A prodigal son returns to French baseball
MONTPELLIER — Every year, a handful of young French prospects head to the United States, often with dreams — as noble as they may be — of turning pro. Most start at a community college. From there, a few pursue four-year university programs.
But what happens next? What occurs when a player goes as far as they can go, when opportunities to play or coach across the ocean run dry?
That was the scenario Nolan Soliveres faced at the end of last summer when he returned to France after five years in Florida, first at a community college, later as a student-athlete at Webber International University, and finally as an instructor at the Fortuna Training Facility near Tampa.
The work at Fortuna was something the 24-year-old trilingual enjoyed. And if circumstances had been different, he might still be there.
“I loved that place and would have loved to stay, but it was the end of the visa,” Nolan told Baseblog earlier this week during a brief visit to the Greg Hamilton Baseball Park in Montpellier.
“It was another door closing.”
A “Warrior” in Florida (Credit: WIU)
A few years earlier, the young Frenchman — one of the country’s brightest baseball talents — had faced an even greater disappointment. Listed for the MLB draft, Nolan ultimately went unselected.
But here’s the interesting thing about missed opportunities: when one door closes, as they say, another is bound to open. And that’s ultimately what happened for Nolan — in his hometown of Toulouse, no less!
It’s there that he recently landed a job at the country’s premier baseball academy, Pôle France Baseball, which he himself attended before heading to the United States.
Not only that, but the city’s baseball club, Stade Toulousain, recently announced that Nolan would also be working for them, as a coach for the youth teams, and that starting in April, he would play for their D1 team, which finished seventh last year in the 11-team French championship.
“As a player, the goals are simple,” he says. “We want to reach the top of the standings and also win the Challenge de France. I just want to reach the top.”
A warm welcome from club president Arnaud Bonjour (Credit: STB)
Baseball in his blood
Nolan was born in Paris but moved to Toulouse when he was just three years old. His return is therefore a homecoming in every sense of the word. And it was with Stade Toulousain, in fact, that he played his first organized baseball, training every Wednesday and Saturday and competing in the same youth categories he will now oversee as a coach.
But what Nolan describes as his “baseball culture” also comes from another source: his family ties to Venezuela. It’s there that his mother grew up and where Nolan — before the country’s economic and political situation took such a complicated turn — regularly spent summers as a child, often attending baseball summer camps.
Playing in Venezuela, one of the world’s best baseball countries, gave Nolan an advantage that served him well in France, where at the start of his adolescence, he was invited to attend the Montpellier Pôle Espoir academy and later Pôle France, back in Toulouse.
From there, he had the opportunity to play baseball at Hillsborough Community College, where he spent two years before transferring to Webber. In the meantime, Nolan was selected to play in different age categories with the French national team, ultimately earning a spot on the senior team, with which he played last September at the European Baseball Championships in northern Italy.
It was another opportunity that presented itself with his recent return to France, as well as a chance, starting at the end of August, to play for Montpellier’s Barracudas, who then won the Challenge de France tournament before falling to Rouen’s Huskies, the eventual D1 champions, in the championship semifinals.
With the Hawks of Hillsborough Community College (Credit: HCC)
Playing with passion
It was a roaring return to French baseball, in other words. “A blessing,” says Nolan. But the experience also came with a few bumps in the road. The charismatic catcher struggled behind the plate, and at both the Challenge and the European Championships, he went hitless.
What Nolan hasn’t lost, though, is the joyful approach he brings to the game. He also plays with swagger, but usually with a big smile on his face. It’s also something he suspects comes from his Venezuelan side.
“All I can say is that I got it from my mother,” says Nolan, laughing. “I just want to have fun all the time. I love practicing this sport. It’s my passion. So I just remind myself every day that I’m doing something I love.”
The French team invited Nolan to join them in Italy (Credit: Le Baseblog)
That approach served him well several weeks after the Euros when the Franco-Venezuelan found himself facing ace Yoimer Camacho in a win-or-go-home scenario against the Huskies.
It was the third game of the best-of-five playoff series between Montpellier and the champions. The Barracudas had already lost the first two games and risked being swept.
But in this match, Montpellier’s pitcher Erly Casanova from Cuba threw a gem to keep the Huskies scoreless, and in the seventh inning, against Camacho — who was also pitching a shutout at that point — Nolan unleashed on a fastball that soared over the left-field fence.
The home run gave the Barracudas their only run of the game, but it was enough to give them the crucial victory, and give Camacho, a Venezuelan, his only loss since joining D1 in 2019.
“I was like 0 for 30 more or less,” says Nolan about his slump. “But I never hang my head. I kept grinding and talking to the coaches. And it opened my eyes a bit, so yeah… [against Camacho] I was looking for a pitch. I got my pitch and I gave it a good swing. I controlled the controllable and the ball went far.”
Nolan was a “happy camper” at the Challenge (Credit: Le Baseblog)
Setting an example
The goal will now be to bring that same fight — as well as his joy for the game — to his new team, the Tigres de Toulouse. But in the perspective of this next chapter in his career, Nolan insists that he is not focusing solely on personal performance.
He is also deeply committed to coaching, he says, to be a leader on and off the field. He wants to leverage the experience gained abroad and reinvest it in French baseball. He wants to guide the next generation of players, both at Pôle France and within the Stade Toulousain club.
“I’m really happy to be home,” says Nolan. “Toulouse is where I grew up, and it’s where I want to help develop baseball, both as a coach and as a player — for the team, but also for the kids and the fans.”
Benjamin Witte Le Baseblog
