Nicholas Quinn Decolati (born August 12, 1997) is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

right fielder A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the ...

who is a free agent.

Amateur career

Decolati was born in

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city in Boulder County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most ...

, before moving to

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

due to his father's job; he attended Cimarron-Memorial High School in Las Vegas. As a junior in 2014, he batted .414 with eight home runs. In 2015, Decolati senior year, he hit .411 with ten home runs, 25 RBI, and 39 runs, and was named the Southern Nevada Player of the Year. After graduating high school in 2015, Decolati enrolled at

Loyola Marymount University Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. LMU enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, making it the largest Catholic university on the west coast of the ...

where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

. As a freshman in 2016, he played in 47 games (making forty starts) in which he hit .306 with four home runs and 33 RBI, earning a spot on the All-

West Coast Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting o ...

Freshman Team. In 2017, Decolati played in 56 games, slashing .320/.426/.432 with four home runs and 24 RBI. That summer, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

for the

Orleans Firebirds The Orleans Firebirds, formerly the Orleans Cardinals, are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Orleans, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's East Division. The Firebirds play ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over 1,000 forme ...

, where he was named a league all-star. As a junior in 2018, Decolati started 54-of-55 games and batted .271 with six home runs and 21 RBI.

Professional career

After his junior year, he was selected by the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. Th ...

in the sixth round, with the 186th overall selection, of the

2018 Major League Baseball draft The 2018 Major League Baseball draft began on June 4, 2018. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order was determined based on the reverse order of the 2017 MLB season final standings. In addition, compensation pi ...

. Decolati signed with the Rockies and was assigned to the Grand Junction Rockies of the Rookie-level Pioneer League. After being a third baseman all through high school and college, the Rockies immediately moved him to right field, where he was subsequently named an All-Star. Over 69 games in Grand Junction, Decolati batted .327 with 11 home runs and 56 RBI. In 2019, he missed time at the beginning of the year after suffering a broken wrist, but returned to play in June with the

Asheville Tourists The Asheville Tourists are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the Houston Astros. It is located in Asheville, North Carolina. Asheville teams have played under the Tourists moniker in different ...

of the

Single-A Single-A, formerly known as Class A and sometimes as Low-A, is the fourth-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States, below Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A, Double-A (baseball), Double-A, and High-A. There are 30 teams cl ...

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its h ...

, hitting .265 with six home runs and 38 RBI over 77 appearances. Decolati did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Decolati was assigned to the Spokane Indians of the High-A West for the 2021 season, slashing .264/.341/.402 with 11 home runs, 56 RBI, and 26 stolen bases over 100 games. He spent the 2022 season with the Hartford Yard Goats of the Double-A Eastern League but missed time due to injury. Over 44 appearances for Hartford, Decolati slashed .199/.327/.277 with one home run and 17 RBI. In 2024, Decolati played in only 10 games for the rookie-level Arizona Complex League Rockies, hitting .143/.333/.143 with three RBI and one stolen base. He elected free agency following the season on November 4, 2024.

References

External links

Loyola Marymount bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Decolati, Niko Living people 1997 births Arizona Complex League Rockies players Asheville Tourists players Grand Junction Rockies players Hartford Yard Goats players Loyola Marymount Lions baseball players Minor league baseball players Orleans Firebirds players Spokane Indians players 21st-century American sportsmen