Nori Continuing Minor League Climb Boosted by World Baseball Classic Stardom
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
April 20, 2026
It wasn't until Dante Nori stood star-struck in the outfield grass at Houston's rollicking Daikin Park that he fully grasped the massive leap he had just accomplished.
Less than two years after helping Northville to its first Division 1 baseball title before a crowd of hundreds at McLane Stadium, Nori last month found himself playing before a partisan crowd of 38,653 against arguably the best club the United States has fielded for the World Baseball Classic.
It's a leap that few other WBC players have made and not only humbled Nori – a member of Italy's national team – but fulfilled a lifelong dream.
"You're sitting out there in left field and you look at your (defensive) shift card and you see names like Bobby Witt or Aaron Judge or Kyle Schwarber, and I was like a little kid," said Nori, who had turned 21 just five months before the start of the tournament. "You see those guys, the crowd is chanting 'USA, USA,' and it's so cool."
Nori's rapid progression from Michigan's Mr. Baseball Award honoree in 2024 to top Philadelphia Phillies prospect to the WBC could be the stuff of which movies are made. A MaxPreps All-American at Northville, Nori was the 27th overall player taken in the 2024 MLB draft. He promptly opened his professional career with 14 games at low Class A Clearwater to finish out the summer.
He began catching the eye of places like MLB.com, where he's ranked seventh among Phillies prospects, and Baseball America, where he's sixth, by sweeping across three levels of the minors in 2025 while hitting .261 with 18 doubles, 12 triples and 52 stolen bases in 62 attempts.
By the time the Phillies opted to send Nori to the prestigious Arizona Fall League last October, representatives from the Italy team scheduled to play in March's WBC were very much interested. Italy and then the Phillies okayed his participation and left the decision to Nori, who called it a no-brainer.
"Right away I said yes," he said. "I've always dreamed of that and when that dream finally comes true, it's great."
Whether it was spearheading Northville to a 2-1 win over Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice at the MHSAA Finals or helping Italy to one of the biggest upsets in WBC history – a stunning 8-6 win over Team USA – Nori said he long ago learned to deal with the pressure of the moment.
"I've always been the kind that the more pressure there is, the more I calm down," he said. "It doesn't matter if you're playing Salem High School in 30-degree weather or whether it's the WBC, it's still baseball.
"But if you told me that I'd be playing in a high school state championship game and then would be in the WBC, I wouldn't have believed you. The WBC was just great. I enjoyed the heck out of it. It's so nice when a dream comes true."
Nori admits the only time he ever got a bit antsy on a ballfield was when he caught the eye of Northville teammate Joey Broughton, now in the Milwaukee Brewers chain, during the team's 9-2 win over Bay City Western in the 2024 Semifinals. The pair, who combined to score three runs and drive in six that day, were transfixed on what the team was on the verge of accomplishing.
"I remember it was the most I've ever been hyped up," he said, "but it still wasn't about nerves."
Help for Nori in navigating a pressure-filled WBC came from an unlikely source. Italy's roster featured two other former Michigan high school baseball stars in infielder Jon Berti and center fielder Jakob Marsee, who like Nori are both from the Metro Detroit area. Berti, from Troy High School, was a Mr. Baseball finalist and all-stater in 2008 when he batted .467 with a school record 66 hits and 66 stolen bases. Marsee earned 11 varsity letters in three sports before graduating from Allen Park High School in 2019. He was taken by San Diego in the sixth round of the 2022 draft before being traded to Miami.
Nori said the pair provided a steadying influence.
"I knew they were both from Michigan, but I had never met either one," he said. "But my mom and Jakob's mom are friends, so it was kind of cool to bond with him. I had never played left field before, and he helped me with directions in playing out there. It helped me get a feel for playing."
Italy wound up being one of the WBC's best stories, winning its bracket and making the semifinals before finishing 5-1. The team was a combination of veterans such as Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino and Aaron Nola of the Phillies, but also top prospects like Nori and infielders Andrew Fischer and Sam Antonacci.
"If you look at the roster with the prospects and major leaguers, absolutely," he said of making the semifinals. "It was a blend of everything – experience and young talent who worked so well together. We all believed the same way – that we could be in the championship game. We played with a chip on our shoulder."
