Vandy Boys: Seniors Nate Schlote and Colton Sims recently committed to play Division 1 baseball at Vanderbilt University

Seniors Nate Schlote and Colton Sims have dreamed of playing college baseball since they were 8 years old. 

Last year, when a Duke recruiting coordinator contacted Schlote, he began awaiting his offer. 

But months after the recruiter reached out, Scholte still hadn’t received anything from the Duke baseball coach. Schlote was later contacted again by the same person — but he was now a coach at Vanderbilt. 

According to Schlote, Vanderbilt was a long time dream for him, checking every one of his boxes for a college. He wanted a college that would win, somewhere he could be a helpful addition to the team and also a school that could help prepare him for the MLB. 

After Vanderbilt expressed their interest in Schlote, he went to Nashville to talk to the coaches and tour the campus, locker room and fields — to his surprise, they gave him an offer right on the spot. 

“I took [the offer] the next day,” Schlote said. “I didn’t need any time to think about it.” 

When Schlote thought it couldn’t get any better, his close friend and teammate Sims committed there as well.

Vanderbilt seemed eager to recruit Sims considering he got a call on Aug. 1 — the first day colleges are allowed to begin the recruiting process  — going into his junior year. 

After weeks of talking back and forth with the coaches, Sims decided to commit in October, a few months after his first call.

“My mom and dad always just told me that once you get on campus, you have a different feeling,” Sims said. When I got on campus, it hit me, and I knew [I belonged there].”

With family and friends giving the duo an abundance of support and encouragement over the years, Scholte and Sim’s former highschool coach Will Gordon, has been a major role model in both of their baseball careers.

“Anytime [Sims] is on the field, he’s going to have a smile on his face,” Gordon said “That is the coolest thing. He really enjoys the game.”

According to NCSA, less than 2% of high school baseball players are selected to play college baseball. Additionally the class of 2025 for Shawnee Mission East has a recruiting class of 13 people. The last East commit to Vanderbilt dates back to 2015.

Schlote and Sims have been playing baseball together since youth. They’ve gone from sweating at East baseball camps to playing on varsity together since freshman year.

“I think Vanderbilt is a good fit for those two, and the discipline and the style of play that they have at Vanderbilt is perfect for both those guys and their personalities,” Gordon said. “I really think they’re going to compete at a very high level.”

Along with support from their coaches and teammates, their parents have been a major help in the process by showing up to games, taking them to practice, paying for new equipment and more.

“It kind of goes unseen how much my parents do, they sacrifice so much for my dream,” Sims said. “It’s really amazing.”

Now, as they begin this new chapter in their careers to eventually reach their end goals of the MLB, this commitment is critical to the process.

“It’s just everything happens so fast,” Schlote said. “And once you take a step back, it’s like ‘this is crazy.”

“I won’t really feel [it] till I get there, and I’m like holy crap, this is insane.” Schlote said.