Poulin joins small fraternity of Bobcat baseball alumni in pros

Photo Courtesy: Liz Flynn

Jacob Resnick
June 10, 2019

By: Jacob Resnick

The network of Bobcat baseball alumni is fairly compact. Pitchers Thomas Jankins and Robbie Hitt are both employed by the Milwaukee Brewers. John Delaney and Pat Egan both returned to Hamden as coaches following minor league careers of their own.

The list expanded to include a new member, Tyler Poulin, after the right-handed pitcher was selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 29th round of last week’s MLB Draft. The former Bobcat ace agreed to terms with the organization and will be assigned to the Missoula Osprey of the rookie level Pioneer League to begin his professional career (per Poulin’s Instagram account).

The 22-year-old became the 22nd different player in school history to be picked in the draft and the fourth — joining Jankins, Hitt, and Matthew Batten — under Delaney.

“I’m absolutely speechless and couldn’t have done any of this without my family, coaches, teammates, and friends. I’m nothing without any of them,” Poulin said in a statement released by the program. “My grandfather always tells me whatever I want in life I just need to sacrifice and work my butt off to ‘Make It Happen.’ He was absolutely right.”

Poulin’s journey to get to this point — from Randolph, New Jersey, to Hamden, Connecticut, to Missoula, Montana, and perhaps one day to Phoenix, Arizona — is a story of overcoming obstacles.

Reconstructive elbow surgery robbed him of his freshman year at Marist College, and after one season on the Red Foxes’ pitching staff he returned home, spending 2017 as a reset year at County College of Morris.

At Quinnipiac, however, Poulin found consistency. He had two years of eligibility left once he arrived on campus and that was all he needed to establish himself as one of the top arms the program had seen.

In year one, he set the school’s Division I single-season strikeout record. In 2019, while leading the Bobcats to their second-ever NCAA Tournament appearance, Poulin made sure his name was in second place as well.

Now, he’ll carry on the Bobcat legacy into professional baseball.

“We are so happy for Tyler, he was one of most deserving players in the entire draft,” Delaney said. “Over the past 12 months, he’s dedicated all of his time to the weight room and the field and took no days off. As he looks back on it now, every minute of it was worth it. The D-Backs are getting a good one.”