Four years ago, Matt Mikulski was a Lakeland high school graduate, set to make his way to the Fordham University baseball program. Now, after an incredible career and senior season, Mikulski is a Major League Baseball player. On Monday, Mikulski was drafted in the second round by the San Francisco Giants as the 50th pick in the 2021 MLB Draft. 

This is the second highest position in which a Fordham player has been drafted, only behind Pete Harnisch, the 27th pick in the 1987 draft. Mikulski becomes the 38th Ram to be selected in the draft, continuing a trend of Fordham players moving up to the Majors with representation in six of the last seven drafts, the latest having been Kyle Martin back in 2019.

A draft outsider a season ago considering its shortened length, Mikulski returned for his senior season hoping to make a major leap. He worked hard during the offseason to improve his mechanics and become a more dominant pitcher this season. It paid off, as he delivered one of the best performances in the program’s history. 

A unanimous All-American, Golden Spikes award semifinalist and the 2021 Atlantic 10 pitcher of the year are just a few of his many accolades. He had a perfect 9-0 record with a 1.45 ERA, fifth-best for a single season at Fordham, and 124 strikeouts, a new school record, across 68.1 innings. The nine wins in a single season is tied for eighth in the Fordham record books. He led the Atlantic 10 in ERA, hits allowed per nine innings, strikeouts, strikeouts per 9 innings, and WHIP in the regular season. In addition to that, he jointly led the conference with wins and complete games. Nationally, he was the leader in both hits and strikeouts per nine innings as well as being top 20 in ERA, total strikeouts and WHIP.

In addition to those impressive statistics, Mikulski was a four-time Atlantic 10 pitcher of the week as well as a two-time National Player of the week honoree. He was also able to hold opponents to an incredible .127 batting average overall while left handed hitters struggled even more with a .073 average. Over his career, he owns the most strikeouts with 272 and his 3.17 ERA is tied for the 15th best of all-time. He also became the 11th Ram to reach 20 career wins and is tied for fifth all time with 21.

While the accomplishments speak for themselves, Mikulski was a valuable leader in the Fordham clubhouse as well, warranting recognition as the 2021 Vincent T. Lombardi Award winner as the top male athlete on campus. Head coach Kevin Leighton reflected that, tweeting out a message of pride for his southpaw.

While Mikulski’s collegiate journey has come to an end, a new one in the Majors is just beginning. Considering his constant growth in the maroon, it only feels like a matter of time until he appears in the same light on the big league stage.