On January 15th, the RailCats signed left-handed outfielder Nick Ultsch, who played last season in the Pioneer League with the Ogden Raptors and the Boise Hawks, and was named to the 2024 Pioneer All-Star Team!

Nick is 27 years old, 6’4″, 200 lbs, and he bats and throws left-handed. He is from Richmond, CA. He went to the University of Puget Sound and played there for 4 years (2016-2019). While playing for the Loggers, he was both a pitcher and first baseman. He played 1 season with Napa of the Pacific Association (2019), where he made his move to playing in the outfield. Due to COVID, it seemed he did not play the 2020 season. However, in 2021, he played for the Utica Unicorns of the United Shore League. The next 3 years, he spent in the Pioneer League (2022-2024), where he played for 3 teams: the Billings Mustangs in 2022, the Ogden Raptors from 2023-2024, and 7 games with the Boise Hawks in 2024.

Now for those who have looked at Nick’s Baseball Reference page, they would probably see that it only shows Nick playing for Boise last season. However, if you went to the Pioneer Leagues website, you would see he played 83 games last year with Ogden and 7 games with Boise. The stats still align with Baseball Reference; just not the team timeline.

Last year with Ogden, Nick played 83 games, had 33 at-bats, 76 runs, 119 hits, 20 doubles, 7 triples, 10 HR, 82 RBIs, 33 walks, 58 strikeouts, 4 stolen bases, 4 caught stealing, and slashed a .357, .423, .550 with an OPS of .973.

The 7 games he played for Boise, he had 28 at-bats, 5 runs, 7 hits, 1 double, 4 RBIs, 3 walks, 8 strikeouts, 2 stolen bases, slashed a .250/.364/.286, and an OPS of .650.

Looking at Nick’s career stats in the Pioneer League, he played in 200 games, 777 at-bats, 183 runs scored, 274 hits, 52 doubles, 12 triples, 19 HRs, 178 RBIs, 78 walks, 149 strikeouts, 9 stolen bases, and 4 caught stealing. He slashed a .353/.421/.524 with an OPS of .945.

The Pioneer League can be a league where power numbers could be inflated with high altitude, so you could knock anywhere from .050 to .100, but in Nick’s case, he is almost on the same playing field as Gio Diaz except for his speed. As a Railcat fan, that can be exciting to have a player coming from a league where he placed in the top 20, 18th to be exact, in batting average and top 40 of both slugging and on-base percentage. He was also top 20 in hits and RBIs last season.

I believe Nick could be our leadoff hitter for the 2025 season. He may not bring the speed, but he could bring the willingness to get on base, and if he has a chance to bring runners in, he could deliver on that as well. I can see him being that 3-hole hitter who could keep the line moving, which is something that has been a low spot for the ‘Cats in years past!

WELCOME TO THE SOUTHSHORE!!