PHOENIX -- Moon Valley High School freshman Nick Shumaker stood behind home plate at Chase Field on Saturday remembering very well why he was there. To remember was a good thing considering the seriousness of the matter.
The story of why the third baseman for his school's freshman team was watching the Arizona Diamondbacks' batting practice begins with him taking a line drive square in the face.
"They hit a line drive straight to me and I brought my glove up a little too much. It went right under and got me," Shumaker recalled. "I was there for all of it."
His parents weren't -- "It's the only game we missed all season," said Nick's father, Vince -- and honestly glad they weren't witness. Nick required surgery to fix facial and orbital bone injuries, and thus, a prolonged stay in the hospital.
Two days later, Nick was in decent spirits but still hospitalized. What does a bored 14-year-old do to pass the time but play games? However, a nurse said the gaming zone at Phoenix Children's Hospital was too busy, a good way to dampen Nick's spirits.
"We got him back in his bed and he's wondering what's going on," Vince said.
Vince knew very well what was about to happen. While the Shumaker family sat in a doctor's office a day after his injury, they watched as D-backs pitcher Archie Bradley took a Carlos Gonzalez liner to the face. Nick's doctor got an idea: maybe he could set up a visit with Bradley.
"Archie comes in, he just puts his head around the door, (Nick) lit up like a Christmas tree right off the bat," Vince said. "He looked like a raccoon, Archie had a nice big (black eye)."
The two took selfies and talked about their injuries for about an hour. Vince said they looked like brothers and in Bradley's words, it's a friendship that could be built to last.
Just got done visiting with my buddy @Itz_Just_Nick at the @PhxChildrens took a line drive to the face just like me pic.twitter.com/uri5meSpcl
— Archie Bradley (@ArchieBradley7) May 2, 2015
"I think I got out of it more than he did," Bradley said. "You get to share that moment with his family, share pictures and stories, and then just comfort him. He had it a lot worse than I did. It also put things in perspective to see how lucky I was to come out of it with minor injuries; he just got out of face surgery. I think it's going to be a friendship that carries on for quite a while."
Bradley might be incorrect on one account. Nick cooly took in the D-backs' batting practice before their game against the Padres, but his expression didn't exactly indicate how much the experience moved him.
"It just picked him up and he's driven even more to get back to baseball next year," Vince said.
Nick has yet to be cleared by doctors to play baseball again, but that he's certain a return is in the future might be the perfect ending to two baseball players' stories that could've ended worse. In a weird sort of way, getting hit by a baseball has only fueled Nick's passion for the game.
"I'm not going to stop doing what I love," he said.
