SURPRISE, Ariz. —
Basking in the Arizona sun is a 6-feet-5-inches lefty ready to spread his wings.
Chris Nunn is a minor league relief pitcher for the Texas Rangers. He's never been called up to the big leagues, and this season may be his last chance.
His swan song.
"For most people, it’s not a swift ride up," he said.
Drafted by the San Diego Padres in 2012, Nunn was a rising star with a promising career — until a hip injury and a facial fracture set him back.
"There would be nights I stayed up til 2 a.m. talking to her, when there were challenging times. She always answered the phone,” Nunn said of his mother.
Nunn's mother, Diane, has been always been his rock.
"It seems like in the low or down times, for whatever reason, Chris is able to swim harder upstream," Diane said.
After bouncing around the minors with the Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros, Nunn reached a crossroads.
"There are days you’re happy to be here, but there are other days you’re homesick and you don’t know if you should keep going," Nunn admitted. "But, it’s always been the desire to see this thing through for my family that keeps me going.”
28 years old and without a job, Chris Nunn didn't give up hope.
On a day in mid-January, Nunn walked into his old college bullpen at Lipscomb University with a ball, a glove — and a camera rolling.
"I knew I was feeling good," Nunn said. "But, I didn’t think it would do what it did.”
Nunn clocked 99 mph on the radar gun.
The video of his bullpen session was posted on Twitter and the Flatground app. Since then, it's been viewed more than 375,000 times.
"I think I got 10-plus calls in a day or two," Nunn recalled.
The Rangers were among the teams interested.
"Some of our scouts had seen him and recommended him," Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said.
A week later, Nunn signed a minor league deal with the Rangers — the day after his mother started chemotherapy.
In November 2018, Diane was diagnosed with Stage 1B breast cancer.
"If I make her proud with my actions, then I’m doing right,” Nunn said.
Nunn is an only child from Memphis. His mother still lives there, while his father Rick resides three hours northeast in Nashville.
As fate would have it, the Rangers' new AAA affiliate is the Nashville Sounds.
"So if I’m in AAA, we’d be playing in Memphis for my mom's birthday and then Mother’s Day," Nunn said.
Make no mistake, the southpaw wants to make his MLB debut and play for the Rangers.
But, if he ends up in AAA Nashville?
"It’s a nice second place," Nunn said with a smile.
Nunn wears his heart under his sleeve.
"I’ve always wanted a tattoo," Nunn said. "I just needed meaning behind it.”
He didn't have to look far.
“That depicts my mom," Nunn said as he displayed a swan tattoo on his right wrist. "Depicting my mom always being there for me.”
His mom, Diane.
Diane Swan.