Shoreham, NY 2010— It was a standard Suffolk County varsity game between Shoreham-Wading River and Amityville. Up stepped freshman sensation Nick Bottari of Shoreham. He had made a name for himself the previous season by becoming the first eighth grader to play on the varsity team for legendary coach Sal Mignano.
On this particular at bat, he fell behind 0-2 on the count when the pitcher tried to fool him with a change up. Bottari, fooled on the pitch, unleashed a vicious swing and was out in front. Strike three.
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The real story is what went on inside of Bottari’s body. He felt something pop in his back.
Initially unfazed by the pain, the freshman remained in the game and went 4-for-5 with two HRs and set the program record with nine RBI on the day.
Upon the completion of the season, he went to play summer ball with the New York Outlaws.
“Through out the summer my back pain was getting worse and worse,” he said.
The breaking point for the soon-to-be-sophomore was in Georgia during a tournament. He smacked a double over the right fielder’s head and he was on his way to second when he felt the excruciating pain. He called over his father, who was coaching at the time, and he told him the pain he was in.
They flew back to New York where he met with lauded back specialist Dr. Patrick O’Leary at the Hospital for Special Surgery. He performed the surgery on David Wright in 2011 and had a great reputation.
After they conducted an MRI, it was revealed that Nick had a bilateral fracture of the L5–a serious injury for any person especially an athlete with lofty career expectations.
After the meeting with the doctor I was devastated. I knew I had a long road ahead of me. But I knew at the same time that I wasn’t going to give up my dream of being drafted. So we scheduled an appointment. August 18th of 2010. The recovery was the hardest thing I have done so far in my life. I was in the hospital for 8 days after the surgery sitting in my bed. My mom stayed with me for all 8 days. Sleeping on the chair in my room. I would wake up in the middle of the night crying because of how much pain I was in. And my mom was there every step of the way. My dad drove back and forth every single day for that week, being that he had work. But he did not go a single day without driving an hour and a half to come visit me and give me company. This is why I give all the credit in the world to my parents.
After 10 months of arduous rehabbing–including re-learning how to walk– Bottari was back to doing what he loved most and that is playing baseball. Not only was he back playing, but his incredible performance on the field that season put him on the radar of some of the biggest college baseball programs in the country.
After receiving interest from powerhouses such as UNC, FSU, LSU and NC State, he chose to accept a scholarship from the University of Miami.
At that point, he chose to move to Florida to attend Monteverde Academy, a private prep school, in order to better his chances to get selected in the 2014 MLB Draft.
Just when things were looking like the pieces were in place, disaster struck again.
Bottari tore his UCL ligament and required Tommy John surgery. At this point it would be hard for anyone to continue to be optimistic.
Bottari, on the other hand, made the most of it.
“Knowing that I had to sit out a year,” he said, “It was the perfect time to pick the right school,” he added.
He chose to move back home and transfer to Hofstra.
During the time away from the game, he found solace in the music of artist Mike Seander. For those unfamiliar, Seander was an incredible baseball player in his own right. In 2006, he was named Gatorade Player of the Year in Rhode Island when he recorded a 9-2 record and a 0.91 ERA with 107 K’s. He went on to play at Duke University, where he was named All-American as the closer for the Blue Devils. He saved 9 games with a 1.61 ERA.
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He then had Tommy John surgery which curtailed his career. He went on to dabble with music and released a mixtape on iTunes under the name Mike Stud. It debuted at No. 1 in October 2011. The mixtape was called “Toast to Tommy”, proving that he owed his musical career to Tommy John surgery.
Bottari noted that in his case the Tommy John is just a minor bump in the road. He pointed to his recovery from the serious back injury as a reason for his optimism.
Next year promises to be a great season for Hofstra baseball. Here’s what Bottari had to say about the revitalized program:
Hofstra is more than ready to turn this program around. Coach Russo has done a amazing job bringing in great talent in the last two years. 80 percent of our team is either a freshman or sophomore. With the addition of our new hitting, pitching and fielding coach, we have every piece to the puzzle that we need. Now we just need to put the puzzle together. When transferring back from Miami. I told myself, my parents, and even Coach Russo that I wanted to be part of Hofstra baseball creating a big name from themselves in the college baseball community. I feel very confident with the group of men that Coach Russo has recruited. I am so blessed to be in the position that I am in. Im surrounded by great baseball players that have the same goal as me. Along with being surrounded with the right players, Coach Russo is a straight shooter and is in my eyes the most down to earth head coach in Div.-1 Baseball.
Bottari will certainly be a part of the new chapter of Hofstra baseball and he deserves it considering the trials and tribulations he has gone through to get to this point.
