[New] In changing times, is there a process behind your investment plan?

A fast-evolving environment may mean unexpected changes to your financial life. Our Envision® planning process is a goals-based planning tool that helps you explore your life goals, plan your investments around meaningful benchmarks and track your progress towards them. Put our team – and our technology – to work for you.

If it’s time to resync – or rethink – your approach, we’re available for a complimentary review using appropriate social distancing for your safety.

Dick Barrett

Managing Director – Investments 111 South Lincoln Street, Suite 200 Hinsdale, IL 60521 (630) 734-8910 richard.barrett@wellsfargoadvisors.com www.barrettgroup.wfadv.com

Jessie Barrett, CFP®

Managing Director – Investments 111 South Lincoln Street, Suite 200 Hinsdale, IL 60521 (630) 734-8909 jessie.barrett@wellsfargoadvisors.com www.barrettgroup.wfadv.com

Wells Fargo Advisors is a trade name used by Wells Fargo Clearing Services LLC, Member SIPC, a registered broker-dealer and non-bank affiliate of Wells Fargo & Company. ©2021 Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC. All rights reserved. CAR-0121-00262

Every young baseball player’s dream came true for Downers Grove brothers Nick and Zack Burdi. Starting with neighborhood pick-up games, through Little League and travel teams, the brothers Burdi now pitch in the major league. Nick, drafted in 2014, played minors in Cedar Rapids, IA and Chattanooga, TN. After making his major league debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he met with a few setback injuries. He now hangs his hat with the San Diego Padres.

Zack was drafted in 2016 and started out in the minors in Birmingham and Charlotte. Also having to deal with several injuries, he eventually fulfilled his childhood dream of playing for the White Sox, followed by the Baltimore Orioles. Zack was signed by the Washington Nationals in May of this year.

HOW DID YOU START PLAYING BASEBALL?

Zack: We attended District 58 schoolsIndian Trail, O’Neill Middle School and Downers Grove South. Nick is two years older than me, and our older brother Drew is seven years older than me. Both of my brothers played Downers Grove Youth Baseball, so I played in that league until I was ten or so. Coming up through that system was fun. There were a lot of neighborhood players and we got to know their families.

Nick: After that, we played for the Downers Grove Longshots, now the Illinois Longshots. It started out as just Downers Grove kids, but now it’s a rather sizeable travel ball team that gets a lot of the good players from all over IL. It was a great experience.

DID YOU EVER PLAY ON THE SAME TEAM?

Zack: We played with the other neighborhood kids in games together, but we didn’t play together much on the same team, unless Nick’s team needed an extra arm. Freshman year of college at University of Louisville was the first time we ever actually played on the same team. It was great being able to experience college together and have such talented teammates. The program was on the upswing Nick’s freshman year, so the timing was perfect.

Nick: Growing up, Zack was the batboy for my team. Other than that, we only played together if my team needed a fill-in. My junior year and Zack’s freshman year of college was the first time we played on the same team. It was a very exciting year, as was it my second trip to the college world series, and his first.

WOULD YOU SAY THE ATMOSPHERE IN YOUR HOME WAS MORE COMPETITIVE OR ENCOURAGING?

Zack: It was a mix. Both Nick and I really emulated our older brother, Drew. He was a huge influence over us. He had a natural discipline and work ethic that we both realized. He put in many early mornings and late nights, with both school and athletics. Watching him progress was very motivating for Nick and me. He ended up playing football at Western Michigan, and later became a successful surgeon. While it wasn’t the same path Nick and I took, his example was one we both followed. It eventually landed us in the same college program. As Nick and I got older and shared a locker room and classroom, any competition morphed into encouragement. Helping each other out was a big part our rise to the major league.

Nick: It was always competitive in our house, whether we were playing basket- ball, baseball, or video games. It’s been a mindset for us since we were kids. Some of our buddies went on to play Division I baseball. That atmosphere can start early with a group of guys who are serious about a pursuit. It was always the norm to us. Baseball is a business too. It’s competitive, like anything else. Everyone is kind of scratching and clawing their way to the top.

HOW WAS IT TO BE DRAFTED? I READ YOU HAVE MOVED AROUND A LOT SINCE THEN. ANY FAVORITE STOPS?

