Machibroda puts fun back in baseball, signs with MLB’s Twins

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

Nolan Machibroda hit 17 homers in 47 games for the Phoenix.
(Photo courtesy Nolan Machibroda)

Nolan Machibroda put the fun back in baseball, and the game took him to great places he wasn’t expecting.

Going into his final season of college eligibility in 2022, Machibroda joined the Cumberland University Phoenix Baseball Team in Lebanon, Tenn. The Phoenix play out of the Mid-South Conference in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). 

In 2021, Machibroda, who is a graduate of Saskatoon’s Holy Cross High School, played for Lubbock Christian University Chaparrals Baseball Team in Lubbock, Texas. The Chaparrals play in the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Division II ranks. In 2020, Machibroda was with the NAIA’s Southeastern University Fire Baseball Team in Lakeland, Florida.

With Lubbock Christian and Southeastern University, Machibroda felt that the joy of playing the game had left him. Thinking he might be down to his final at bat for playing competitive baseball, Machibroda wanted the memories of his final college season to be positive ones.

“I just really went out there and tried to have fun my last year,” said Machibroda, who plays first base and a little bit in the outfield. “I’m trying to play to the best of my abilities and not really care about the box score or how I played at the end of the day and just go out there and have fun.

“It was my last year. I was like, ‘You don’t want to not go out there and look back at it and regret that you didn’t have fun.’ I wasn’t having fun the previous two years before that.

Nolan Machibroda sets up at first base for the Phoenix.
(Photo courtesy Nolan Machibroda)

“Once I changed my mindset about that and not looking at it as such an individual and more of a team aspect, I think that really helped me.”

Machibroda went out and had a career season. In 47 games with the Phoenix, the left-handed hitter went 69-for-150 at the plate for a .460 average, 17 home runs and 83 RBI. Thanks to those outstanding numbers, Machibroda, who stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 220 pounds, was named the player of the year for the Mid-South Conference and an NAIA first team all-American.

After his season wrapped up with the Phoenix, Machibroda joined the Weyburn Beavers, who play out of the Western Canadian Baseball League summer circuit. Playing in his third summer campaign for the Beavers, Machibroda went 60-for-209 at the plate for a .287 average, seven home runs and 44 RBI. The 23-year-old was named the team MVP for the Beavers.

Machibroda earned an invite to the 2022 WCBL all-star game played at Seaman Stadium in Okotoks, Alta. He won the WCBL’s home run derby and was awarded a golden bat for the victory.

On December 20 shortly before 2022 closed out, Machibroda received an early Christmas gift signing as an amateur free agent with the MLB’s Minnesota Twins.

“It is just another opportunity to play the game I love at the end of the day, and I’m super thankful for it,” said Machibroda. “It just happens to be with an MLB team, which makes it even more cool.

Nolan Machibroda set to bat for Team Saskatchewan.
(Photo courtesy Baseball Saskatchewan)

“I’m just trying to play baseball as long as I can. I love the sport, so I’m just really thankful I can go out there and still be playing competitive baseball at this point in my life. I’m really excited to get down to spring training and start playing again.”

Machibroda reported to Fort Myers, Florida, on Monday to take part in a required training plan with the Twins minor league players. Fort Myers, Florida, is home to the Twins single-A affiliate the Mighty Mussels. Spring training activities begin in earnest on March 2.

One aspect of Machibroda’s game that went to another level in 2022 was his power hitting. Machibroda said the home runs started to come after he changed his approach at the plate, where he looked for fastballs and held off from swinging at off-speed pitches.

“I always kind of had power,” said Machibroda. “In batting practice, I could hit a lot of home runs.

“Really last year, I just kind of put it all together and went out to the plate with a better approach. I think that really helped me see a lot more pitches that I could drive out of the yard. I was swinging at those pitches more consistently.

“In my younger years, I would probably get too over aggressive and swing at some pitches that I wasn’t able to do damage on. I think last year the big for me was just refining the strike zone and swinging at big pitches I wanted to swing at instead of swinging at the pitches the pitchers wanted me to swing at and get me out that way. I always had power growing up, but once I figured out my approach and kind of stuck with it that helped me out tremendously.”

