Glove and Instagram pays off
Kitchener coach who is ‘a nerd for infield play’ hired by the Angels
KITCHENER— Trevor Nyp hasn’t had a lot of things handed to him in his career as a baseball player and later a trainer.
A former infielder for the Intercounty Baseball League’s Kitchener Panthers and Guelph Royals, and a standout player at Illinois’ Oakton College and with the Laurier Golden Hawks, Nyp had to grind it out on the diamond. As his playing days wound down, he created his own coaching business, and built up his instructor’s resumé one step at a time.
“Guys like myself who have had to work for every little bit of success in this game, we’re willing to learn and staying open to new ideas,” said Nyp, who grew up playing youth baseball in Kitchener.
At 26, Nyp is finally enjoying a little bit of luck, thanks to an Instagram account — and it’s led to a new job with the Los Angeles Angels.
About a year ago, Nyp created an Instagram page where he began posting videos analyzing the defensive technique of major league, minor league and high school players.
“It just started out as a hobby Instagram page, just putting out my thoughts,” he said.
“It just skyrocketed. I don’t know how it happened. I’m not a social media guru, but people seemed to like it.”
The account, @tn.defense, soon ballooned to more than 12,000 followers. Luck would have it that one of the fans of the page was a trainer in the Angels organization. Nyp was invited for an interview.
After a few conversations, he was offered a job as an infield defence coach for one of the Angels’ minor league affiliates.
“They phoned me, and grilled me, and the next thing I knew I was getting a call from the farm director,” he said.
“It was one of the craziest pro- cesses I’ve ever been through. It all kind of just snowballed.”
Nyp, of course, had the technical experience and coaching skill to back up his Instagram account. He has a knack for breaking down even the smallest details of footwork and defensive positioning to help young players develop. The Angels obviously liked what they heard.
“I think they saw my passion, and that I’m just a nerd for infield play,” he said.
He’ll soon be packing his bags for the Angels’ spring training camp in Arizona, where he’s expected to be assigned to the team’s Single-A club in Burlington, Iowa, in the Midwest League, for the summer.
There, he’ll hone the defensive skills of the Angels’ young prospects. He’ll also help coach during games, as either a first base or bench coach.
The job offer meant Nyp had to find a replacement to run Playball Academy, a Kitchener baseball training facility that he co-owns. Tyler Soucie, a pitching coach, will take over.
He hopes the experience in the Angels’ system will help him improve Kitchener-Waterloo area baseball players’ skills, too.
“I want to take what I learn as part of this process, and take it back here in the off-season and help make baseball better in this area,” he said.
Nyp grew up wanting to be a professional baseball player. After his playing days in college and the IBL began to wind down, he started looking toward coaching.
“I played at as high a level as I could, before realizing maybe that wasn’t the route I was supposed to be in,” he said.
“But I never would have expected this a year ago. It’s just crazy.”