Plum alum gives the gift of cleats

A former Plum High School baseball player is giving back to the program that gave so much to him.

Nick Frazetta, a 2015 graduate, donated new cleats to each member of this year’s varsity team.

He presented the cleats in person to the team in March, an experience that both he and Plum baseball head coach Carl Vollmer thought was really cool. Frazetta took the time while donating the cleats to share about his journey after leaving high school.

“Nick stopped by practice to give the players their new spikes. Obviously the players were excited and appreciative,” said Vollmer. “He talked to them for a few minutes from the perspective of a recent graduate and handed out the spikes. It was a cool day and moment for our program, and I am proud to be a part of it.”

The idea behind the donation stems from Frazetta wishing that team cleats were something he had when he played for Plum. He allowed the seniors to pick whatever cleats they wanted before coordinating the gift with the team’s boosters.

Frazetta said that this won’t be a one-time donation, and Plum baseball can expect yearly team cleats picked out by that year’s seniors. He said he’d like to find other ways to help the organization, as well.

“Something I always thought would be cool would be team cleats,” said Frazetta. “And I’m in the fortunate position in my life where I’m able to give back.”

It wasn’t just the dream of seeing Plum baseball share footwear that inspired Frazetta to give. It was something he always wanted to do after his graduation. He envisioned giving back to the team that helped make him the person he is today, once he was financially able to do so. What he didn’t foresee was being able to do so not even 10 years after his high school graduation.

At 24, Frazetta is a partner in a wealth management company based in Murrysville. He found the company following a talk with his barber after college. Just like he dreamed of donating to his alma mater, it was his dream to have a successful career in wealth management. As of now, he’s living it and wants that to be his message to current seniors on the squad.

“I’m not really that much older than them,” said Frazetta about his message to the team. “I really want to provide them with, more than anything, a resource. They all have my contact information and can reach out to me at any time.”

The importance of serving as a resource was something he learned in high school.

“We used to hear it all the team from teachers and coaches, and it’s very beneficial. But when they’re closer in age, I think it’s a bigger impact. And I want to be that for them, especially when you see alumni like Pat McAfee,” Frazetta said about the sports analyst, wrestler and and former pro football player. “They give so much back to the community, and they’re such an influence on the community,”

The idea for the donation — about 20 pairs of cleats, worth approximately $1,400 — came to be when Frazetta reconnected with his Vollmer, who also had been his coach during one of Plum’s most successful periods in baseball. In Frazetta’s junior season, the team went 25-2, with the losses coming in the WPIAL and PIAA championship games, while also producing the 15th overall pick of the 2016 Major League Baseball first-year player draft, the Minnesota Twins’ Alex Kiriloff.

Vollmer described Frazetta as a leader and all-section player, saying he had been “really mature and displayed the mentality, discipline and maturity of a player that you knew was going to go on and succeed at whatever he chose to do.”

“Receiving a donation like this is an honor,” said Vollmer. “The fact that Nick felt impacted enough by our program to give back is special. It means a lot to me, the coaches and the players that he was willing to be so generous to our program. This is a special program because of actions like this and the players shaping our level of success on and off the field.”