Oakmont's Nichols, Peterson nabbed in MLB draft

You can excuse Paul Martinez if he had a hard time wiping the smile from his face for a few days last week. The baseball coach at Oakmont High School had two former players selected in the 2023 Major League Baseball draft, when some high school coaches never have anyone drafted. Making it special is each was from the class of 2020, whose senior season was cut short because of COVID. 2020 graduates TJ Nichols and Kai Peterson were selected in the 2023 draft, Nichols in the sixth round by the Tampa Bay Rays and Peterson in the 20th round by the Toronto Blue Jays. Both players plan to sign with the teams and begin their careers. "I'm extremely excited to be drafted by Tampa, who I feel is the best organization I could have been picked by," Nichols said. "They are widely known for developing pitchers and I'm grateful for the opportunity and excited to get going." Nichols pitched the last three years at the University of Arizona and has a career win-loss record of 15-12 with an earned-run average of 6.06. He's pitched 206 1/3 innings and allowed 211 hits and 98 walks with 202 strikeouts. The opponents' batting average is .267. "I didn't know when or where I would be drafted, but I figured that I would be drafted," Nichols said. "Tampa was a surprise, because I only met with them once. I plan on signing with the Rays and go wherever they tell me to go." Peterson took a different route than Nichols, as he spent two seasons at Sacramento City College before playing last year at Sierra. He felt his first two years at Sac City were OK, but he really broke through at Sierra. In 20 games, including 16 starts, Peterson posted a 9-2 record with one save. In 84 innings pitched, Peterson allowed 56 hits and struck out 127 batters while walking 62. He averaged 13 strikeouts per game, while opponents only hit .192 against him. "Everything clicked at Sierra College," Peterson said. "I don't know if it's because of the laid-back atmosphere or what, but it let me succeed and let me do what I needed to do to be my best." Martinez is proud of both players. "I'm super excited for TJ; it's going to be a great opportunity for him," Martinez said. "Hopefully, he gets in there and gets the opportunity to prove himself. He's healthy and he's throwing it well. He had a tough year, but he has a big arm at 98 or 99 miles per hour. "Kai is a Tommy John (surgery) kid who rehabbed from that and went to Sac City College and then on to Sierra. He had a great year at Sierra. "I'm super proud of both of those kids. They made coaching really easy. They both had great junior years and gave us a chance to win every time they threw." Peterson said he thought it was cool for Martinez to have two players from the same team be drafted. Nichols was very happy for Peterson to be drafted. "We both did it different ways and I thought that was kind of neat," Nichols said. "I went straight to a Div. 1 school and Kai took a different route. He went juco and just grinded and never stopped working. If you dedicate yourself as much as he did and do the work that he did, that will get you drafted. I'm proud of him."