to be noticed by as many college coaches as possible. 

“[I threw bullpens] at a place called Push Performance in Arizona,” said McCracken. “My stuff has been kind of dialed in. Even in my first couple of years at UCSD, I had really good stuff, it just was not in the [strike] zone; that is what I have been working on. My stuff is not that much different, [I am now just] throwing [more] strikes.” 

Combining more pitches in the zone with sustained velocity has led McCracken to Jackie Robinson Field in Pasadena, California for the summer of 2025. Head Coach Aaron Milam and his staff have McCracken smiling from ear to ear so far this summer as the Saints’ bullpen ace had nothing but kind words to say about the Arroyo Seco Saints program. 

“I absolutely love it out here,” McCracken emphasized. “It has been a ton of fun. I love the guys, and I love how much freedom we get here. [The coaches] let you explore things by yourself, which I like. It has been a great experience; I love playing with the Saints. If I could, I would go back [in time] and I would have played here every year.” 

As for the rest of this summer, McCracken hopes to continue filling the strike zone and forcing more swings and misses. His 25 strikeouts lead the Saints to this point and put him in a tie for fifth-most in all of the California Collegiate League (CCL). 

Additionally, like many of his Saints teammates, McCracken wants his team to be a force to be reckoned with in the 2025 CCL Playoffs. 

So far this summer, McCracken has only improved and has been a bright spot on the mound for the Saints. His stellar performance has his mental game as sharp as ever, encouraging him to shoot for the stars for this upcoming college baseball season and beyond. 

“[My college career] has not been what I was expecting at all,” said a blatant McCracken. “[It has been] up and down, mostly down. [However], I am looking for a place to win, a place where I can pitch a ton of innings and hopefully [improve] and give myself a shot at pro ball.” 

Contributors:

• Story and graphic by Saints reporter Tyler Bowne (San Diego State)