Steward School graduate Nic Enright overcomes cancer to make MLB debut
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Steward School graduate Nic Enright made his Major League Baseball debut May 25 for the Cleveland Guardians, tossing two shutout innings against the Detroit Tigers in a 5-0 Tigers win at Comerica Park in Detroit.
It was the culmination of a long, unexpected and emotional journey for Enright, 28, a top prospect while at Steward who just two and-a-half years ago was diagnosed with cancer.
In 2015, Enright was named the Gatorade Virginia Baseball Player of the Year after going 6-1 on the mound with a 0.79 earned run average, 50 strikeouts and just nine walks during his senior season. He also accumulated a 4.04 weighted grade point average during the school year. He was selected that year in the 19th round of the MLB Draft by the New York Mets but opted to attend Virginia Tech instead.
There, he went 5-9 with a 5.15 ERA in three seasons, primarily as a relief pitcher, while striking out 145 batters and walking 48. In 2019, the then-Cleveland Indians selected Enright in the 20th round of the MLB Draft.
The COVID-19 pandemic canceled Minor League Baseball in 2020, but Enright advanced quickly in the Cleveland system and in 2022 reached the top level of the minors (AAA) for the franchise, which that year changed its nickname to the Guardians. He compiled a 2.88 ERA during the season between the Guardians’ AA and AAA teams.
That December, Enright was selected by the Miami Marlins in the Rule 5 draft, which permits teams to select from other teams certain unprotected minor league players who meet specific eligibility requirements. Rule 5 players must remain on a Major League roster all season or be offered back to their original teams for a small fee.
Just weeks after he was selected by the Marlins, Enright was diagnosed with nodular lymphocyte predominant Stage 2 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. He completed four rounds of immunotherapy in January and February 2023, then four more later than year and another four in late 2024. He anticipates one more round this November.
In May 2023, the Marlins offered him back to the Guardians, and he pitched for the AAA Columbus Clippers that year, last year and for the first part of this season before earning his big league call-up.
His mother and father, Doug and Betty, were in Detroit to witness his debut, as was his wife, Erin, and his uncle-in-law and mother-in-law.
“All the sacrifices that they've [made] these last couple of years, every single thing that I’ve felt, they felt in the exact same way,” Enright told MLB.com after the game. “For all of us to be here and celebrate it together was just an incredible experience.”
“When he was diagnosed, he really didn't want anybody to know about it,” Enright’s mom, Betty, told MLB.com. “He said, ‘Please don't tell people,’ because what he didn't want was people identifying him as, ‘You're the player with cancer.’ And he was like, ‘I'm more than that. I'm still a player doing my best.’
“But as he's gone through the treatments and he's gotten better, and seen the light at the end of the tunnel, at this point, you realize that what's happened with him could be an inspiration to other people. He looked up all the athletes that have had cancer, and they’re all that player. And that was what inspired him. He was like, ‘I can’t give up.’”
