First-round pick Dante Nori has known Kyle Schwarber since he was 7 years old. Now, they’re teammates.

PITTSBURGH — Fred Nori recruited Kyle Schwarber to Indiana when he was in high school. He coached him while he was there. He has spent every winter in recent memory throwing long toss to the Phillies’ slugger at a facility in Middletown, Ohio, where they both live. It’s not how every 81-year-old wants to spend their time, but Nori doesn’t give it a second thought. He wants Schwarber to succeed, and he loves helping him do that.

He has never asked for tickets, free gear, or any other perk, so Schwarber has found creative ways to help Nori. Sometimes, he will plow snow off of Nori’s driveway. Sometimes, he will give Nori a ride to the batting cage.

But the biggest way Schwarber has helped him is the mentorship of Nori’s grandson, Dante. Last Sunday night, that mentorship entered a new chapter, when the Phillies selected Dante in the first round of the MLB draft. They’ll see each other in Clearwater, Fla., this spring.

“I’m very excited,” Dante said. “It’ll make it even more comfortable. Not that meeting new people is bad, but having him to guide me along the way will be great.”

They first met in 2012. Schwarber was a freshman at Indiana, and Dante was a skinny 7-year-old kid. He had an unusual childhood. Dante’s father, Micah, currently is an assistant coach for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Micah made a point of bringing his son around NBA locker rooms, so he could see how world-class basketball players worked.

By the time he was 4, Dante was on a first-name basis with Chris Bosh and Vince Carter. He got to know DeMar DeRozan, Philly natives Kyle Lowry and Alvin Williams, and more, as Micah worked coaching gigs across the NBA. The shine of being around famous athletes quickly wore off.

Shortly after Bosh was traded to the Heat, Dante and his mother, Melissa, attended a Raptors-Heat game in Toronto. As they walked past the visitors’ room, Dante saw Bosh lining up to jog onto the court. He gave him a hug, and turned toward LeBron James, who was standing behind him.

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James tried to give him a high five. Dante didn’t accept it.

“I know you are,” he said, “but I’m a Raptors fan.”

Dante wasn’t starstruck by Schwarber, either. He didn’t want autographs or photos; he wanted to learn. The former Indiana slugger was happy to oblige. When he was younger, they’d play catch on the warning track. After Schwarber was called up by the Cubs, Dante began to follow his games on TV.

He saw every step of Schwarber’s progression from college to the big leagues. He was so impressed by it, that he honored the Phillies’ DH in the best way he knew how.

“I decided to dress up as him for Halloween,” he said.

The younger Nori did it again the next year, but this time with a crutch. Schwarber had torn his ACL at the beginning of the 2016 season.

“I was like, ‘You know what? I’ll be hurt Kyle this year,’” Nori said.

For the past four years, the Phillies’ draft pick has driven from Michigan to Middletown so he can work with Schwarber at his batting cage. Sometimes, their sessions are one-on-one. Sometimes, Schwarber has a separate hitting coach there, and, sometimes, Fred is there. But Dante always feels like he takes something away from it.

“He’s worked with him a lot,” Fred said. “It was a good opportunity for him. They’re both disciplined hitters. That’s the way Kyle was, and my grandson, Dante, is the same way. Of course, Kyle is so strong and more of a home run guy, and Dante hits for contact. But they both know the strike zone, and they can hit the ball to all fields.”

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Dante points to the winter between his sophomore and junior year as an example of how Schwarber has helped him. Launch angle was a big talking point, and Dante could feel himself getting swept up in it.

“I was trying to hit balls 450 feet at 120 pounds,” he said.

It wasn’t working.

Schwarber noticed that his pupil was trying to do too much, so he offered some advice.

“He said to just try to not hit balls out and let stuff come to you,” Dante said. “I mean, he’s one of the best power hitters in MLB, if not the best, but he told me, ‘Just see it in the zone, and just try to keep it off the ground. Line drives.’ And then that creates the launch angle that you need.”

One of the best home runs hitters in baseball was telling him to stop trying to hit home runs. He was telling him that he didn’t try to hit home runs; that it came naturally.

“Kyle was like, ‘Dante, what are you doing? All you want to do is hit a ball as hard as you can with some backspin and gap to gap,’” Micah said. “Quit trying to lift the baseball.

“Think more about hitting the ball hard and continuing to swing at strikes. Hit it where it’s pitched.”

Dante listened, and it paid off. He struck out 19 times his sophomore year at Northville High School, hitting above .300 with a 40% fly ball rate, and finished his senior year with only 10 strikeouts, a .477 batting average, and a 30% fly ball rate. He hit more doubles and triples. His timing improved, and he started staying toward the middle of the field.

Above all, it taught him an important lesson: That it was better to use his tools, rather than try to be someone he’s not. As one of the fastest players in the draft, it made sense for Dante to hit gap to gap. He didn’t have to hit Schwarberian blasts to get to the big leagues.

“He told me, ‘You have what it takes. You’ve just got to keep working,’” Dante said.

Schwarber also introduced Nori to his tee routine. He’d try to challenge himself by hitting balls that were in uncomfortable, unnatural positions: Off the plate, inside, out in front.

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“So in case you do get beat, your body knows how to react,” the 19-year-old said. “And you can hit in those situations. So hitting those pitches you would normally not swing at is what we worked on. And that really helped me as well.”

There are countless lessons Schwarber has taught him over the past few years. He knows he’s lucky to have a two-time All Star as a pseudo-hitting coach. And now that they are in the same organization, Dante will have even more opportunities to learn.

“It’s not like he’s going to live with Kyle in Clearwater, but just knowing that he’s around, and knowing how well-respected he is, it helps,” Micah said. “It’s not like he’s going to be able to play with Kyle next year, but the fact that Kyle it there, it’s settling for him. You feel a little more comfortable.”

Added Fred: “Myself and his grandma, all we want is for him to be around good people, you know? And people who care. I know Major League Baseball … it’s a different atmosphere. But still, it’s good just to know that Kyle is there, and he can always reach out to him if anything comes up.”