PHOTO CREDIT: Kane County Cougars

If you had to name an MVP during the Cubs’ crazy, joyous rollicking postseason to date, it very well could be Kyle Schwarber, whose mammoth home run sealed that beautiful win Tuesday night at Wrigley Field.

And if you live in Kane County, you can’t help but celebrate the fact that this guy was playing right here just a year ago.

This is “our guy.” This is homegrown, hallelujah, “hey hey, attaboy, Ernie, weeeeee” kind of stuff. And if you don’t mind, we’re going to sit back and enjoy that whole Kane County Connection thing just a weeeee bit.

First, some testimony from Shawn Touney, the Cougars’ director of public relations:

“Kyle’s first game with us in 2014 was on June 19, and his final game with us was on July 14, so he was with us for just under a month,” Touney said via email Wednesday. “He left such a strong impression on us with his on-field play and his interaction with the fans in terms of signing autographs or posing for photos. You’ll see the kind of response he has left our fans with if you look at our Facebook page within the last 24 hours or so.”

Next, some of that more-than-“Like”-worthy crowd sourcing from the Kane County Cougars Facebook page:

Finally, a little bit about Kyle Schwarber’s time as a Cougar, and the first, most-remarkable footnote is how recent that was.

“With Kyle, the big notable is that he made the jump from Kane County to the major leagues in one year,” Touney said. “That is extremely rare, and the press release will reference that.”

The press release he’s referring to is from June 18, 2015, and references Schwarber’s first big-league appearance and his first big-league start, when he recorded four hits during the Chicago Cubs’ 17-0 win over Cleveland.

Schwarber became the 133^rd former Cougar to reach the Major Leagues, joining a list that includes former Cougars and present-day stars such as Miguel Cabrera, Adrian Gonzalez and A.J. Burnett. Schwarber is the first Cougar to debut with the Cubs as part of the Cougars’ affiliation with the club in 2013 and 2014.

Schwarber’s time in Kane County is officially listed as June 18 (irony alert, see press release date above) to July 16, 2014, and he made the most of that time. In 23 games with the Cougars that season, Schwarber batted .361, then batted .300 or better at each professional level including Short-A Boise, Kane County, Class-A Advanced Daytona and Double-A Tennessee.

Check Out Schwarber’s Postseason Stats

SOURCE: Major League Baseball

Jim Bouton in his classic baseball book “Ball Four” included an addendum titled, “Tell Your Statistics to Shut Up.” Kyle Schwarber wouldn’t want to say that to his post-season stats so far.

If I’m reading those stats correctly and calculating correctly (never a sure thing), he’s had seven hits in 13 at-bats since the Oct. 7 single-game wildcard showdown with Pittsburgh. That’s a .538 batting average that includes three home runs, five RBI and four runs scored.

A fine record, indeed, for Kane County Kyle.

	July 16, 2014	Kyle Schwarber assigned to Daytona Cubs from Kane County Cougars.
	June 18, 2014	C Kyle Schwarber assigned to Kane County Cougars from Boise Hawks.