Hatch to represent U.S. on the diamond in Taiwan

The city of Franklin will have a representative on the baseball diamond in Taiwan this summer thanks to 12-year-old Nolan Hatch and the skills he has developed thus far during his young playing career.

The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) recently announced that Hatch was selected as one of only 18 players to make USA Baseball's 2025 U-12 National Team roster. 

The confederation noted that the team is set to compete in the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup 2025 that will take place in Tainan City, Taiwan, from July 25-Aug. 3.

The team represents a remarkably high standard, as it will be looking to win its third straight World Cup title after earning gold in 2022 and 2023, the WBSC stated. The confederation added that the U.S. team also achieved this "three-peat" once before, earning gold medals in 2013, 2015 and 2017.

The USA Baseball U-12 National Team is coming into this year's WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup in particularly strong form.

"USA earned the opportunity to compete in the eighth edition of the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup after finishing on top of the podium in the World Cup Americas Qualifier held in Panama City, Panama, last year," WBSC officials stated. "A 7-0 record in that tournament, in addition to defeating the Dominican Republic in the gold-medal game, qualified USA for this year's World Cup event."

Nolan, who was born in Suffolk and raised in Franklin, is a rising sixth grader at Southampton Academy, and he began his time on the diamond as a T-ball player in Courtland at the age of 3.

The son of Antwan and Stephanie Hatch, Nolan is the youngest of three children and was introduced to baseball thanks to his brother Ethan, who is now 16.

"My older son, Ethan, he's the middle son, he played baseball," Antwan said. "So you know how that works when it comes to introducing a sport to your child, and then your little one always follows you. So Nolan got introduced because of Ethan."

Nolan played for a Courtland team for several years, and then when the COVID-19 pandemic occurred, no one was playing baseball in the immediate area, Antwan recalled. 

Looking for an opportunity for Nolan to continue playing, the Hatch family found one in the form of the Western Branch Bruins travel ball team. Nolan was playing in the under-8-year-old division at that point.

"So we joined that organization, and we played there the majority of his childhood up to the last two years," Antwan said.

Then the drive of Ethan once again opened a door for his younger brother.

"So for the last two years, my older son, Ethan, has been trying to push us to get him on more of a recognizable team, that's recognized across the country," Antwan said. "So we had a tryout probably two years ago in North Carolina with the (Showcase Baseball Academy) SBA Bolts team."

Antwan noted that the SBA Bolts are recognized among the top teams in the country. 

Nolan ended up trying out at his age level in 2023, made the team and has been playing with the SBA Bolts for two years now.

Though he moves around a lot in terms of position, Nolan plays shortstop, second base, third base and a lot of center field.

"There's a certain weekend where a lot of high-profile teams go to the USA complex in Cary, North Carolina, and they play in front of the national coaches, and that's how they're selected," Antwan said. "That's one of the processes. There's another process to be selected for USA Baseball, but that's one of the processes where you go there and play in a tournament-style (event), and they evaluate you while you're playing."

Nolan and his SBA Bolts team participated in this weekend USA Baseball event on June 19-22.

"It's select, but it's a huge tournament, so there were a lot of good teams there," Antwan said. "I would say probably over 13, 14 teams that are high-ranking."

It was after this tournament that Nolan received the call that he was one of only 36 players invited to a National Team Training Camp at the same location to determine who would comprise the 18-player 2025 U-12 National Team.

Antwan indicated that neither Nolan nor anyone in the family went to the June 19-22 USA Baseball weekend event thinking Nolan might make the national team, because making the team is significantly difficult, and it is unknown precisely what the coaches are looking for. Antwan listed a variety of things they are likely evaluating, though it remains unknown what coaches may be honing in on. 

"They look at your attitude, they pay attention to how you respond to your parents, and they're not talking to you, they're just looking and not saying a word," he said. "How you respond to your teammates, how you respond in adversity. They want to see you fail and to see if you do well mentally if you don't do well (performance-wise). So they want to see how you respond.

