After watching the first two days of the Major League Baseball amateur draft and not hearing his name called, Jake Polancic decided to forgo following the third and final day of the draft on Saturday.
“I didn’t want to watch and be all pissed off all day that I wasn’t taken until the 33rd round or something like that,” he admitted.
So Polancic was upstairs in the bedroom of his family’s Langley home as the draft resumed on Saturday morning with round 11.
The first 10 rounds were Thursday and Friday.
But Polancic knew something was up fairly early when the draft resumed.
“My parents were going crazy downstairs,” he chuckled.
And they had good reason for their celebration as their son — a six-foot-three 205-pound right-handed pitcher had just been selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 11th round, 329th overall.
“It is surreal. I am still a little speechless,” he said later that day.
“The first half hour, I was just stunned.”
And Polancic’s phone was going crazy for much of the day with calls and texts of congratulations.
Congratulations @jakepo54 . Dude is a beast! #DiamondbackDraft #BlazeFam https://t.co/YQViMUIIwn
— Brooklyn Foster (@fost09) June 11, 2016
@CDNbaseball @jakepo54 @Dbacks way too go Jake! Couldn't be more proud of you, you've worked so hard to get this far. Knock em dead ❤️
— Alexandra Barbour (@alexandra19bb) June 11, 2016
Would like to congratulate one of my best friends @jakepo54 for being selected in the 11th round by the Diamondbacks!! You deserve this bud.
— Nate Kolb (@nkolbster) June 11, 2016
Polancic pitches for the Langley Blaze and in four starts this B.C. Premier Baseball League season, he is 3-1 with a 1.50 earned run average and 37 strikeouts in 32.2 innings pitched.
In his most recent start, he struck out 10 in a 9-3 win over the Abbotsford Cardinals last week (June 7) at McLeod Park. This was the day before his 18th birthday.
Last year with the Blaze, Polancic was an impressive 9-2 with a 2.77 ERA and 49 strikeouts in 48 innings. His efforts earned him an invitation to the prestigious Tournament 12 last September at Toronto’s Rogers Centre.
And earning an invitation to that select event was a culmination of years of hard work.
Tired of not earning tryouts for selects baseball teams, Polancic decided to change his eating habits as well as dedicating himself to working with a personal trainer and running everyday before school.
The changes helped him drop 35 pounds.
Blaze coach Jamie Bodaly expected Polancic to go somewhere between rounds 15 and 25.
“They are getting a hard worker, a good kid,” Bodaly said, adding that he feels Polancic is the best Blaze pitcher since Tom Robson, a fourth round draft pick in 2011 by the Toronto Blue Jays.
Polancic has improved his velocity with his fastball hitting 91 miles per hour. Bodaly also said he has a good changeup but needs to start throwing it more.
And Bodaly said that while Polancic is a quiet leader for the Blaze, he is well liked among his peers. This was evident when the team voted on captains back in April and Polancic was a unanimous pick.
Polancic signed with the Diamondbacks — he could have accepted a scholarship offer from Washington State University — and is Oregon this week for an orientation and minicamp with the team.
He is set to graduate from Langley Secondary this month.
Signing to play professionally fulfills a childhood dream.
He first thought about getting drafted by a Major League Baseball club when he was in Little League with North Langley about seven years ago.
In fact, he remembers watching a Blaze game with current Langley teammate James Hardy.
Polancic said both boys were decked out in their North Langley uniforms which caught the eye of Bodaly, himself a former North Langley Little League player.
From Little League to Graduation, we've been through it all bro. There's no one more deserving, hum babe @jakepo54 pic.twitter.com/pM9famwcx1
— Hardy (@JamesHard8) June 11, 2016
Bodaly brought the pair onto the field after the game and into the dugout.
Polancic remembers seeing the big displays behind the outfield fence which showed which Langley players had been drafted by MLB teams.
“Ever since then, this has been the goal,” Polancic said. “It is hard to pass up something like this.”
And former Langley Blaze pitcher Brayden Bouchey was drafted in the 33rd round by the Toronto Blue Jays.
Bouchey pitched last season at the University of Louisiana-Monroe, and he can still return for his senior year if he chooses not to sign with Toronto.
The six-foot-six pitcher started 13 games for ULM this past season, finishing with a 5-3 record, striking out 72 batters in 70 innings of work.
“What a special day for Brayden and the program,” said ULM head coach Bruce Peddie.
“He has worked his tail off with Coach [Chris] Smith and developed into one of the best pitchers in the Sun Belt (Conference).”
Bouchey was named Sun Belt Conference pitcher-of-the-week on two different occasions this season. He finished third in the league in strikeouts, and led his team in most pitching categories. The school’s athletic-department referred to him at the team’s “ace” pitcher in a news release announcing his draft position.
— with files from Nick Greenizan/Black Press