Zack: The 2016 draft was an incredible experience! The event itself is kind of weird in the fact that one pick can affect a team’s whole draft board. Our friends and family came down to Louisville and watched it with us. There was a group of about 40 players and 35 family members. Eventually it came down to me going to the Sox. There was so much excitement with my college teammates and family. I think we had five guys get drafted that first night. It was amazing. I was selected twenty-sixth overall in the first round.

As far as traveling for work, when I played for Baltimore, that division is Toronto, New York, Boston and Tampa. I saw a lot of beautiful cities back-to-back. It’s always amazing going out west to Seattle and Arizona and L.A. I’m fortunate that the game allows me to get around the country and see so many friends and family that I might not get to see otherwise.

That’s a definite perk. I like to get up early sometimes and hike around a city. It’s not always that way, though. Sometimes you don’t finish playing until late, then get back to the hotel at midnight, and have to be back at the field the next morning at 11. Sometimes it’s more of a grind than other times.

Nick: I’m with the Padres. I’m on my third team now. I was with the Twins and the Pirates before this. I was drafted in the second round to the Twins. All the teams are fun, because everyone has the same goals and aspirations, so I don’t know if there’s a clear-cut favorite, but if I had to pick one, it would be the Pirates, because I spent the most time in the big league with them. They’re a younger team, so it was kind of exciting. But San Diego has the weather!

WHAT ROLE DID YOUR PARENTS PLAY IN YOUR SUCCESS?

Zack: Our parents were amazingly dedicated. They were definitely part of the grind. They were always there for us, encouraging us. Growing up, my mom would have loved for us to go on a family trip together during the summer, but there was no way she could ever get us to miss a baseball tournament to go on vacation!

They’re still very encouraging. It kind of depends on where we’re playing, but they try to make it to our games. They would obviously rather come to New York or Boston to catch a game than Rome, GA!

Nick: Our parents were always very encouraging. They always told us to follow our dreams. When I was about 15 or 16, I started getting some scholarship offers. That’s when I really got serious about this. It’s what I wanted to do. My parents always supported us. They had our backs on it. They wanted us to know that if this is what we wanted to do, we had to go full steam. And we did.

WHAT TEAM DID YOU FOLLOW GROWING UP? WHO WERE YOUR INSPIRATIONS?

Zack: The Sox. I was ten when they won the ’05 World Series. That was a huge deal for everybody. I was just as glad when the Cubs won a few years later. To play for the Sox was my dream, since I was a little kid. I would have played for anybody, but it was a special honor to be able to play for them. I spent two summers playing in front of friends and family. When I came back from an away trip, I came home to a familiar place. Most guys never get to play for their hometown team.

For me, Nomar Garciaparra and Derek Jeter were my heroes. All the Chicago guys, too- Bobby Jenks, Mark Buehrle, and Chris Sale. That whole group from ’05 up to ’13 played a part in inspiring my baseball career.

Nick: I didn’t really watch a lot of baseball as a kid, surprisingly. I didn’t get into it until I was a teenager. I mostly watched football. It was definitely my favorite sport. Growing up The Bears was my favorite team. There weren’t really many professional athletes I looked up to. I liked Randy Johnson a lot because I met him, but it was never really a baseball thing. I have a framed, autographed photo of Walter Payton that is one of my favorite things I own. I was too young to ever see him play, but he and Michael Jordan are Chicago legends.

WHO WOULD YOU WANT TO SHOUT OUT TO?

Zack: Assistant Coaches Spidey, Parpet and Coach Orel at Downers Grove South. And Coach Rooney from the Downers Grove Longshots. All of these guys played a huge part in my success.

Nick: Coach Orel, the head coach at Downers Grove South, deserves a lot of praise, not even just from myself, but for a lot of the other baseball players that have come down the pipeline the last few years. Coach Rooney from the Longshots, too. He started that program seventeen years ago. There were only three teams in the beginning. Now it’s one of the biggest organizations in the Midwest. He changed a lot of kids’ lives, whether by enabling scholarships, signing bonuses, or giving kids the opportunity to play competitive baseball. ■