By Mike London

mike.london@salisburypost.com

THOMASVILLE  — The bus leaves for Martinsville, Va., at 3:15 p.m., on Wednesday, and Nathan Chrismon will be on it.

Chrismon, one of the stars of South Rowan’s 2022 3A state champions, is playing baseball for the second straight summer with the High Point-Thomasville HiToms of the Coastal Plain League.

The CPL isn’t quite the Cape Cod Baseball League where Chrismon’s former high school teammates Kane Kepley and Haiden Leffew and former high school adversaries Chance Mako and Cameron Padgett play in front of herds of scouts, but it’s a sturdy league consisting mostly of Division I players. It may be the second-best of all the college summer leagues.

A lot of CPL guys have been drafted over the years. Almost 200 have played in the majors. Philadelphia third baseman Alec Bohm and Cleveland DH David Fry were part of Tuesday’s MLB All-Star Game. They are CPL alumni.

After two seasons with the East Carolina University baseball program, Chrismon entered the transfer portal on June 20. His next stop makes a lot of sense. He’s going to play for the Catawba College Indians at Newman Park for the next two seasons.

“It’s an opportunity to get back closer to home and family, and it’s a chance to play with my best friend (Catawba second baseman Ty Hubbard),” Chrismon said. “It’s a chance to play for (head coach) Jim Gantt. It’s a chance to play with a bunch of guys that I grew up playing with and against. It’s a school and a team with a strong sense of community.”

Chrismon is 5-foot-8, 172 pounds, so he’s always had to prove he can play. He’s always proved it. High school, South Charlotte Panthers, East Carolina, CPL.

Like his buddy, Ty Hubbard, he grew up as a coach’s son. Chrismon’s father, Thad, a record-breaking UNC closer, was part of South’s baseball program for a very long time as a pitching coach and then as a head coach, peaking and finishing with that state championship.

In 2022, both South Rowan and East Rowan had tremendous teams. Arguably the two best teams in 3A were 14 miles apart. Nathan Chrismon was the Post’s Mark Norris Memorial Award winner as Rowan County Player of the Year. He was chosen from a long and stellar list of candidates. Part of that was his solid stats — 42 runs, 36 RBIs, 23 steals, .363, with some power — but a bigger part of it was the number of huge hits he had in huge moments. He was a clutch guy.

Chrismon carved out a meaningful role at East Carolina for two seasons. He was a pinch-runner, backup infielder and late-inning defensive replacement. None of those were glamorous titles for a young man who had been a high school star, but he played in 72 games, with six starts. He usually got in the game and had a key role in several Pirate wins. He stole 13 bases and scored 22 runs. He played mostly shortstop, but he also saw action at second and third base.

Obviously, Chrismon wanted to play more. Everyone wants to play more.

“There were ups and downs during my time at East Carolina, but ups and downs are part of baseball and part of life, and I don’t have anything negative to say about ECU,” Chrismon said. “I’m grateful for ECU. I had a chance to play for a great program for two years. I learned a lot. I got better at baseball. I met great people. If I could do it all over again, I’d still sign with East Carolina.”

Chrismon speaks like a 30-year-old who has sailed around the world twice, so it’s easy to forget that he’s only 20 years old. His best baseball is still in front of him. There’s a little rust from not getting to the plate all that often in Greenville, but he’s taking care of that this summer. He’s actually in a bit of a slump right now, but his numbers for the HiToms, while swinging a wood bat, are respectable. He’s batting .279 with 14 runs scored, 20 RBIs, four homers and eight steals, and he’s walked as much as he’s struck out.

“The homers didn’t surprise me all that much,” Chrismon said. “I know I’ve got some power in me. I just need to hit it hard when I get my pitch.”

Chrismon doesn’t get too down no matter how bad things seem to be going.

One of his best friends and teammates at ECU was Parker Byrd, the courageous player who lost his right leg below the knee in a boating accident in the summer of 2022. Byrd has actually played in games for the Pirates with a prosthetic limb.

“That accident happened to the one guy in the world who would be able to handle it,” Chrismon said. “Parker was an inspiration for me and for all of us every day. You see what he does, and you realize that a little slump isn’t the worst thing. Even in a slump, I’ve got life pretty good. Then you see Parker  make the most of every opportunity he gets, and it makes you want to do your best every time you get an opportunity. Catawba has offered me a great opportunity. I plan to make every day of baseball count.”