Pollakov's baseball odyssey is a lesson is persistence

Steve Pollakov did not end his college baseball career with an eye-catching resume.

The 2010 Buffalo Grove High School graduate hit .182 at three schools in four years. But that was just one of the obstacles that did not deter Pollakov from making a pitch to play professional baseball.

"You can't be afraid of the word no," Pollakov said. "That came from my dad and his background in sales. You never know unless you try.

"What's the worst thing someone can say? No? I've been told no so many times. But everything happens for a reason and nothing happens by chance."

Pollakov was saying all of this from Montana, where he is nearing the conclusion of his first season as a professional baseball player with the White Sox Rookie League team, the Great Falls Voyagers. And it has been a fantastic voyage for Pollakov even though playing time has been sporadic for the 6-foot-2, 220-pound catcher who will turn 25 on Dec. 29.

But pinch-hit singles on Wednesday and last Friday raised his average to .286. His 28 at-bats include something he did not do in college - hitting a home run.

"To a normal person, now you're playing for your favorite team, how does that happen because you didn't even do well in college," Pollakov said. "I was getting better every day, no matter what the stats said."

Former Buffalo Grove baseball coach Jeff Grybash is not among those who would be surprised this happened. Grybash was the head coach during Pollakov's last two seasons and was an assistant to John Wendell when Pollakov was promoted to the varsity as a sophomore.

"Steve was always one of the most dedicated, enthusiastic and hard-working guys," Grybash said. "He truly lives for it and his story is great. He's a kid who never stopped believing and he's one of those guys who is hard not to root for."

Pollakov was all-conference as a BG senior and said the only Division I school to show interest was the University of Richmond. His hopes of going to an Ivy League school didn't work out so he saw the University of Rochester in New York as his best academic move.

But he said his goals were on a much different level than his teammates so he left after hitting just .179 in 17 games as a freshman. From there he went to spend six months in the Dominican Republic, where he became fluent in Spanish.

His next stop was California, where he split time at catcher at Orange Coast Community College and hit .194 with a double, his only collegiate extra-base hit, in 31 at-bats. Then he went to the University of Hawaii, where he hit .200 as a junior and felt good about how he played defensively.

But the next winter, Pollakov suffered a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. He did not have surgery but only played 8 games at the end of his senior season.

Pollakov was determined to make sure this wasn't the end of his baseball career.

"I didn't give up on myself and my parents didn't give up on me," Pollakov said. "Anything is possible if you have the right support system and the right mindset toward it.

"I always knew what I was capable of. Baseball is not always about stats, it's about tools, and that's what a lot of people don't realize.

"It's tools and that's something I've always had in me. As I kept progressing in the game everything continued to get better. That came from working at it and that's what kept me from hanging it up."

He went back to California and lived with a former Orange Coast teammate while training so he could get ready to show his skills before scouts and in the California Winter League. That included a workout for the White Sox' Kenny Williams Jr., the son of the team president.

Lake Erie, an independent team in the Frontier League, made a contract offer but Pollakov wanted to wait. It became worth it before a game in Palm Springs.

"It was the best day of my life by far," Pollakov said. "My dad was in the stands waiting for the game to start and I had just got done in the cages when the phone rang.

"I said, 'Dad, you might want to come down here. I'm going to the White Sox.' "

From there he went to extended spring training before heading to Great Falls. He got a pinch-hit single in his first pro at-bat and in his first pro start on June 25 he went 2-for-4 with a 3-run homer.

"It was pretty special," Pollakov said. "When I hit it I said, 'That ball's gone.'"

Pollakov knows he is fighting an uphill battle because of his age and his status as an undrafted free agent. But he views this as just the start of a journey toward a life in professional baseball.

"Once he's around better players he soaks it up," Grybash said. "He's like a coach on the bench. He's one guy we would always bounce ideas off of.

"He'll be a guy any organization will be lucky to have. He's a guy who understands opportunities and where he's at and how to get there."

Not surprisingly, Pollakov is thinking bigger than most others would.

"I'm not going to be done playing this game until I literally cannot anymore, and I don't see that happening for a long time," Pollakov said. "I was born to play this game and be successful at this game. You can truly accomplish anything if you set your mind to it and if you are willing to put in the work and believe it's going to happen.

"I don't care how long it takes me to get there. I see myself as a big-leaguer, and that's how it is."

marty.maciaszek@gmail.com