Royals Reliever Nick Mears' Winding, Bumpy Road To The Major Leagues

Nick Mears describes himself as a calm guy who, off the field, loves the peace and quiet of nature and rural areas. But in contrast, he admits — and former teammates confirm — that he’s incredibly intense when he takes the mound. 

As is true for many players, his path to the majors was full of challenges. Mears pitched for Rocklin High School near Sacramento. He blew out his elbow in his senior year of high school, but, not wanting to miss this special year in any young player’s trajectory, he played through it without an intact ligament, still throwing 92. He went on to have Tommy John surgery after high school, gray-shirting in his first year at Sacramento City College to rehab. He missed his second year of college due to injury as well, this time involving an off-field dirt bike accident that snapped his collarbone in half.

Mears had mixed success in his final years of college, but, after an impressive stint with Minnesota’s Northwoods League, he had his eye on getting drafted. In his final college year, his effectiveness increased, as did attention from pro scouts. Then, in a span of a few months, life hit him hard: a grandfather-like figure passed away, his uncle took his own life, another grandpa passed away, and a former teammate committed suicide. 

In speaking candidly about this series of losses in interviews, Mears describes not being able to handle all of it at once. He tried to suppress the feelings, but says those feelings were eating him up from the inside. His life was slowly falling apart, and he felt depressed. His coaches, seeing him struggle, called his parents without Mears' knowledge and brought everyone together for a meeting. They told him they loved him and knew he could still contribute to the team, but suggested it might be best for him personally to take some time away from baseball. Because baseball was such a core part of his identity, Mears felt somewhat thrown that stepping away from the sport was even an option. 

This was a pivotal learning experience, and Mears credits his coaches for having his back and helping him see how important it was to take care of his well-being off the field. He did take some time away from baseball, but found his way back via a second successful stretch in the Northwoods League. This led to offers from a handful of MLB teams, and the right-handed reliever eventually signed with the Pirates as an undrafted minor-league free agent in August of 2018. 

Mears came up through the Pirates organization relatively quickly, making his big league debut in August of 2020. After appearing in 36 games across the 2020-22 seasons, he was designated for assignment and picked up by the Rockies. He started the 2023 season in Triple A, but was called up again in April. He bounced back and forth between Triple A and the big league club all year, in part because of two stints on the IL and associated rehab assignments thanks to a nagging left oblique strain. All told, he pitched in 57 big league games for the Rockies before they traded him to the Brewers at the 2024 trade deadline. 

It was in the full 2025 season with the Brewers, an exciting crew that had the winningest regular season in baseball that year, that Mears really seemed to find his stride. Relying mostly on his fastball and slider combo, with an occasional curve thrown in, he posted a 3.49 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, and 14.9 K-BB% — the best marks of his career so far — across 63 appearances. He also garnered an elite chase rate that ranked in the 93rd percentile across MLB. This success was part of what made him an enticing trade piece. He was traded, along with Isaac Collins, to the Royals in December 2025, so he’s about to settle in with his fourth MLB organization in his career. 

Mears has spoken openly about the ups and downs of his career and how important it is to keep the mental side of the game healthy. For him, that starts with setting very lofty but attainable goals, maintaining his high work ethic, and also seeing himself as a whole person first and as a baseball player as just one part of his identity. He also says the key is to go back out each night with an edge, even if you got your teeth kicked in the night before. 

Mears says some of the players he has the most respect for in baseball are the guys grinding for years in the minors who still have an extraordinary work ethic and who are still chasing their dreams. It’s this resiliency, this day in and day out grind, that is an essential ingredient of a baseball player. 

As he begins 2026 with the Royals at 29 years old, he’ll be heading into his seventh season in the big leagues (even though many of those years have included bounces back and forth to the minors). According to MLB Royals beat reporter Anne Rogers, the Royals have had interest in Mears going back to 2023 during his time with the Rockies, and the organization anticipates him pitching mid- to high-leverage innings out of the pen. He’ll be arb-eligible and under team control through the 2027 season, and he has no options remaining.

So, how does Mears come into a new season? What’s his mindset? Two years ago in February, as he was about to start a season with the Rockies, he spoke on the To the Show podcast about coming in hungry.

“It’s easy for me to say, ‘Oh, yeah, I have a job.’ But then, at least for myself, I feel like I get complacent with that, and I want to be hungry. I want to go out there and prove it again, because nothing in this career is guaranteed. There are more guys just like me in the minor leagues who want my job. So in my eyes, I think, I got to come in, I got to prove it again. I want to prove it to not only the coaches and the team, but I want to prove it to myself.”