Nori not only enjoyed the WBC, he excelled. The 5-foot-9, 170-pound speedster wound up leading Italy in hitting with a .400 mark while adding a pair of homers, six RBIs and two stolen bases. His tournament included going 3-for-3 with two runs, two RBIs, a double and a homer against Brazil, a pair of hits and an RBI against Great Britain, a key sacrifice fly against USA and an RBI single against eventual champion Venezuela.
But maybe the biggest honor came after Nori returned home and received a late-night phone call from his father. Nori joined USA's Roman Anthony and Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Dominican Republic on the WBC all-tournament outfield.
"I was asleep about midnight, and I was kinda groggy and the phone goes off," he said. "It's my dad and he never calls that late unless it's important. I'm half asleep and confused and my dad says, "Did you see that?' It still hasn't hit me. You look (at the outfielders), and you see names like Tatis and you're the only minor leaguer on that team. That's something."
With this WBC now in the record books, Nori can now turn his attention to playing for Double-A Reading (Pa.) this summer. He's off to a solid start through the team's first eight games with a .310 batting average, seven extra-base hits and six RBIs.
As for the prospect of playing in the next WBC, Nori finds himself in a rare position. He already has Italy qualification, but since he was born in Canada he could play for that country's national team. Or if his career blossoms, he could one day play for the United States. Actually, Nori said there is little doubt what choice he'd make.
"I thought about that, playing for one of the three," he said. "But with Italy, we created such a relationship and bond that I'm locked in for Italy. There is no way I would leave that group."
PHOTOS (Top) Dante Nori (6) stands in for the next pitch during an at bat for the Reading Fightin Phils this spring. (Middle) Nori watches the home run he’d just launched travel out of McLane Stadium during Northville’s 2024 Division 1 Semifinal win over Bay City Western. (Top photo courtesy of the Reading Fightin Phils.)
Similarities Tie Slugging Pair's 1991 Pursuit of .600 Average, Paths After
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
June 11, 2024
They both remember chasing the identical goal 33 years ago.
It wasn't so much that Hastings' Nick Williams and Dwain Koscielniak of Gaylord St. Mary were aware in 1991 of becoming the first MHSAA-recognized .600 hitters in state history. What the two remember most about their magical final high school seasons has little to do with records, but simply closing out outstanding baseball careers with a bang.
"I think it was the same scenario for both of us," Williams said. "You just want to get a hit, drive the ball every time you're up."
It may be forgotten now, but in an era where tracking batting averages wasn't as simple as inserting a thumb drive and a couple clicks on a laptop, it's easy to see how the one-of-a-kind hitting exploits of Williams and Koscielniak may be overlooked. For instance, with just days left in their senior seasons neither knew they were closing in on the state record for batting average of .577 by Greg Atkinson of Maple City Glen Lake in 1985. The two were more focused on helping their teams win District titles and then beginning their summers.
About all the pair really knew was that magical seasons were about to end. Both were batting over .600, but when ballplayers are hitting that well, there's a fine line in maintaining such rare territory. As both found out – one painfully so and the other happily – every at-bat is critical. Koscielniak wound up slugging a pair of homers in his final game to finish with a .629 mark while Williams, who started the last day of his senior season with a hefty .612 mark, went hitless for the first time all spring to finish at 591.
While the chase to hit .600 is obviously an entertaining story, it's only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the amazing parallels between the lives of Koscielniak and Williams, who lived 170 miles apart growing up in Gaylord and Hastings, respectively.
Both, for example, were outstanding dual-sport athletes. Koscielniak graduated second on the Michigan football career rushing list with 5,078 yards from 1987-90, and he still owns the state single-game record of 529 yards against Pellston on Oct. 26, 1990. Williams, meanwhile, averaged 24 points per game as a senior in basketball and could have been a dual-sport athlete at the next level if not for sticking with baseball.
In addition, both went on to stellar collegiate careers. Williams was a second-team all-Mid-American Conference selection in 1995 as a junior, and Central Michigan University captain as a senior. Koscielniak played two years at Mott Community College before becoming a slugging catcher/infielder at Ferris State. He was named Player of the Year in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 1994 when he won the league’s triple crown hitting .403 with nine home runs and 37 RBIs.
