Inside Eric Rataczak's path from intramural softball to Tennessee baseball commitment

Eric Rataczak had a game to play.

He grabbed his equipment, laced up his cleats — and was told to stop. Rataczak had his metal cleats on and that was a no-no. The game was a coed intramural softball match at the University of San Diego, which forbade the use of metal spikes.

“I’m trying to run as fast as I can and hit the ball over the fence,” Rataczak said.

That was life for Rataczak less than two years ago. 

Rataczak was a regular student at San Diego, a good baseball player without a place to play. He scratched his baseball itch with a club team and intramural softball hoping he wasn’t done yet. The first baseman committed to Tennessee baseball on Monday, the latest peak in a five-year journey through every level of college baseball that has taken him from club ball to the defending national champions.

How Eric Rataczak kept his baseball dreams alive

Rataczak figured he was done with baseball twice.

The first time was when he didn’t have any notable opportunities after high school.

“Obviously, you'd love to commit to a place as a junior high school, go there, play three years, get drafted in the first round, get to the show in two years,” Rataczak told Knox News. “But there's silver linings to the other routes and obviously mine is a fairly unique route.”

Rataczak graduated from Totino-Grace High School outside Minneapolis in 2019. He bypassed small-school opportunities. He was a good student and wanted to see something new. 

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He went to San Diego on an academic scholarship hoping for a walk-on tryout. He didn’t get one and played club baseball instead. 

He went home during the COVID-19 pandemic and stayed in Minnesota to play for Minnesota Post Grad Baseball from 2020-21. That led to a shot in the Northwood League with the Rochester Honkers in summer 2021.

Rataczak caught on with Wabash Valley College in Illinois in fall 2021, but the team already had an established first baseman. He transferred to Arizona Western for the 2022 season, but underperformed by his standards. 

He hoped an opportunity would come. A few NAIA schools reached out. Nothing arose that paired his desired athletic level and academic opportunities. 

“I was waiting for something that wasn’t going to come,” Rataczak said.

The phone call that set Eric Rataczak on course to Tennessee 

Rataczak figured he was done with baseball for the second time after giving two junior colleges all he had.

He reached out to San Diego to see if he could come back. The dean of the biology program checked his transcripts and his scholarship was restored. He settled into a life of club baseball again with some intramural softball.

“That whole year in San Diego, I was always bummed out in the back of my head,” Rataczak said. “It is hard not to have a good time in San Diego. You can go surf in the morning but every day was like, ‘I wish I was playing.’ ”

A call from Canada changed his course. The Brooks Bombers in the Western Canadian Baseball League saw him play at Arizona Western. A coach asked if he had a place to play that summer.

“I don’t have a place to play right now,” Rataczak said.

He headed for Alberta in summer 2023 with another opportunity to be seen and garner something more.

Niagara learned of the 6-foot-3 left-handed first baseman smashing balls that summer; he hit 11 homers in 50 games. The staff was sold and offered him the change to join the Purple Eagles. He eagerly accepted, then excelled.

Rataczak was the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference player of the year in 2024 after hitting .396 with 17 homers and 71 RBIs. 

“I like to hit baseballs like some people like to go on a run,” Rataczak said. “That genuine joy of it is what kept me going through it. It is what allowed me to keep my foot in the door of the baseball world."

Drew Gilbert, a diabetes diagnosis and becoming a Vol

Rataczak played against former Tennessee star Drew Gilbert a handful of times in high school. They graduated from high school in the same year, but took different baseball journeys.

Rataczak described his high-school self as “skin and bones,” weighing 165 pounds then and lacking power in his game. He discovered in December 2019 that he had Type 1 Diabetes. He got on the right regimen of medicine and weight stuck to him. He gained 20 pounds in a month and is 50 pounds heavier now at 215 pounds.

“The ball was jumping off my bat in a way that I'd never seen before,” Rataczak said.

He mishit a ball in a club baseball game at San Diego, but it went for a homer and that is when he knew his game was different. He calls his diabetes diagnoses “the best thing that could have happened to me” and hopes to put a narrative around the chronic disease that you can be an athlete with it.

As Rataczak’s game developed, so did his Tennessee fandom from afar. He was a fan of watching Gilbert, whom he said is “more of a celebrity to me than he is a personal friend.” He watched Gilbert’s legendary walk-off home run against Wright State in 2021. He observed as Tennessee tore through college baseball in 2022 and loved it. 

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“The passion and everything that they played with and that the coaching staff showed really made me a fan of the program way back when,” Rataczak said.

Rataczak had chose to enter the transfer portal while also pursuing the MLB Draft after his breakout season at Niagara. He fielded interest from a range of programs, including Vanderbilt and Wake Forest. Tennessee held his attention quickly and throughout the process. He kept those feelings under wraps during his recruitment before committing. 

He chose the Vols, but still could choose to pursue pro baseball. He is 23 years old, which adds a unique factor to his decision for his baseball future. 

“Taking things one pitch at a time and one step at a time has been really big for me,” Rataczak said.

Regardless of his choice, Rataczek knows he is not done with baseball anymore. He has many more games to play.

Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on Twitter @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it