Michigan baseball: Reviewing the 2023 season

Earlier this week, Michigan baseball lost their second Big Ten tournament game, eliminating them from the tournament and ending their season. Despite falling short in the Big Ten tournament, Michigan baseball fans have a lot to be excited about.

In just his first year with the Wolverines, head coach Tracy Smith finished sixth in the Big Ten standings and made it to the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament. Here’s a year in review of Michigan baseball’s 2023 season.

Preseason Expectations

Returning to the Michigan lineup were starters Tito Flores, Ted Burton, and Jimmy Obertop. After originally entering the transfer portal, Obertop ultimately decided to come back for one more year. Unfortunately, Obertop suffered a preseason injury which would force him to miss over 30 games to start the season.

With just Flores and Burton returning to the lineup, seven new starting spots were open for new talent to compete for. To begin the season, transfer targets Cody Jefferis and Gabe Sotres filled the gap at shortstop and catcher respectively. Freshman two-way player Mitch Voit also made the opening-day lineup starting at third base. Jack Van Remortel took over the everyday first base role, leaving two spots in the outfield for the rest of the team to compete for.

To start the season, senior Joey Velazquez and freshman Greg Pace Jr. filled the starting spots in the outfield.

Michigan retained great arm talent from 2022 with pitchers Connor O’Halloran, Noah Rennard, and Chase Allen all returning. The bullpen may have lacked depth but it was anchored by freshman closer and third baseman Mitch Voit.

With such high roster turnover and an all-new coaching regime, Michigan wasn’t expected to make a bang in the Big Ten this year. Still, the Wolverines were optimistic starting the season, with senior second baseman Ted Burton saying, “We have a lot of people to prove wrong…heading into the season, that’s our mindset.”

Midseason changes and conference play

Midway through the season, new talents started emerging for the Wolverines. With Greg Pace struggling to meet preseason expectations, freshman outfielder Jonathan Kim heated up. Kim raised his batting average above .400 and soon after took over as the starting center fielder. He continued to climb the order until he was eventually batting third.

Senior outfielder Jake Marti began heating up as well, and slowly moved into a platoon role in the outfield with Joey Velazquez and Tito Flores entering midseason slumps.

With conference play beginning, Coach Smith had an important decision regarding starting pitchers. The conference schedule would require three starting pitchers every weekend, and so far only two pitchers, Connor O’Halloran and Chase Allen, had emerged as dominant starters. Smith decided to move late reliever Noah Rennard into a starting role because of his consistency so far through the season.

The rotation was set, and  O’Halloran, Allen, and Rennard typically started each conference weekend, though Smith made sure to note that he doesn’t like to assign “roles” and Rennard could still see late relief action if needed.

Michigan started conference play with a series sweep and started to find a rhythm with their young team.

Postseason and future for Michigan baseball

Michigan would finish conference play sixth out of thirteen in the Big Ten. This qualified them for the Big Ten tournament in Omaha Nebraska. As the sixth seed, Michigan baseball wasn’t expected to do a bunch of damage in Omaha. After losing their first game 13-3 against Iowa, Michigan was one loss away from elimination.

The Wolverines didn’t go down without a fight. Michigan eliminated both No. 7 seed Illinois and No. 2 seed Indiana. However, the Wolverines were pitted against Iowa again in the semifinals and couldn’t get the bats going, losing 0-5 to end their season.

While they ultimately fell short of winning another Big Ten championship, there is a lot of positive to take away from Coach Smith’s inaugural season. Several young players, such as Jonathan Kim, and Mitch Voit, have shown they can be everyday key contributors to the Michigan lineup.

In addition, Michigan baseball has more talent that has yet to reach its potential. Although he slumped heavily in his freshman year, Greg Pace Jr. could still be a breakout player for next year’s team. Freshman pitcher Kurt Barr also showed his potential by posting a 4.18 earned run average.

Coach Smith has also developed a deep recruiting class which will add more talent to the roster for next season. While Michigan may have fallen short this year, the team is in a great position for future seasons and will only get better with its young talent.

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