Polcyn Agrees to Minor League Deal

When the Major League Baseball draft ended Wednesday, Ripon’s Michael Polcyn tried not to get down on himself.

The Ripon High School and College graduate thought there was a chance that
he’d get drafted, but when he found out he wasn’t, he hoped it was just a
matter of time before someone gave him a chance.

It turns out Polcyn didn’t have to wait too long.

Polcyn
received a call from his college coach Friday morning, saying he had
good news — the St. Louis Cardinals were going to sign him as an
undrafted free agent.

“I thought I had a chance to get drafted at
first, I thought I was good enough to play,” Polcyn said. “Then that
didn’t happen. But then I got the call.”

The standout baseball
player was on his way to a golf outing Friday morning when his coach
told him the great news. Polcyn said he was in awe and had to let it
soak in a little bit before actually realizing what had just happened.

“I was pretty surprised, I wasn’t expecting it right away today,” he said.

Polcyn will play for the St. Louis Cardinals rookie league affiliate, which competes in the Gulf Coast League.

“It’s what you work for,” he said.

Because
the season starts on June 22, Polcyn doesn’t have much time to get
prepared. He said he flies out to Jupiter, Fla. — home of the GCL
Cardinals — on Monday.

“Going to warm weather, it’s nice here but
it’s always fun to go to Florida,” Polcyn said. “I’m looking forward to
it and I’m looking forward to get a chance to play.”

A shortstop
in college, Polcyn said he isn’t sure if he will play full-time
immediately, but sees himself playing first or third base, or even in
the outfield. But it doesn’t matter what position he plays, he’s just
grateful for the chance.

After finishing up his college baseball
career at Ripon, Polcyn participated in some private workouts for a few
MLB baseball teams. In those three games, Polcyn had four home runs,
including a three-home run game.

St. Louis was not one of the
teams, but Polcyn said the Cardinals had a chance to watch him play in
the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional Tournament in mid-May, which was
held at La Crosse.

They must have liked what they saw.

Polcyn
grew up in Ripon and helped the Tigers win a WIAA Division 2 state
championship in 2011. After earning a Division 1 scholarship to the
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Polcyn transferred to UW-Oshkosh
before even stepping foot on the field in Milwaukee.

Despite
having success on the diamond for two years at UWO, Polcyn decided to
transfer again, this time to Ripon College. He finished his last two
years there, where he found even greater success.

Last season, he
lead the team in batting average (.380), home runs (13), total bases
(106), walks (27), runs scored (44), slugging percentage (.746) and
on-base percentage (.476), while finishing second in RBIs (40) and third
in doubles (11).

In just two years at Ripon College — where he
was a two-time All-American and the Central Region Player of the Year in
2014 — he finished his career ranking second in school history in
batting average (.403) and home runs (25).