The Michigan baseball team is in flux. Its defense has started to come around, but its usually-dominant starting pitching has lately been inconsistent, and its offense has scored runs in clusters.

But that offensive production can't always bail out the Wolverines.

Michigan needs to manufacture runs by using the “small-ball” strategy, an offensive method that involves getting runners on base, advancing them and sacrificing outs to advance or score runners.

Small-ball combines the importance of solid pitching with an emphasis on scoring runs through a systematic, analytical approach. Michigan has often relied on overpowering teams with a hot inning. But in what could be a tight race to the Big Ten title, the Wolverines should shy away from that strategy.

Michigan needs to find consistent scoring to win games and improve as a team. Its last two losses came against Iowa and Eastern Michigan. The Wolverines' pitchers delivered on the mound during both games, but their offense sputtered — playing small-ball could have helped manufacture runs and pull out those games.

Players with high on-base percentages (OBS) and those who can steal bases are valuable when it comes to scoring without big extra-base hits. But this season, the Wolverines have seen its stolen bases decline and the OBS remain around the same.

Sunday, Michigan dabbled in small ball as fifth-year senior leftfielder Kenny Fellows stole a career-best four bases in Michigan’s 7-5 win over Iowa.

The effort led to six total stolen bases, and the Wolverines are now 33-of-52 on stolen base attempts. Michigan was caught stealing only 22 times last season on its way to 78 stolen bases, right around the pace of the current team. But last year's team had the power to go along with its speed, and this team probably doesn't.

Coming into the season, Michigan coach Rich Maloney expected the pitching and defense to carry the team and the offense to struggle. But the offense, while inconsistent, has been a pleasant surprise, and it's the other areas that have had speed bumps. And there will be games, like in Michigan's last two losses, when the offense isn't scoring to cover other problem areas.

Small ball’s emphasis on getting players on base and advancing them any way possible is something Maloney saw as necessary before the season began — it just hasn't yet translated consistently.

“I think we’re going to have less power,” Maloney said at the "Meet the Wolverines" night Feb. 16. “So we’re going to have to be more creative in producing runs. But you can do it both ways.”

Maloney also talked about the importance of the speedy corner outfielders, Fellows and redshirt junior Nick Urban. Senior tri-captain Kevin Cislo’s game is also perfect for the small-ball philosophy. Cislo leads the team with a .482 OBS and is tied with Fellows for a team-high eight stolen bases. Urban isn’t far behind the other two with a .390 OBS and five stolen bases.

The Wolverines have the pieces to do it, but they just need to perfect the art of manufacturing runs effectively. The power surge can and will run flat at times, and small-ball is the perfect remedy for any team.

While the Wolverines could attempt to recreate last year's power squad, they have been inconsistent with the bats thus far. But with small-ball to rely on, Michigan would be tough to beat.

After beating Iowa on Sunday, Maloney said baserunning gave the Wolverines momentum, and he saw the effort his team put into trying to manufacture runs in its first Big Ten series of the season.

“We have to be a scrappy team to have a success this year,” Maloney said. “We lost a lot of good players last year … so we can never take a day off mentally.”

And only when the Wolverines play scrappier will they see that small-ball will help this year's team find the same success as last year's power squad.