Cy Young winning pitcher Julian Tymochko returns for his final season after a year of semi-pro baseball

After having spent the pandemic season as a member of the Edmonton Prospects, Julian Tymochko is back and hungry for a championship

Photo: C/O Edmonton Prospects & Julian Tymochko

McMaster may have gone a year without sports, but not all of their athletes chose to wait out their return to the game. Marauders pitcher Julian Tymochko decided instead to make his way out to Edmonton, where he would join the Edmonton Prospects, a semi-pro league in the Western Canadian Baseball League. 

The WCBL rooted itself in Canada in 1948, and has been operating ever since as one of the most well known independent leagues in the country. Featuring notable alumni such as Andrelton Simmons (four time Gold Glove award winner), Marco Gonzalez, Andrew Kittredge (2021 All-Star), John Axford (Reliever of the Year award winner) and several other players who found themselves in Major League Baseball, the WCBL functions as a summer collegiate baseball league for young players to showcase their talents. 

For the 2021 season, McMaster’s reigning Cy Young award winner (awarded to the league’s best pitcher) made his way to Alberta. After having not gotten game time in over a year, Tymochko made the most of his opportunities within the pandemic, getting back on the field with the Edmonton Prospects. 

GURU CY YOUNG RHP goes to Julian Tymochko of @McMasterBasebal!

@VeryBritish
Graphic @kmacdonaldRTA pic.twitter.com/zB6OteWLu4

— Canadian Baseball Guru (@GuruCBG) October 10, 2019

“My time with Edmonton was a really cool experience. [I] spent the summer there after being pretty worried that the [university] season might be cancelled,” explained Tymochko.

After 40 games in 60 days, Tymochko enjoyed his first opportunity in months to get back on the field, and cherished getting the opportunity to play on a regular basis again. He returned from the season satisfied with both the experiences he gained and the results that he had. 

“I felt really good, I was pretty proud of how I performed out there. I knew it was very very competitive. Without playing for two years, without being able to know how well I’ve been doing, and how well my training has been going, to put up the results I did, it was really rewarding,” said Tymochko. 

As exciting as it was to have the success that he did, including having been named the game one starter for the team, Tymochko was even more excited upon discovering that he would have one more opportunity to return to McMaster. In his final year of eligibility, he gets to show off everything he had learned over the summer with the Prospects in one more chance at a title run.

“I extended my degree just in case there was a chance of [university baseball]. . . Knowing that I was coming back from such a strong league in Alberta, I was pretty excited to show all the guys I’ve been training with for the past four to five years what I’ve learned, and what I’ve picked up,” said Tymochko.

For his last season with McMaster, Tymochko has his eyes set on one thing and one thing only: a title. With a team full of veterans and youngsters showing real promise, Tymochko believes that this is a team with a serious chance to take home some hardware. 

“As a team we’re looking to win the championship. I think we have a really good shot at it this year. . . We’re two weeks into the season, and we’ve shown that we’ve got the ability to win it,” saidTymochko. 

Sporting a 0.00 earned run average through 11.0 innings pitched, Tymochko could find himself in line to take home the Cy Young award once again. Should he achieve his goal of finishing with a 0.00 earned run average, it shouldn’t be of much surprise to see him named the Cy Young winner again, maybe this time with a championship trophy in his arms.