ST. PAUL, MN. – Former West Chester University baseball standout
Dylan Tice's contract with the Kansas City T-Bones has been purchased by the New York Mets organization, as announced American Association of Independent Professional Baseball on Saturday afternoon.
Tice held down the leadoff spot for the T-Bones in 68 games this season and ended his tenure in Kansas City with a .333 batting average and 16 RBI. The Perkasie native leaves KC ranking fourth in the league with 55 runs scored and a .428 on-base percentage, while his 91 hits stand as the fifth highest mark in the American Association this year.
Tice joined the T-Bones following a breakout year with the Rockland Boulders of the CAN-AM league, where he earned an All-Star selection after leading the Boulders in batting average (.327) to go along with 49 RBI, 72 runs and four home runs.
The former Golden Rams' shortstop was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 36
th round of the 2015 MLB draft. Tice spent parts of two seasons within the Cardinals organization and eventually reached the high-A level of the Florida State League in 2016.
In his lone season at West Chester, Tice's .433 batting average was the 13th highest mark in the country and stood as the fourth best number in school history and highest by a Golden Ram since the 1996 season. He ended his senior year with the second best single-season slugging percentage (.827) in school history and his .548 on-base percentage remains at No. 3 of WCU's all-time leaderboard. Tice was a honorable mention All-America pick by the American Baseball Coaches' Association (ABCA) and was also selected as the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) East Athlete of the Year and a finalist for the Tino Martinez Award - given the best NCAA DII baseball player in the country.
Tice's assignment will send him to the short-A Brooklyn Cyclones of the New York-Penn League (McNamara Division) and he now joins Joe Wendle (Tampa Bay Rays), Joe Gunkel (New Orleans Baby Cakes – Miami Marlins) and
Nick Ward (AZL Athletics – Oakland Athletics) as former Golden Ram players that are currently playing baseball at the professional level.
