OAKLAND, Calif. – On August 30, 2022, former Gaels pitcher Ken Waldichuk was preparing for a road trip with the Las Vegas Aviators, the Triple-A affiliate for the Oakland Athletics. Instead of going with the rest of the team on the road, manager Fran Riordan shared a different itinerary with the SMC product. 
 
"It was awesome," Waldichuk said. "We were about to leave for a road trip, and the manager called me in and said, 'hey, you're gonna stay back, because you're going to the Big Leagues' and I couldn't be happier."
 
And with that call up, the Saint Mary's Baseball Program added another former player to their growing list of current major leaguers. He joins 2021 Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes of the Brewers, Tony Gonsolin of the Dodgers, and the Cubs' Patrick Wisdom as current Gaels in Major League Baseball.
 

Do you remember your very first game in September? 🎶

Welcome to The Show, Ken Waldichuk! #DrumTogether pic.twitter.com/hTbra1Qile

— Oakland A's (@Athletics) September 1, 2022

The Saint Mary's Baseball program earned a rare feat this past summer, becoming the only college program to place two players in the MLB All Star Game and two players in the MLB Future's Game in the same season.
 
Burnes and Gonsolin were MLB All Stars, while Waldichuk and fellow former Gael Ky Bush were named to the MLB Futures game. Waldichuk got to connect with Bush at the Futures game, and takes a lot pride in Saint Mary's development of current big leaguers.
 
"I got to talk to Ky Bush a lot," Waldichuk said. "We got compare our experience with different coaches, but overall the culture's kinda stayed the same. It's a lot of guys who work hard and they try to earn everything they get. Definitely some good other players to come out of there."
 
Waldichuk spent three seasons as a Gael and was fantastic over his collegiate career, compiling a 2.70 ERA in 51 appearances with 31 starts. He was primarily a reliever in his freshman year and had a 2.00 ERA with three saves in 45 innings.
 
The San Diego native had a 2.05 ERA as a sophomore and a 3.69 ERA as a junior over 29 starts with 224 strikeouts to just 53 walks, and was selected in the fifth round of the MLB draft by the Yankees in 2019.
 
Between his quick rise through the minors and making is MLB debut this summer – all after being a walk-on at SMC – he feels his time at Saint Mary's has prepared him for where he is now and the success he's having.
 
"Probably the biggest thing that sticks out is the work ethic that the coaches instilled in us there," Waldichuk said. "It was a lot of guys who worked really hard and built off of each other, and it's similar to this club here.
 
"The attention that I got was also unique. With the smaller classes, you really learn and earn that degree. On the field it was the same thing. You have to earn everything. You have the attention of the coaches, once you're there you're working hard and you're trying to make an impact and help everyone."

Now 24, Waldichuk finished the 2022 season strong. He struck out eight Seattle Mariners and allowed just one run over five innings in his penultimate start of the season, and outdueled 2021 AL MVP Shohei Otani in the season finale, getting the win with seven shutout innings. He went from AA, to AAA, to the majors this season, going 6-4 with a 2.84 ERA over two levels in the minor leagues, and did all that with two different organizations. The former Yankees farmhand came to the A's when was traded to the Oakland on August 1 of 2022.
 
The phone call to tell him he had been acquired by the A's was a very different vibe than the call up to the bigs.
 
"That call was a little more hectic," Waldichuk said with a chuckle. "It was an off day, I was resting, taking a nap, and I was woken up by the phone call and missed it. I had to get everything together and was out the next morning. But I knew heading here, I was going to be coming here with [JP] Sears, my teammate in Scranton, Penn., along with a couple of guys already here in Oakland. I knew Nick Allen from San Diego and Cal Stevenson, who I did live at bats with during the COVID shutdown. So, I knew there were going to be some familiar faces.
 
"But It's crazy," Waldichuk added. "You make a lot of friends, especially when you've been playing with the same organization for a long time, so it's kinda hard not to see them, but I'm excited to make some new friends here."

Along with coming to an organization that needed him in the big leagues now, the San Diego, Calif. native got to come home the West Coast, and his "second home" in the Bay Area.
 
"It's awesome," Waldichuk said about being back in the Bay Area. "I'm back up here for the first time since college really. I get to see a lot of old friends and reconnect for the with them for the first time in a while."
 
Waldichuk's favorite memory as a Gael is emblematic of his perseverance as a former walk on, who played a huge role in Saint Mary's winning seasons in his time Moraga.
 
"My junior year we went on a road trip to Pepperdine," Waldichuk reminisced. "We had to win one game to get into the conference tournament. I gave up four runs in the first few innings, but we kept it there and chipped back into the game, and then in the 7th or 8th inning we hit a game-tying home run. Everyone went nuts, it was awesome, we ended up winning the game and making the tournament, it was a great experience."
 
His advice to any current or future Gaels reflects the culture of the SMC baseball program and the work ethic he came to Saint Mary's with.

"The biggest thing is just consistency," Waldichuk said. "Not taking any days off, having a plan for everything. If you are going to take a rest day, make sure you're working the other six days of the week and getting your work done."
 
Saint Mary's Athletics began construction on Br. Ronald Gallagher Stadium in early September, and will take the home ballpark of the Gaels' Baseball Program to a whole new level. 
 
The new stadium is expected to be ready for 2023 season, and will include permanent stadium seating, a press box, and a covered landing with drink rail will be at the top of both sides of the grandstand. The 2023 season will begin in mid-February for the Gaels and WCC play slated to start in mid-March.