Dodger fans are very familiar with 26-year-old Arizona Diamondbacks infielder Nick Ahmed and with good cause. In his two seasons with the snakes, Nick is only hitting .349 against the Dodgers with a .391 on-base percentage and .635 slugging percentage for an alien-like 1.026 OPS. Among his 63 at-bats against Dodgers pitching are five home runs, three doubles and 11 RBIs. If this isn’t owning the Dodgers it most certainly qualifies as a summer rental.

But for as good as Nick Ahmad is – and he’s very good – is he the best baseball player in the Ahmed family?

Currently on the roster of the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes is Nick’s younger brother – 24-year-old Michael Ahmad – who has been lighting it up this season for the Dodgers Advanced Single-A affiliate.

Whereas Nick Ahmed was selected by the Atlanta Braves in the second round of the 2011 MLB First-Year Player Draft out of East Longmeadow High School in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, his brother Michael was selected by the Dodgers in the 20th round of the 2013 Draft from College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Nick was subsequently traded to the Diamondbacks on January 24, 2013 in the deal that also brought Randall Delgado, Brandon Drury, Martin Prado and Zeke Spruill to Arizona in exchange for Chris Johnson and Justin Upton.

“He’s just a quintessential professional,” said Quakes manager Drew Saylor of the younger Ahmed brother. “When guys like him that are not only quality baseball players but quality human beings off the field, quality human beings in the clubhouse, you can’t help but have joy in your heart and feel excited for him. He goes about his business the right way.

“I talk to my kids, I say ‘You need to watch this guy go out their and perform.’ My kids are two and four but that’s a guy, when people come to a ballpark, you want your kids, your ball players to emulate everything that he does and I think that’s really exciting for Mike,” added Saylor. “The results are the results in my opinion but whether you see him on an 0 for 4 day or on a banner day like [Saturday] it’s still the same guy, and I think that’s one of the things that is just so special about him.”

Twenty-four-year-old Michael Ahmed had his first career two-home-run game on Saturday.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Saylor’s opinion of Michael Ahmad shouldn’t be taken lightly. In fact, it should be taken with authority. Not only is he currently Michael’s manager, Saylor got a very good look at Nick Ahmed as an opposing coach when he was with the Colorado Rockies organization.

“I think there is some similarities,” said Saylor of the Ahmed brothers. “I got a chance when I was in Colorado to see Nick Ahmed from the other side whenever we played them and there’s a lot that’s similar about their game. But I think they also bring some specialties to each one of their game. I think that Mike is a guy that can definitely play shortstop where I know Nick can get over there from time to time. Mike’s arm strength, his footwork … and I’m not knocking Nick by any stretch of the imagination and obviously for Nick being able to hit from the left side helps out a little bit, he has a little bit more scoot than Mike.

“But when you look at just the makeup it’s funny for me because I’ve been able to see both of them very regularly and it’s almost they’re the same guy but they just do a couple things different than one another,” added Saylor. “I can definitely see the comparisons. For me it’s just special to have a guy like Mike and to have him here in our clubhouse.”

Through his four minor league seasons, Michael has a career slash-line of .274 / .367 / .386 for a .753 OPS. And though these numbers aren’t exactly earth-shattering, it’s what he’s doing this season that has – or at least should have – Dodger fans excited about the 6′-2″ – 195-pound multi-position infielder.

So who does Michael think is the better between the two of them? As you might expect, the younger Ahmed had nothing but the highest praise and respect for his older brother.

“I don’t mind [being compared to my brother] at all, he’s at where he’s at right now and that’s the ultimate goal,” said Michael after his first career two-home-run game on Saturday. “He’s doing a really good job there and I’ve always learned from him growing up with him, so I take that as a compliment, nothing but a compliment. But right now I’m just trying to do what I do best and grow as a player defensively and offensively and try to get better any way I can.”

Michael acknowledges that regardless of the fact that they play for rival organizations he and his brother are very close and speak with each other almost daily.

“We talk a lot, we’re very close. He’s obviously gone up in my league so he knows how it is,” Michael said. “We bounce ideas off each other, just support each other and keep each other going on what’s important in life and kind of understand what we need to do every day and become better players and better people.”

With the Dodgers and Dbacks both members of the Cactus League it was only natural that during the two spring training games between the two teams this year, much attention was given the Ahmed brothers by the media. And even though Michael wasn’t in big league camp this past spring, he appeared in five games with the Dodgers, including the two against the Dbacks. (He went 0 for 2 with a walk).

Brothers Michael and Nick Ahmed share a brotherly moment following the Dodgers-Dbacks spring training game on March 18, 2016. On this day Nick’s team bested Michael’s team by a score of 11-8.
(Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)

So what’s in store for Michael? Is there a promotion on the horizon for him that might one day lead to he and Nick facing each other in a major league game?

“They try to keep that quiet,” Michael said. “I’m just going about my business every day and try to perform out on the field when I can and be a good teammate. That’s all I’m trying to do.”

A quintessential professional indeed.

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UPDATE – June 13, 2016 1:00 pm PT:  Michael Ahmed has been named the California League Player of the Week.