PHOENIX — Seated in the front row of the home dugout at Chase Field hours before that day’s ballgame, former big league infielder and current Arizona Diamondbacks assistant hitting coach Damion Easley couldn’t help but break into a grin while talking about an opposing player on a National League rival team.
Of course, Cardinals second baseman Nolan Gorman isn’t just a name on a scouting report or a vaguely familiar figure in a different jersey.
Easley has been watching the 23-year-old Gorman play for roughly 14 years, including four years when Gorman made himself a highly touted draft prospect at Sandra Day O’Connor High School in Glendale, Arizona. Easley served as a member of the high school coaching staff for Gorman’s entire prep career. They’ve remained in contact since Gorman graduated in 2018.
Asked if he’s been able to follow Gorman’s trek through professional baseball, Easley replied, “As much as I can.”
“Definitely, I want to see him succeed and play a long time just because I know the person that he is,” Easley continued. “You root for people like that, that are talented but have some humility to them. He’s just a good person that’s talented. So I’ll always watch. I watched when he was in the minor leagues.”
Gorman just might have the largest potential impact of any of the Cardinals young core of homegrown position players. A 6-foot-1, 225-pound left-handed-hitting middle infielder who led the club in home runs (27) and slugging percentage (.478) last season, Gorman still has played fewer than 230 games in the majors.
His career slugging percentage of .454 entering the season was the third-highest for a Cardinals left-handed hitter before reaching age 24 and ranked only behind Hall of Famers Stan Musial (.539) and Enos Slaughter (.464).
Much of what the Cardinals hope to reap the benefits of for years to come with Gorman — his ability to play on the infield, his impactful bat and approach at the plate — were influenced by Easley during some of Gorman’s formative years as a ballplayer.
How impactful were the interactions? Enough that when tasked with identifying the biggest thing he learned from Easley, Gorman sat back in his seat, his eyes wandering slightly as if searching for the appropriate starting point.
“It’s hard to pick out just one thing,” Gorman said. “There’s so much, from defense to hitting, that if I were to pick one thing, I think it wouldn’t do him justice in how good of coach he is.
“So really, just how to play the game. How to see things on the field. Being aware of situations, different situations that you get in a game, in the box, how to approach pitchers. Literally, the list goes on.”
Moving around the dirt
Easley enjoyed a long playing career of his own before he helped shaped players like Gorman and many others. Easley’s son Jayce (now a minor league player in the Texas Rangers organization) played the infield alongside Gorman at Sandra Day O’Connor.
A 30th-round draft pick by the California Angels in 1988, Easley spent parts of 17 seasons in the majors as a second baseman, shortstop and third baseman, and he played for the Angels, Diamondbacks, Detroit Tigers, Florida Marlins, Tampa Bay Devil Rays and New York Mets. He earned an All-Star selection and won a Silver Slugger Award (both in 1998).
Gorman came into the Cardinals organization as a third baseman, and he played third base exclusively in the minors until the 2021 season. He debuted in the majors in May of the following season at second baseman.
The defensive metrics show Gorman has made strides at second base each season at the big league level, particularly coming in on grounders and going to his backhand. Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol points to those areas when talking about Gorman’s improvement.
“He’s playing a really good second base, and he has put in a ton of work to be able to do that,” Marmol said. “I mean, this is a guy that you thought about, defensively, replacing. And now, you trust him out there regardless of situation. He turns a really good double play. He’s getting to balls, backhand, four-hole, it doesn’t matter. He’s doing a really nice job there. To his credit, he’s put in a heck of a lot of work.”
Gorman wasn’t a third baseman until he met Easley. Gorman played shortstop up until his freshman year of high school. He credits Easley with helping him make his initial move around the infield.
“He’s the one who helped me with that transition over to third base, and it’s probably what made it a lot easier for me to transition to second base,” Gorman said. “He kind of treated me as a shortstop still at third base, and then that translates into second base because you’re always wanting to move your feet and not get in a standstill.”
Gorman still recalls Easley pushing the entire high school team defensively and instilling the importance of getting 27 outs cleanly. They’d need to record 27 outs successively or they’d start over at the beginning, “no matter what.”
