Chris Ulrey would love to play in the major leagues.

Like many young baseball players, Ulrey grew up with the dream of playing professional baseball, and he had his chance.

Ulrey was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 33rd round of the 2006 MLB First-Year Player Draft. Now, the junior outfielder is one of the newest members of the Eastern baseball team, hoping to make an impact for head coach Jim Schmitz’s squad. After graduating from New Palestine High School in Greenfield, Ind., Ulrey knew he was going to have a chance to play in the majors. Many pro teams told him they were going to draft him and when the White Sox selected him, he was thrilled.

“The day of the draft I was sort of surprised because I hadn’t talked to the White Sox before the draft,” he said. “It was a neat experience. I was downtown with my family and we were watching it. It was pretty cool.”

But while Ulrey had achieved the dream so many strive for, he approached it with a clear head, instead opting to go to college and put off his dream for a short time.

“I thought coming out of high school at 18-years-old I didn’t feel like I was ready yet to start playing pro ball,” he said. “I thought maybe after a couple years of college I would be ready.”

Ulrey ended up spending two years starring at Lincoln Trail Community College in Robinson. After finishing his time there, he wanted to continue his baseball career at a university, and chose Eastern over five other schools, including Arkansas-Little Rock, which he initially committed to before de-committing to go to Eastern.

“(Arkansas-Little Rock) was my first visit to a big school, and I took the first big offer and then realized after a couple of weeks that I didn’t give myself other opportunities,” Ulrey said. “After visiting here, I fell in love with the players and the campus and everything about Eastern.”

Ulrey has seen limited action in the Panthers’ first three games of the season, appearing in two of them and going hitless in two at-bats. But Schmitz believes junior college transfers take time to adapt to this level and compared Ulrey to senior second baseman Jordan Tokarz, who is the team’s starter at second and No. 2 hitter after transferring from Elgin Community College prior to last season.

Schmitz also said in this weekend’s tournament he’s going to attempt to get more of his new players in the game to get the experience for situations later in the season.

The Panthers will be playing in the Dunn Hospitality Diamond Classic in Evansville, Ind., starting at 1 p.m. today against Saint Louis. Eastern will take on Butler at 11 a.m. Saturday before concluding the tournament against the host Aces on at 3 p.m. Sunday.

Ulrey, who competed in the team’s fall league last semester, said he’s excited to get out on the field and start using his skills to help the team.

“I’m really eager and ready to get out there and prove that I can play,” he said.

But while Ulrey passed up his dream three years ago, he still has dreams of getting the opportunity to play in the majors one day.

“Anything is possible,” he said. “It’s just a matter of how hard you want to work and if that’s what you want to do you just set your mind to it and keep practicing as hard as you can.”

Collin Whitchurch can be reached at 581-7944 or at cfwhitchurch@eiu.edu.

Eastern junior outfielder Chris Ulrey transferred to Easter from Lincoln Trail Community College and is majoring in kinsieology and sports studies. Ulrey was also drafted by the Chicago White Sox. (Karolina Strack/The Daily Eastern News)

(more…)