Douglas Samuel Nikhazy (born August 11, 1999) is an American baseball pitcher in the Cleveland Guardians organization. He played college baseball for the

Ole Miss Rebels The Ole Miss Rebels are the 18 men's and women's intercollegiate athletic teams that are funded by and represent the University of Mississippi, located in Oxford. The first was the football team, which began play in 1893. Originally known as th ...

Amateur career

Nikhazy grew up in Windermere, Florida. In eighth grade he was selected to the Under-15 United States national baseball team. Nikhazy attended West Orange High School, where he pitched and played right field on the baseball team. He committed to play college baseball at Ole Miss during his freshman year. Nikhazy was named a freshman All-American after posting a 9-3 record and a 3.31 ERA with Ole Miss freshman record 86 strikeouts. After the season he was selected to play on the Team USA collegiate national baseball team. 3-1 record and 2.35 ERA with 31 strikeouts in four starts before the season was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic. He was named first team All- Southeastern Conference (SEC) and was a consensus first team All-American as a junior after going 12-2 with a 2.45 ERA and 142 strikeouts over 92 innings pitched.

Professional career

Nikhazy was selected by the Cleveland Indians in the second round with the 58th overall pick of the

2021 Major League Baseball draft The 2021 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft took place on July 11–13, 2021. In conjunction with the 2021 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the draft was held in Denver. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The ...

. On July 23, 2021, Nikhazy signed with the Indians for a $1.2 million bonus. He made his professional debut in 2022 with the Lake County Captains of the High-A Midwest League.

Personal life

In February 2020, Nikhazy was arrested in Oxford, Mississippi for

driving under the influence Driving under the influence (DUI)—also called driving while impaired, impaired driving, driving while intoxicated (DWI), drunk driving, operating while intoxicated (OWI), operating under the influence (OUI), operating vehicle under the infl ...

. He was released the same night of the arrest, issued an apology, and returned to the baseball team without missing any playing time.

References

External links

Ole Miss Rebels bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nikhazy, Doug 1999 births Living people People from Windermere, Florida Sportspeople from Orange County, Florida Baseball players from Florida Baseball pitchers Ole Miss Rebels baseball players All-American college baseball players Lake County Captains players