After his summer season with the Beavers was complete, Machibroda returned home to Saskatoon to train under the watchful eye of the instructors at the Going Yard Training Centre at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. 

Going Yard instructor Matt Kosteniuk was Machibroda’s head coach with the Saskatoon Diamondbacks under-18 AAA team and an assistant coach when Machibroda was a member of Team Saskatchewan in 2015 and 2016.

Nolan Machibroda (centre) played at the Baseball Canada Cup twice.
(Photo courtesy Baseball Saskatchewan)

Machibroda also worked with Greg Brons, who is the high performance director for Baseball Saskatchewan and Machibroda’s head coach with Team Saskatchewan.

Pitching and playing first base, Machibroda helped Saskatchewan win a silver medal at the 2015 Baseball Canada Cup held at Cairns Field and Leakos Field on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds and gold at the 2016 Baseball Canada Cup held in Fort McMurray, Alta.

The soon to be first year pro enjoys when he gets to come home and work with his former coaches.

“I got to know them really well,” said Machibroda, who has lots of good memories playing at Cairns Field and Leakos Field. “It is always fun going back there,

“I respect their input. It is always nice to hear what they have to say and help me out for sure still. They are people I still look to for guidance.”

Machibroda enjoys being able to use the battling cages, the field turf and all the amenities the Indoor Training Centre has to offer, when he returns home.

“I’m super thankful for that facility to go back to during the winter when I’m not able to get outside and do the things I want,” said Machibroda. “You can go in there and pretty much do whatever baseball wise, so it has been awesome.”

Nolan Machibroda (#24) enjoys a seniors day moment.
(Photo courtesy Nolan Machibroda).

Now the focus turns towards his journey in his first professional season. Machibroda said he will run in the pro ranks as long as he can in trying to make it to the MLB level one day.

“I just know that there is a long road ahead,” said Machibroda. “I just take it one day at a time here.

“I take every day knowing that I am still blessed to play baseball and go out there and have fun and leave it all on the field, because I get to play the game that I love for a living now and just try and play as long as possible. I know it is going to be hard, but there is nothing I would rather be doing than playing baseball right now with my life. I’m really excited to be able to have this opportunity.”

Albers thankful for return to AAA ball and “the Show”

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

Andrew Albers sets to throw a pitch in January 2020.

For Andrew Albers, it was a blessing to get another season under the sun playing AAA and Major League Baseball when you are an older pitcher.

When you are a veteran left-handed hurler that hasn’t played at those levels for three seasons, it is even more of a blessing.

After finishing the 2017 season with the MLB’s Seattle Mariners, Albers, who is from North Battleford, Sask., played three seasons in Japan’s top professional league for the Orix Buffaloes from 2018 to 2020.

This past February at age 35, Albers signed a minor league contract with the MLB’s Minnesota Twins that included an invitation to Spring Training. Things took off from there resulting in a spot with the AAA St. Paul Saints and a return to playing games in the MLB this past August.

“They offered me a position out of spring kind of as a depth guy in AAA,” said Albers, who spends his off-seasons back in Saskatchewan. “Obviously, they had a lot of injuries to their pitching staff this year, and I was able to put together a good couple of months.

“I was thankful for the opportunity they gave me. I was able to go out and have a couple of good outings (with the Twins). I probably had possibly the worst start of my career in Tampa. Unfortunately, that is just kind of how things go.

“After that, I was a little bit rough just kind of going up and down and pitching on short notice and some things like that. Again, when you are in my situation, it was all I could ask for. They gave me an opportunity, and I was really thankful for that.”

At the AAA level, Albers was a starter and saw action in 18 total games posting an 8-4 record, a 3.88 earned-run average, 88 strikeouts and 11 walks.

On Aug. 19, Albers, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 200 pounds, made his first appearance of the season at the big league level at Yankee Stadium. He threw four innings of relief for the Twins in their 7-5 loss striking out four batters giving up two hits including a solo home run and one walk.

Andrew Albers unloads a pitch in January of 2020.

