RTB X Bot
Member
Grand Island High School baseball coach Kirby Wells hasn't forgotten the moment Tyler Fay called with the news.
"Hey, Alabama just offered me. What should I do?" Fay asked.
The redshirt junior right-hander had just competed at a showcase in Indianapolis, Indiana. Prior to that day, only a couple of small Division I programs had reached out.
Wells still remembers his response.
"Like, Nick Saban Alabama?"
Fay confirmed it was the Crimson Tide.
"Tell them you'll be there next year come start of fall," Wells told Fay, urging him to take "whatever offer" he got.
Fay did just that and accepted a walk-on spot. Now, he's Alabama's first pitcher to throw a nine-inning no-hitter since 1942, looking at his second SEC Tournament start and, potentially, the pros.
This is the story of Fay's unlikely journey to being Alabama's ace.
Where journey began for Alabama baseball's Tyler Fay
Fay knew he wanted to grow up to be a pro baseball player from the time he was in second grade. His father, Brian, remembers him telling anyone that would listen. However, the major leagues didn't always seem like the younger Fay's destiny."He wasn't the high school star of the show," Brian Fay told The Tuscaloosa News. "He was a great baseball player, but he wasn't who he is now yet."
Fay currently has a 4.43 ERA and is billed at 6-foot-5, 215 pounds.
In ninth grade, he was around 5-9, 120 pounds. In his 1.2 innings on JV that year, he gave up two runs on one hit. His sophomore season? Swiped by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"He was just a late grower, which I think has helped him honestly," Brian continued. "His arm hasn't fallen off yet. You know, all the stuff you worry about with kids that are too good too early."
Tyler also dreamed of attending an SEC school. It wasn't Alabama, though.
"He was a big Florida fan his whole life," Brian said. His grin could be heard through the phone from Grand Island, Nebraska, where the Fay family recently relocated from Doniphan, a town about 20 minutes down the road with a population of around 800 or so.
Flashes of no-hitter potential in high school
The overlooked Fay eventually made history against the school for which he grew up rooting.It wasn't until the fourth inning against the Gators that Brian Fay realized son hadn't given up a hit.
Out of superstition, he wasn't going to talk about it. He sat by himself as his wife, Tiffany, sat with the mother of starting pitcher Zane Adams, Amanda.
Although Tyler gained momentum and velocity on the mound, doubt crept into his father's head.
Brian Fay recalled thinking, "Alright, now nobody throws a no-hitter. Nobody even goes nine innings," confident that associate head coach Jason Jackson would make a change at the mound in the seventh inning.
Yet, in the ninth inning, out walked Fay.
He struck out the first two Gators. Then came Brendan Lawson, Florida's home run leader.
One week earlier, Fay was knocked around for eight hits in the conference opener at Kentucky.
"Oh, this kid is going to ruin it. I just know he's going to ruin it," Brian Fay thought to himself.
But Lawson flied out. With 85 pitches and 13 strikeouts, Tyler Fay held Florida to its first hitless outing since 1963.
That March 20 day wasn't his first going for a no-hitter, either.
His senior year of high school, he went six hitless innings in a district matchup against Elkhorn South, then the No. 2 team in Nebraska.
"It was one of the best high school games I've ever seen pitched," Wells told The Tuscaloosa News, admitting the "only bad part" was that Grand Island lost.
Soon after Fay's no-no, Wells sent him a text. Within about five minutes, Fay responded.
"It's cool and a tribute to how good of a kid he is," Wells said. "He's a great baseball player, but he's an even better person."
What's next in former walk-on's path to going pro?
Somewhere in the whirlwind of going from walk-on to starter to potential Major Leaguer, Fay finds time to throw bullpens with his high school team. With "Fayday" opening Alabama’s weekend series, the schedule often allows the family to relax for the weekend together.In a couple of months, that life could look very different depending on the 2026 MLB Draft. Brian Fay called Tyler's chance to play professional baseball a "dream come true."
"He's a kid from small town Nebraska, so this is pretty magical that he's even in the SEC and playing," Brian Fay said.
For now, Fay is staring down another postseason with a starting role.
That's better than what he expected for himself as a true freshman, when he didn't throw an inning and struggled to feel like he belonged at Alabama — long before he earned relief innings and eventually his first start against Mississippi State last April.
Ahead of the SEC quarterfinal matchup against Florida, Fay was asked if he thought back then that he would ever be in this position.
"Probably not," Tyler smiled.
maybe a shrimp or chicken. I question if he's eating something akin to raw tuna. 
