CAA
Before the headline-grabbing deal, came an attention-seizing hype video.
Andrew Nacario has helped innovate MLB free agency presentations at CAA Sports, with Trea Turner’s case serving as the quintessential example. Nacario, CAA’s co-head of baseball with 16 years of experience at the agency, wrote the script for Turner’s free agency video in late 2022, which was narrated by actor Jon Hamm, another CAA client. The video, which preceded a $300 million contract offer from the Phillies that Turner signed, garnered more than a million views online.
Andrew Nacario
Co-Head of Baseball, CAA Sports
Age: 39
Born: San Diego
Education: Dartmouth College, B.A., government
Family: Spouse, Katy; children, Charlie (5), McKenna (1)
Advice to my 20-year-old self: Developing relationships that last decades will be the most rewarding part of the journey.
What my friends/family think I do all day: Watch baseball and talk on the phone.
How I deal with stress in the workplace: Morning workouts.
Cause supported: Communities in Schools.
App I use most: Peloton.
First social media platform I signed up for: Facebook.
Social media platform I use/follow the most today: X.
Person in sports business I’d most like to meet: Bob Myers.
Sports business leaders should be more mindful of … : Mentorship and career development of the next generation.
Most pressing issue facing my generation is … : Letting social media dictate thoughts and moods.
“Trea is such an exciting player, so we wanted to do something different,” Nacario said. “The video was more for the fans and something to generate excitement heading into free agency. But the buzz that it generated within front offices was fun for them, too. It was certainly more entertaining to hear Jon Hamm and watch a Trea Turner highlight reel than go through a binder of his stats.”
Though Turner’s contract was the biggest negotiated by Nacario, his career has been laced with big wins for his clients. Another recent example is the $106.75 million contract extension for Bryan Reynolds with the Pittsburgh Pirates, which marked the largest deal in franchise history.
Nacario began his career at CAA in 2007 as its first sports agent trainee. He later became the agency’s first baseball employee in Nashville when he relocated from New York in 2014. CAA’s baseball department now includes nine employees in the Nashville office, with Nacario leading the agency’s expansion efforts in the Southeast through the hiring and development of young agents and executives.
Since Nacario joined the agency, CAA Baseball has negotiated more than $6 billion in major league contracts. — Erik Bacharach
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