Nick Raquet made his Major League debut for the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, five years after stepping away from professional baseball. The left-handed pitcher entered the game in the seventh inning and delivered a scoreless frame, retiring all three batters he faced on eight pitches, seven of them strikes.
Raquet’s journey to this point included leaving baseball after struggling in the Arizona Fall League with an 8.49 ERA while part of the Washington Nationals organization. “I was done,” said Raquet, now 29. “Like, fully done.”
After leaving baseball during the COVID-19 pandemic, Raquet used his finance degree from the College of William & Mary to work as an enterprise risk consultant for Ernst & Young. His return to baseball began when his girlfriend Maggie encouraged him to pursue something more fulfilling. “One day, she said, ‘I’m sick of hearing you complain about your job,’” Raquet said. “She said, ‘I need you to go do something that you’re going to be happier doing, feeling more fulfilled.’”
He started coaching and throwing bullpens at a local youth facility before joining the York Revolution in the independent Atlantic League. There he experienced challenges typical of independent ballplayers but regained his passion for playing professionally.
Cardinals reliever Chris Roycroft related to Raquet’s experience in independent leagues: “The fields were weird, the food was bad, and we even had players sleeping in the broadcast booth,” Roycroft said. “There’s a lot of time to have doubts. A lot of time to wonder why you’re doing what you’re doing. And a lot of days when you don’t pitch well and you’re wondering, ‘Is this it?’ So I know that it takes a lot of dedication.
“And I know that anyone who goes through that is a grinder.”
This season between Triple-A Memphis and Double-A Springfield, Raquet posted a 10-4 record with a 1.68 ERA over 36 games and recorded eight saves along with 57 strikeouts in 48⅓ innings.
“He’s been having a good season down there, and we wanted to give him an opportunity to see what it looks like up here for him as we go down the stretch,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said.
“Not your typical road to the big leagues, so he’s earned it.”
Looking back on his path through independent leagues back into affiliated baseball and now onto an MLB roster spot with St. Louis, Raquet reflected: “I got the drive back,” he said. “Being around baseball, kind of in its purest form, I had lost that a little bit.
“And being away from it showed me that I still loved it.”
Raquet’s family was present for his debut after traveling quickly once they learned he would be called up by Triple-A Memphis manager Ben Johnson.
Before taking the mound for St. Louis against Seattle—a game where Alec Burleson hit a two-run home run but St. Louis ultimately lost—Raquet described how he felt: “I’m pretty numb,” he said.
“It’s an opportunity I’ve been working for, dreaming about, for a really long time,” Raquet added.
“So just go out and enjoy it. You’ve done the work, you’ve prepared, you’ve looked over the scouting reports … you’ve warmed up. Now just pitch and have fun.”