"So you don't go there knowing what they're looking for, just trying to play your best," he continued. "So we didn't go there with any type of expectations but just to play your best."

He said Nolan had just come off an injury in February and had struggled a little in the beginning of the season.

"But he started to improve, to find his edge I'll say in June," Antwan said. "He went to Atlanta the week before that (USA Baseball event), and he won the MVP player (honor) out of 50-some teams, he was MVP of that entire weekend.

"And then going in there with that momentum to USA (weekend) allowed him to have that confidence to produce like he did," Antwan added. "So he found his edge at the right time."

Nolan shined at second base and in center field at the USA Baseball event.

Antwan pointed out the strengths in Nolan's game.

"I'll say he hits very well when it comes to, I would say, more of a line-drive type of contact hitter, and he steals like never before," Antwan said. "If he gets on base, you know he's coming home."

The 36-player National Team Training Camp ran from June 23-27, and Antwan noted that players gave evaluators a more in-depth look at their skillsets through infield/outfield drills, mental drills and scrimmages situations, with the group broken up into teams of 18 named Stripes and Stars.

All 36 players had to room and compete alongside each other the entire week, and Nolan proved unfazed by the pressure of the competition for the 18 roster spots.

"I was able to block out the nerves," he said.

Stephanie said that on the last day of the camp, Friday, June 27, "The USA team held a meeting with the parents and the team. And so the players and the parents were in a room, they had a meeting, and they called the top 18 players' names."

Antwan said, "We were very nervous just because of the fact that we worked this hard, we got this far, and we don't know what's going to happen next. So we're all nervous, and my older son, Ethan, he was there, he couldn't stand it. That's how bad it was."

He said Ethan had to walk out at one point.

"All the coaches walked in, which is probably about 15 coaches," Antwan said. "The room became silent immediately, and then they went up to the front, side by side, and started calling out names."

Stephanie said, "Nolan was the fifth name that was called on that roster for the USA team."

He was one of only two players selected from his elite SBA Bolts team.

Nolan, Stephanie and Antwan took turns describing their reactions to his selection.

"It felt very great to be selected top-18 in the nation," Nolan said. "At first, when the coach was starting to call out the names, I was so nervous, I was shaking. Then when I heard my name, I was so excited."

Stephanie said, "For me, as his mom, I wasn't physically there. I was at work at the hospital, so I was on speaker phone. My husband had me on speaker phone, and so I was able to listen to the coaches when they called the names. So immediately when his name was called, I was just jumping up in the air for joy. I couldn't hold my composure because I was just so happy because he made it that far. We worked so hard to get him there, and he made it."

Antwan said, "I was kind of in shock, because I wasn't trying to get my hopes up, so I was happy but not really (manifesting) a physical reaction. Me and Nolan definitely hugged afterwards outside as the boys were jumping and I was filming them, but when it comes to reaction, I try to stay consistent, because I want these things to be consistent. I want him to be one of the best players in the world eventually, so I don't want to have a 'Oh we did it, and I can't believe it'-type of moment. I want this to happen more routinely. So I was happy, I was kind of shocked at the same time, but I didn't respond in a way where I was overjoyed — which I was internally — but you wouldn't have seen that out of me."

Stephanie is accompanying Nolan on the trip to Taiwan, as Antwan remains stateside accompanying Ethan, who is playing baseball here.

Nolan and Stephanie were in Los Angeles from July 18-21 with the U-12 National Team for practice and final preparations for international competition.

"We leave for Taiwan on July 22, and we will return on Aug. 4," Stephanie said.

As he thought about the World Cup experience ahead of him during a July 17 interview, Nolan said, "I'm looking for a great experience, (to) show what I can do, because there's going to be 11,000 people there."

The WBSC stated that USA Baseball's U-12 National Team is slated to play Panama in the tournament opener on Friday, July 25, at the Asia Pacific International Baseball Stadium and Training Centres.