How an unlikely tryout worked wonders for Boomers’ Fitzgerald

Kyle Fitzgerald had no idea he would be one of the luckiest among 1,500 competitors at a Schaumburg Boomers tryout.

He was there almost by accident. Fitzgerald took a weekend trip to visit his brother in St. Louis with a friend who had planned for the tryout, and he also paid the $150 entry fee on a whim. When his turn came, he was told to take eight swings and make eight throws to the bases as an outfielder. He felt no pressure.

“I had no expectation or no idea what was happening,” he said. “My first thought was like, 'Is this a scam?' I didn't think anything of it, and it's just like being in there and trying to enjoy. And if it was my last moment on a baseball field, so be it.”

It wasn't. After going through a successful tryout, the Boomers selected Fitzgerald in the 2023 Frontier League Baseball Draft, and he hasn't looked back. In 2025, he posted 93 hits, 61 RBI and 12 stolen bases as Schaumburg worked its way to the league championship series.

Fitzgerald discovered his talent for the sport while playing travel ball at age 10 and was a three-sport athlete. Entering eighth grade, an injury forced him to make a choice. He picked baseball.

“I chose baseball because I was good at it, and I knew that if I put the work in, I could go to the top. I could go Division I and maybe even professional,” he said.

After graduating from Riverside-Brookfield High School as a three-time Metro Suburban all-conference selection, Fitzgerald spent two years at Northwest Florida State College before transferring to Saint Louis, where he played three more seasons.

The path wasn't always smooth. Focused heavily on performance and impressing scouts, he found himself grinding through games rather than enjoying them. It wasn't until his junior year that he started working on the mental side of the game.

“The nine innings were always way too long because I put way too much pressure on every at-bat,” he said. “I was playing for … scouts and just being a top player instead of going out there and letting it be and let things happen organically, naturally and having fun with it.”

Once he found that joy, his game took off. In his senior season with the Billikens, Fitzgerald started 51 of 52 games, batting .308 with 43 RBI.

But the road to professional ball came with uncertainty. After finishing the summer season with the Lombard Orioles, Fitzgerald felt he was at a crossroads, though he had always aimed to play professionally.

“The trickiest part is when should I really give (baseball) up,” he said. “I’m like, ‘is this gonna work?’”

The Boomers tryout changed everything. Fitzgerald believed the Ottawa Titans, the team with a connection to Lombard Orioles coach Jeff Vukovich, might select him. But the Canadian team passed in the third pick, and Schaumburg stepped in to draft a player who lived just 25 minutes from the ballpark.

“It was a huge surprise,” Fitzgerald said. “I was almost ready to drive like 18 hours to Ottawa to make the camp the next day because it was a two-day turnaround.”

As a rookie, Fitzgerald thrived in a clubhouse culture where veterans helped younger players find their footing. He finished his first season with 58 hits, 56 RBI and 41 runs, growing into one of Schaumburg's key offensive contributors. In 2025, he helped carry the Boomers to the Frontier League championship series before they fell to Quebec in Game 5.

Now in his fourth season, Fitzgerald has transitioned to a veteran role himself.

“Sometimes tough conversations need to be had, and that side can be tough,” he said. “Fortunately, the guys we have here in the clubhouse, those conversations are rarely the case.”