Someday, Mariners catcher Jacob Nottingham is going to have the most interesting tale about his 2021 season to share with his 5-month-old son, Aiden.
Nottingham will probably mention the two home runs he hit in one game earlier this month against the defending world champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
He’ll surely pass along the life lessons he has taken from this season, such as how he dealt with the roller coaster of emotions that go with being wanted, not wanted and a life in limbo that falls somewhere between the two.
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“I’m going to tell him that all you can really do is come to the field happy each day,” Nottingham said. “… Because you never really know what can happen.”
No one knows this better than Nottingham, who over a dizzying three-week span recently was a Brewer, a Mariner and a Brewer again before returning for yet another stint with the Mariners.
Get all that? The list of Nottingham’s transactions spells it all out neatly and cleanly, but it’s the story behind the transactions that make his story so compelling.
“You can’t just let that (getting designated) get you down, because while it didn’t work out for you with one organization, it doesn’t mean your tools aren’t attractive to someone else. Once you’re able to put that aside, the better off you are,” Nottingham said.
Nottingham’s wild month began in Milwaukee, where he started the season on the injured list after recovering from offseason thumb surgery. On April 22 he was reinstated only to be designated for assignment when the team opted to go with Manny Piña as the backup to Omar Narváez.
This was the first move in this unlikely chain of events that saw him crisscross the country as he attempted to find a home — for more than two days, at least.
The Mariners, looking to add some catcher depth at the major-league level, opted to put in a waiver claim on Nottingham, who had been on their radar for a while.
“We have always liked him, as potentially a power-oriented part of a catcher platoon, or a backup,” said Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto. “He has got receiving skills, has power and is relatively young (26). There was some appeal there.”
When the Mariners won the waiver claim, Nottingham hopped on a plane for Seattle, where he arrived on April 29. The next day, Nottingham was activated and in uniform as the Mariners took on the Angels.
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“I didn’t play, but caught a couple of bullpens,” said Nottingham, who spent the day meeting his new teammates and coaches and, generally, getting settled in.
He wasn’t settled for long. That same night, hundreds of miles away, Narváez had to leave the Brewers game against the Angles with a strained left hamstring. The Brewers promoted Mario Feliciano to back up Pina, but Feliciano was just a short-term fix, having had only caught 14 games above A-ball.
The Brewers needed another catcher. They needed Jacob Nottingham.
You’re not going to believe this.
Nottingham is back. https://t.co/hqZHo7DjlX
— Corey Brock (@CoreyBrockMLB) May 20, 2021
“When I got to the field (T-Mobile Park) on Saturday, I got the call that I was getting DFA’d again … and that I had been traded back to the Brewers,” he said.
“There’s been a change of plans,” said Dipoto, who traded Nottingham back to the Brewers for cash.
Nottingham took it all in stride. It even made him chuckle because it seemed so ridiculous.
“It was only weird because I had only been in Seattle two days and now I’m going back to the team that DFA’d me. You just had to laugh it off a little bit. But it was fine,” Nottingham said. “I’m willing to do whatever it takes to help the team win.”
No matter the team, apparently.
Before he left Seattle, Nottingham left a few of his bats with Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford, who had taken a liking to them after getting two hits on April 30 and then two more the next day.
“J.P. and I go back to when we were in high school. We went through some of the same pre-draft workouts, so we’ve known each other for a while,” Nottingham said. “He felt some of my bats before I left and said, ‘Dude, I’m going to take some of these.’ Ever since then, he’s been using mine. Right now, we’re waiting for his new shipment of bats to come through, because I’m getting low.”
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On May 1, Nottingham flew to Chicago, where he rented a car and drove the rest of the way to Milwaukee. He had already been alerted he would start at catcher against the Dodgers the next day. He didn’t arrive in Milwaukee until 2:30 a.m. The game started at 1:10 p.m.
On Sunday morning, Nottingham pushed open the clubhouse doors at the ballpark. His Brewers teammates were a little confused, although happy to see him.
“I love all of those guys,” Nottingham said, “They said, ‘you just left and now you are back!’”
Nottingham caught all nine innings in a 16-4 loss to the Dodgers, but connected for two home runs and drove in three runs.
“It was awesome, just because of just the roller coaster of those couple of weeks and everything going on,” he said. “Hitting the two homers was was a really good feeling, just because I haven’t played in a game or been behind the plate.”
Nottingham got only 10 at-bats over the week or so. And when Narváez was healthy and ready to rejoin the team — yep, you guessed it — Nottingham was the odd man out again.
“I kind of figured something was happening, and then once he (Narváez) came back, they designated me,” Nottingham said. “I just went around and gave everybody a hug. A lot of guys said I’d get picked up and to keep my head up. Hearing that, and from veterans like Lorenzo Cain, that helped a lot. These are the guys who took me under their wings.”
After a day or two in Milwaukee, Nottingham returned to his native Redlands, Calif., where his family still lives. He saw Aiden at a time when he otherwise would have been playing, and he certainly counted that as a blessing. Then he returned to his home in Arizona and waited for the phone to ring.
When it did, you’ll never guess who was calling. “I was pretty excited,” Nottingham said.
On May 20, the Mariners claimed Nottingham off waivers again, sending catcher Luis Torrens to Triple-A Tacoma. They also promoted catcher José Godoy, giving them three catchers on the roster, though Nottingham can (and has) played first base. Nottingham slugged his first home run with the Mariners on May 27. On Monday, he was the designated hitter against the A’s and went 1-for-3 with a run scored.
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“We got what we needed, they (Brewers) got what they needed and everyone is better for it,” Dipoto said.
And that includes Nottingham, who at this point in his career is only looking for opportunities at the big-league level.
“It’s been eye-opening, just because you kind of see how things happen on the business side,” Nottingham said. “But the biggest thing for me is having that trust within yourself and knowing everything’s going to be all right.”
(Photo: Abbie Parr / Getty Images)
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