Kornacki: Patrick's Journey from Farm to Fisher
5/9/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- When Kendall Patrick comes up to bat at Ray Fisher Stadium, his walk-up song, "Good Ole American Way," blares over the public address system, taking the University of Michigan catcher back home.
Home is Mitchell, South Dakota, population 15,000, the hub of an agricultural region and home to the Corn Palace, which hosts everything from rodeos to Tony Orlando concerts to graduations -- and has actual corn incorporated into its murals and designs.
Patrick went from there to Black Hawk College in Moline, Illinois, worked at a McDonald's hours before sunrise, then practiced and played baseball, and finally went to a long night class. Now, in the final month of his unlikely major college career, Patrick has blossomed to hit .359 with power.
Just how did Wolverine head coach Erik Bakich find this needle in a haystack?
"My junior college coach sent out a mass e-mail," said Patrick. "It got Coach Bakich and Coach (Nick) Schnabel's attention."
Schnabel, an assistant coach and the recruiting coordinator, and Bakich followed up on that e-mail and got rewarded. Bakich liked Patrick's tools and his solid 6-2, 220-pound frame. But what Bakich liked most was the lengths Patrick went to in order to keep his dream of playing baseball alive.
"I listened to this coach, Arnie Chavera, talk about Kendall's leadership skills and his intangibles -- all the traits that make him the person he is," said Bakich. "It's above and beyond the baseball ability -- a guy that put himself through school by getting up at 3 in the morning to go work at McDonald's to pay his tuition and then go to practice and classes.
"He's an old soul. He's very mature. He comes from a blue-collar family, grew up on a farm with lots of acreage and is one of those guys who's worked for everything that he's got. And he's been a great presence to have on this team and a great leader. "
Patrick discussed what drove him to go above and beyond.
"I had a great freshman year, but in my second year I blew my left shoulder out," he said. "I had surgery and redshirted a year. I graduated after that second year with my associate's degree in business. And the third year, I was off scholarship, because I'd already graduated.
"I needed a way to fund that third year, and I was in a shoulder sling. I needed a job, but couldn't lift more than eight to 10 pounds. I got an interview at McDonald's and got on there and worked 10 months. I worked the morning shift at 3:30, got the food prep going at 4, and I was out of there at noon. I had practice at 1:30 and class from 6:30 (p.m.) to 9 in business calculus. And then it was straight to bed."
That made for an 18-hour day with little free time.
"It was, 'Do I spend a third year at junior college or do I hang up the cleats?'" said Patrick. "But I wasn't ready to let go of the game. If that's what it took, that's what I was going to do. And look where I ended up."
Patrick paused to look around the field after Friday night's 12-4 win over Northwestern, and he smiled. Look where he ended up, indeed.
"What a way to go out my senior year," Patrick said. "Knock on wood, I hope it keeps going."
Few took notice of Patrick, who supplied good defense and handled pitchers well but supplied little offensively.
However, over the last month, Patrick has become a true force with his bat. And he kept it going Friday (May 8) against the Wildcats, crushing a two-run home run and scoring three runs.
Patrick has batted .359 since April 10, and since the second game of an April 25 doubleheader with Minnesota, he has been absolutely on fire.
In the last seven games, Patrick is batting .389 with three homers, three doubles, nine runs batted in and nine runs scored. He also has received eight walks and been hit by four pitches to post an amazing .633 on-base percentage.
What's been the difference for a batter who was hitting .212 on April 7?
"I'm just trying to be selective," said Patrick. "From the beginning of the season, I'd swung at a lot of 'out' pitches. I took some courtesy swings, as Coach (Bakich) likes to say, but not quality swings."
Through the games of April 7, prior to getting hot, Patrick was batting .212 with two homers and eight RBI. Last year, he hit .225 with four homers and 18 RBI.
But now, Bakich has a catcher who's doing it all.
"There's a much better rhythm and flow to his swing," said Bakich. "He's always been confident, and he's always been a good hitter. But he looks very comfortable and confident in the box now. He looks like he's going to hit the ball hard. He looks like he's in a good position to hit. He's in a good rhythm with the pitcher and what he's looking for. His approach is good, and he's executing it.
"And the bi-product of that is taking some pitches that maybe he could make contact with, but they're getting called balls. He's getting himself into good counts to hit and drawing a lot more walks. His on-base percentage is really soaring. And when he gets a pitch to hit, he can drive it, like he did tonight with the homer. But he's not looking to hit home runs -- just balls he can hit hard to the middle of the field."
Patrick has had his batting average rise from .212 to .267 in one month and has five homers, 20 RBI, 25 runs scored and a team-high 15 hit-by-pitches.
"I don't know what it is," Patrick said, "but I had a knack for getting hit all the way back to when I was 15 years old. I've got high school records back in Mitchell, South Dakota, and at Black Hawk I have the single-season record with 13. Then here, I just followed suit.
He begins each and every at-bat by listening to "Good Ole American Way," sung by country and western artist Justin Moore:
"Smallmouth bass on the end of a hook.
"Daddy read from the good book.
"I'm just a country boy from this land.
"Makin' a livin' with these two hands.
"Still believe in the good ole American way."
That's Kendall Patrick through and through.
"I'm drawing back to my roots," he said. "I'm from South Dakota, and it takes me back home -- soothes the mind a little bit."
Who knows what the future holds for Patrick in baseball? Perhaps he'll get a chance to play professionally. But he draws a sense of security from knowing he will have a degree from Michigan and one place he can return to for sure.
"I'd like to go into the finance-business world a bit," said Patrick. "But the farm's always back home. Grandpa has a big wheat farm in Kansas, and you try to draw back to your roots a little bit."
He got that infectious grin on his face once again. Knowing who you are and what you can hit is a beautiful thing.