Albers got his first start of the season for the Twins at home on Aug. 27. He threw five-and-a-third innings striking out two, while giving up three hits and one walk picking up the pitching win in a 2-0 victory.

In total this past season, Albers made five appearances for the Twins posting a 1-2 record, a 7.58 ERA, 12 strikeouts and nine walks.

He said the biggest adjustment playing at the AAA and MLB levels in 2021 compared to 2017 was seeing how much analytics have changed the game. He noted starters rarely get to throw over 100 pitches in a game, see a batting order for a third time or go six or seven innings deep into a contest.

He had some discussions with pitching coaches and managers about getting an early hook at times this season. Albers added the middle relievers are better than at any other time he can remember in the game, so he understood the strategies there.

“It was really interesting,” said Albers. “For me in my entire career, I’ve been brought up and it was all throw the ball down at the knees with your fastball and work in and out.

“Coming to the analytics this year, it has gone a lot more to throwing the ball at the top of the zone and just working your breaking ball underneath the zone. For me, it was finding a way to incorporate some of those analytics, but then also go back to what I have been successful with. As long as you command the baseball and you throw the pitch where you want to and you have a plan of what you want to do with guys, you can still be successful.”

During the off-season, Albers returns home to Saskatchewan and gets out fairly frequently to help players coming up in the province’s minor baseball system in various training sessions. He has made regular appearances at the Indoor Training Centre on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds the past two off-seasons.

Being based in Saskatoon for this off-season, Albers plans to made a few more appearances to help out.

“I enjoy doing it first of all,” said Albers. “I think second of all I really enjoyed growing up in Saskatchewan.

Andrew Albers demonstrates a pitching technique in Jan. 2020.

“I had a lot of people obviously put in a whole bunch of time and hours into my career and my development. I feel like for me going back and getting to work with some of the younger players I can maybe provide a little bit different perspective than what some other guys can.

“It is always nice to have somebody who has kind of gone through the process whether it is going through college or going through the professional game and things like that just to be able to bounce ideas off of or ask questions to or things like that.”

Albers, who is a graduate of North Battleford’s John Paul II Collegiate, remembers the work the various coaches in the province did with him and likes trying to help out those coaches.

“I had a lot of mentors who did that for me in the province guys like Greg Brons and Rob Cherepuschak who are still there,” said Albers, who played for the defunct Saskatoon Yellow Jackets of the Western Canadian Baseball League in 2004. “They are still doing a great job.

“To be able to give back a little bit in that way especially again in Saskatchewan when you don’t necessarily have everybody come back, for me that is important.”

At the Gordie Howe Sports Complex, Albers like working with Jordan Draeger and the rest of staff at the Going Yard Training Centre in developing young players.

Albers hopes that his presence does put the idea in the minds of young players that you can come from Saskatchewan and eventually play the game at a level as high as the MLB.

“The more of those guys you can see around and the more that you realize that it might be possible, maybe that motivates them a little bit,” said Albers. “They realize that even though it can be a tough and a long road it is possible, and that is what you hope just being able to see those pro guys come in.”

As for next season, Albers is currently a free agent and said at this point there isn’t much clarity as to where he will be. The collective bargaining agreement between the MLB and the MLB Players Association is set to expire on Dec. 1.

Albers, who turned 36-years-old on Oct. 6, believes there is a good chance there will be a little bit of a work stoppage. For someone his age, he would appreciate the chance to experience one more season under the sun.

Andrew Albers chats with some young players in Jan. 2020.

“I’m hoping to hopefully go back and play in AAA again next year in kind of a similar situation to this year,” said Albers. “We’ll see if I can find an opportunity to do that.

“Obviously you know, you start getting a little bit older, and you are not quite sure how many more opportunities you are going to have. I looked at the playoff rosters this year. If I were on them, I would have been the oldest on five out of the 10 (teams).

“I just think, ‘Holy smokes, that is kind of crazy.’ For me, I look at it as a guy like me to still be playing when the game has gotten very young very quick, I’ve just been very fortunate and blessed to play as long as I have. Hopefully, I can trick somebody into giving me one more shot next year, and then we’ll go from there.”