Pokorney battling back from crippling injury

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/07/2019 (2492 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jackson Pokorney was on the fast track to success before the road block of his life.

He’s seen just how quick the path to professional baseball can be, and experienced the much faster fall from grace. Now he’s taking the long road back that hopefully leads to a Major League Baseball contract, currently trying to regain his form in the Expedition League with the Wheat City Whiskey Jacks.

One thing is just about certain: If the 21-year-old does find a home in the majors, it won’t be with the Atlanta Braves. After Atlanta took him in the 29th round of the 2016 MLB entry draft, he played in the team’s minor-league system with the Gulf Coast League Braves. Playing on the same team as 2018 MLB rookie of the year Ronald Acuna Jr., Pokorney batted .256 in 28 games with the Braves, recording eight hits and eight RBI. However, somewhere along the way he knew something was wrong with his shoulder, and it wasn’t getting better, so he brought it to the team’s attention.

“All year they told me it was tendinitis, nothing was really wrong. They sent me home, told me it would be better by the time next spring training came around,” Pokorney told The Brandon Sun in June. “Came back, it wasn’t any better. I tried playing through it for a month and told them it was still messed up. That’s when they released me.”

He went to the St. Louis Cardinals doctor who assessed his magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan and confirmed it was a torn labrum. That same doctor later performed the surgery to repair it in 2017.

“I didn’t really like how the Braves handled that, but it’s whatever. They told me it was tendinitis and I had a torn labrum, that kind of sucks,” Pokorney said. “The goal right now (is) to get my arm back healthy and to get where I was, eventually, hopefully. That’s the dream right now.”

Since he appeared in fewer than 60 games, he regained amateur status.

Playing in the GCL did, however, impact his collegiate career and possibly how much recognition he can get in the future from MLB teams.

Since he signed a professional contract, he can’t play NCAA Division I ball. So the Evansville, Ind., native headed to North Dakota’s Minot State University to play NCAA Division II ball for the Beavers.

Pokorney hit .244 in 31 games with 15 RBI and one home run. He spends a lot of time as a designated hitter and some in the outfield, as his shoulder still isn’t back to what it used to be — he threw 91 miles per hour from the outfield in high school.

“After I got back from my injury I’d been two years out of the game. I’m still rusty, getting back to where I was,” he said. “There’s some things I can do easier than other kids, and some others can do easier than me.

“I definitely didn’t do as well as what I thought I’d do (at Minot State), but I can see progress each day. I know I’m getting better, so that’s what keeps me going.”

Pokorney can’t get drafted again, but will become a free agent after next season. He’s hoping for a breakout year with the Beavers. For now, it’s getting the reps in with the Whiskey Jacks, who are struggling heavily in their inaugural season.

The Jacks fell to 0-14 in the second half of the season with a 7-4 loss to the Badlands Big Sticks (7-6), ending an eight-game road swing.

Blake Fitzgerald hit a three-run home run in the top of the fourth to help the Whiskey Jacks to a 4-0 lead, then the Big Sticks answered with four runs in the fifth and three in the seventh to steal the win.

Brandon Thomas took the loss, allowing three runs in 1 2/3 innings in relief. Joel Torres earned the win in relief for Badlands.

Wheat City returns home tonight to host the Hub City Hotshots at Andrews Field at 7:05 p.m.

Pokorney has been a bright spot. He sports the second-highest batting average on the team at .256 through 24 games, to go with 20 hits, 14 runs, seven RBI and three home runs. He launched two homers in Monday’s 18-4 loss to the host Big Sticks.

While the losing is frustrating, playing a bunch of baseball — 64 games in 71 days — suits him just fine.

“Without competition in my life, I don’t know what I’d be doing. I think competition keeps me a little bit sane,” Pokorney said. “When I wasn’t playing I would just get overly competitive in things that shouldn’t be competitive at all, like video games. I’d just get mad at my friends if they weren’t doing as well as I thought they should be.”

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @thomasmfriesen