Nick Senzel signed a one-year deal with the Washington Nationals this offseason, a contract that reunited him with outfielder Lane Thomas.
Lane Thomas and Nick Senzel grew up together sharing the same orbit in Tennessee. After Senzel signed with the Nats, the pair found themselves together again.
Thomas and Senzel have been childhood friends and high school rivals. This season, though, brings a plot twist. In December, SenzelThe 28-year-old Thomas was Washington’s most consistent hitter a year ago. He serves as a veteran presence on a young team that needs it. Senzel, also 28, is hoping to reestablish and revive his career. He’ll have the opportunity to be the Nationals’ everyday third baseman.“You try not to get too far ahead of yourself,” Senzel said.
Senzel, who is a few months older than Thomas, headed to high school first. Matt Buckner, who would eventually become his varsity coach, remembers Senzel as a skinny kid who tried out for Farragut High’s team as a freshman. Senzel ended up on junior varsity as starting shortstop. And slowly, Buckner started to hear more about him.
Farragut’s rival in Knoxville was Bearden High, where Jack Tate was the coach. Tate remembers seeing Thomas, an eighth-grader at the time, send a ball over the fence and into the trees during a tournament. That’s the moment he knew Thomas was special.When Thomas came to fall camp later that year, Tate told Bearden’s upperclassmen to treat him like he’d be on the team, because Thomas had “a maturity about him that most freshmen didn’t have,” Tate said. He started immediately.
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