Blending power with patience
Gorman’s initial impression on Easley came when Gorman’s youth team clashed with Jayce’s team. They were rival squads from ages 9 to 13.
Even then, Gorman smacked baseballs to the far reaches of the Little League fields.
“It was definitely the swing,” Easley said of Gorman’s power. “He has a short, compact swing — sometimes even too short at times. But he always had the bat speed. You can see he’s physically built. He’s always been that way. Even at 9, 10 years old, he still had a strong build to him. So I think that was just genetics from that aspect, but the swing is tight. It’s connected. It’s not long and lazy.”
That swing quickly gave Gorman a reputation in the prep ranks.
Gorman earned the first of three consecutive all-state selections in 2016. In a span of a month in 2017, he won the High School Home Run Derby at the MLB All-Star Game at Marlins Park, the Area Code Games Home Run Derby at Long Beach State University and the Under Armour All-American Game Home Run Derby at Wrigley Field.
A problem accompanied that reputation: Opponents didn’t want to pitch to Gorman.
“He was easily the best hitter in his class, at least in Arizona,” Easley said. “So he had notoriety everywhere he went. There were a lot of times he didn’t get pitched to — a lot of times. He just didn’t get pitches to hit or he’d get soft stuff, a lot of soft stuff in any count because they didn’t care if they walked him. They didn’t want to just intentionally walk him because there was scouts there to watch him. ...
“There were times he got frustrated with that, tried to fire on some pitches that he shouldn’t. You get it. You’re there to play baseball. You don’t want to hold the bat on your shoulder. So he did as good as he could with what he got.”
Gorman walked 46 times as a senior on his way to a .640 on-base percentage to go along with a .421 batting average and 10 home runs. He led his team to the program’s first state championship.
With opponents feeding him a steady diet of pitches away, Gorman and Easley focused on Gorman being able to hit the outside pitch for power the other way, up the middle and even to the pull side.
Was there an overarching message Gorman received from Easley?
“I think the biggest thing he would say is, ‘Take your walks,’” Gorman said. “Literally, that’s all you can do. And if you’re out there chasing pitches, trying to impress people that are in the stands that are decision-makers, they don’t want to see you swinging at bad pitches. That’s just going to hurt you more than anything. So it was just all about taking my walks and waiting for that one good pitch that maybe I get in a game.”
Familiarity among foes
While Easley now wears a different uniform than Gorman, he certainly knows what makes the Cardinals young power hitter tick.
Gorman maintains a relatively stoic demeanor on the field. Whether he’s on a tear or in a slump, he typically gives an even-keeled vibe. Easley recognizes Gorman’s reserved nature, but he also knows what lies beneath the surface.
“It affects him more than you would think because he is truly, truly driven, not just to be great but to win,” Easley said. “So I just have a lot of respect for how he goes about his business. It bothers him more than he lets on, for sure.”
Gorman entered Thursday’s off-day having not gotten into a consistent groove so far this season. He’s batting .197 and slugging .379 with three home runs and 26 strikeouts. He had a hit in each of the three games in Arizona, but he went 0 for 8 in the two games he played in Oakland.
“He’s got a big fire in his belly,” Easley said. “He is really, really competitive. Not just wants to win but expects to win. Don’t be fooled by the (reserved nature). It’s burning hot, not out of control, but he definitely has that drive.”
Even when Gorman was in the minors, the two kept in contact and exchanged texts. Gorman described it as having a resource “in my back pocket.” Gorman took advantage of Easley as the sounding board, another voice to bounce things off in addition to the Cardinals coaches.
The Cardinals and Diamondbacks clashed last weekend in Arizona, and they will next week in Ƶ. Gorman said he usually catches up with Easley at least once when the teams play.
Often, the discussions veer more toward life in general than baseball.
“I guess you consider him a friend, but he’s a little bit more than a friend to me,” Gorman said. “He’s just a really good dude that I want to be able to stay in contact with for a long time. He’s someone that has helped me in my career so much so that I’m grateful for him and everything that he’s done. So I try to get with him and just talk, whether it’s about baseball or not. ... He’s an unbelievable dude.”