Both had flirtations with pro ball as Williams was taken by the Seattle Mariners in the 48th round of the 1991 MLB draft and later drew interest from Boston and Cincinnati following his time at CMU. Koscielniak was drafted by San Diego in the 32nd round in 1994 and reached High-A a year later. He batted .261 with 32 RBIs in 64 games over two minor league seasons.
Koscielniak and Williams, who unknowingly played against each other with their college teams in 1994, also both wound up in athletics after college. Williams became an associate athletic director at Central Michigan, while Koscielniak coached baseball at Gaylord St. Mary.
There's more as both players are fathers of college-level talents. Williams' daughter Jayden ran track at Central Michigan while another daughter, Taryn, is playing volleyball at Delta College. Koscielniak's sons Steven and Christopher both played baseball at Delta College, daughter Brooke is an equestrian at Saginaw Valley State, and youngest son Brett is a three-sport athlete at Gaylord St. Mary.
If there's one more nugget which Williams and Koscielniak have in common, it’s that both credit long hours of work for becoming outstanding hitters. Williams would use a tarp in the family garage for a makeshift hitting cage, while Koscielniak's offseason hitting quarters was a cage stuck away in a pole barn. Both said they would never have approached being .600 hitters without putting in loads of extra time.
"I got my swings in several times a week in the offseason, and that really helped me," said Koscielniak, whose professional career received its earliest spark when a Ferris State science teacher/part-time MLB scout wandered past the school's gymnasium and noticed Koscielniak practicing throws to second base from his spot as catcher during winter workouts.
Williams remembers getting in about 200 at-bats with summer travel teams in Hastings, Grand Rapids and Battle Creek between his junior and senior years.
"I had a lot of success as a hitter because I put the time in," said Williams, who remembers half a dozen scouts at every Saxons game as a senior. "I didn't play a fall sport, and I put in a lot of time just hitting. I became aware of being able to hit the ball the other way, and I think my confidence began to grow."
As for approaching the .600 mark during their final seasons, Williams and Koscielniak said they were blissfully unaware of any state batting records. Williams does recall never considering trying to preserve a .600 average by taking a game off down the stretch.
"No, I never (had) a thought of that – not even a conversation," he said. "A lot of time has passed since then, but I don't remember sitting out at all. No way. I was always going to play, and that's it."
Koscielniak also doesn't recall worrying about hitting 600. While Koscielniak was the first .600 hitter in state history, only 17 others have gone on to become MHSAA-recognized .600 batters. Dan Taylor of Kingsley holds the state record for highest average with a .688 mark in 2007.
Koscielniak also hit 17 home runs as a senior and finished his career with 35, which continues to rank eighth on that statewide all-time list.
"Back then if you loved the game, you just played. How it turned out for me is how it turned out," he said. "I was competitive and played hard. I played well at Mott and then Ferris State, and the door opened up for me a little."
Williams and Koscielniak remember one huge drawback in trying to hit .600: walks. Pitchers would simply not give them anything to hit. Williams remembers a doubleheader against Coldwater where he hit home runs in his first at-bats in both games, then received two intentional walks in both games. Koscielniak's two homers in his final game were followed by two intentional walks.
Such a stingy pitching philosophy was par for the course, they say.
"That becomes very difficult for a hitter," Williams said. "You have to be dialed in when you get your opportunities. It was a fun year for me, but a struggle at times because (the walks) make you feel like you're not doing your job for the team.
"I don't think hitting .600 was a big deal. We didn't talk about stats and those things. You keep track a little, but I had no idea till the end of the year. And in the end, it's not about stats. I loved playing baseball."
These days, Williams is an instructor as part of the physical education and sport faculty at CMU, teaching courses on professional and collegiate athletics. Koscielniak is an operation manager for Schwan’s Food Service and with his wife Liz owns the Gaylord Equestrian Center.
PHOTOS (Top) Dwain Koscielniak, left, and Nick Williams stand for recent photos; they were the state’s top high school hitters in 1991 as both pursued a .600 batting average. (Middle) They continue to rank among the elite on the MHSAA record book list for top batting averages for a single season. (Photos courtesy of Koscielniak and Williams.)