Google the last name McLain, and it won’t take too much scrolling to come across the Wareham Gatemen. After all, it’s rare enough for three brothers to all play in the Cape Cod Baseball League, much less for the same team. The chances of all three then getting drafted by Major League Baseball teams? Microscopic.

But it’s not impossible. And Nick McLain is the latest proof of that.

Nick, a member of the 2023 Gatemen squad, was selected in the third round of the 2024 MLB Draft by the Chicago White Sox as the 78th overall pick. He was one of seven 2023 Gatemen to be selected in the 2024 Draft, and was the highest pick out of any Gatemen drafted this year.

His older brother Matt, who played for Wareham in 2019 and was the No. 17 overall pick in 2021, has made a name for himself in the Cincinnati Reds organization with a strong rookie season in 2023. Sean, the middle McLain brother, played for the Gatemen briefly in 2021 and is currently playing with the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, the Dodgers’ Single-A affiliate.

Clearly, there is no shortage of the name McLain in the baseball world. But just because they all have the same goal of making it big doesn’t mean they’re all the same. Nick has always wanted to be his own person separate from his brothers, and that came through in his summer with the Gatemen.

“We’re very similar and very different at the same time,” Nick said in July of 2023. “So that’s nice. You know, we’ve all carved our own paths.”

Nick wasn’t going to settle for being just another McLain brother — and the youngest at that — to play college baseball or in the CCBL. He wanted to be known for his own accomplishments and talent, and set his mind to proving that.

So while Nick’s arrival in Wareham in the summer of 2023 was highly anticipated in part due to his name, it was also because of his season at Arizona State. He was forced to sit on the bench for the first 32 games of the 2022 season after suffering a broken hamate bone in February, but when he was able to play for the Sun Devils, he showed up with more than just the name on the back of his jersey.

Hitting .298 with eight home runs and a .649 slugging percentage, McLain’s power and skill was undeniable. The center fielder lived up to expectations and helped ASU record impressive wins over UCLA and Grand Canyon University.

After ASU did not receive a bid to the NCAA Tournament, McLain set his sights on succeeding in the Cape Cod Baseball League. In his first game for the Gatemen, he hit a no-doubt home run to straightaway center field and didn’t look back.

McLain had at least one hit in 19 of the 26 games he played with Wareham and totaled 28 hits, which remains one of the highest totals on the team. He rarely — if ever — had a day off and was a force to be reckoned with at the plate and in right field. Whether it was hurling throws all the way to home plate, working walks or putting a charge in the ball, it was almost a guarantee that when Nick McLain touched the baseball, something was going to happen.

It was in part because of his prior success but also due to his ability to learn on the Cape that allowed McLain to be one of the most reliable hitters in the Gatemen lineup. He played against top competition while also working on his own game, and there’s not much more you could ask for.

“As a hitter, I’ve developed a lot, facing this kind of pitching day in and day out,” McLain said. “It’s been huge. One thing I’ve learned is don’t come off the fastball. It kind of got me in trouble last year when I did it, and I kind of stuck to that approach this summer and I had a decent summer, so it was good.”

McLain’s adjustments at the plate may have been in a more physical sense, because one thing he didn’t need to learn was confidence. He came into the summer just as sure of himself as he was when he left.

“I’m a pretty confident person,” he said. “I don’t know if I’ll ever lose that. I think it’s the third child in me … but I guess you could say I’m a little more confident [after being out here].”

McLain finished his summer hitting .283 with four home runs and was named a Cape Cod League All-Star starter for the West Division. The All-Star Game was McLain’s final appearance in a Wareham jersey, in which he recorded a hit and an RBI and threw out a runner at home plate to demonstrate just why he was named an All-Star — a feat neither of his brothers accomplished during their time on the Cape.

Upon returning to Arizona State for the 2024 season, McLain only continued to bolster his baseball resumé as he slashed .342/.457/.663 in 48 games played. He hit 12 home runs and recorded 54 RBI as one of the top Sun Devil hitters in the lineup. McLain’s successful season set him up extremely well for reaching the point most, if not all, collegiate baseball players aspire toward: hearing their name called in the draft.

Now that McLain has surpassed that goal, all that’s left for him to do is continue to rise up through the ranks of the Minor Leagues. And while he won’t want to follow directly in his brothers’ footsteps, he’s still got a pretty good road map if he ever needs any direction.

Top photo credit: Nick McLain high-fives his teammates during a Wareham Gatemen baseball game, summer 2023, at Spillane Field. Photo by Andrew Duffy.