Entering his second year at the helm of the Michigan baseball team, coach Tracy Smith voiced his lofty goals for his young squad coming into the new season. The remnants of former head coach Erik Bakich’s squad had all-but departed, and it was his turn to prove that he could take his team past any mid-level expectations.
“I would like to see us honestly compete for that regular season (Big Ten) title,” Smith said Feb. 13 when asked about his goals for the year.
He was confident, as many coaches are, heading into the season. A large yet solid freshman class combined with returning top contributors was enough for Smith to set such a lofty goal in just his second year. Before it had started, that is.
A month-and-a-half into the season, the Wolverines are 9-16 and have failed to improve their most glaring issues. While they remain steadfast in their season goals, those aspirations slip further out of reach with each passing game.
Michigan has the ability to score runs. Graduate left fielder Stephen Hrustich has shown consistent power at the plate and sophomore first baseman Mitch Voit has added a significant boost in production from his freshman All-American campaign from last season.
But the Wolverines’ pitching has been dismal. And they need to either recognize that pitching is their kryptonite and lower their goals accordingly, or someone needs to step up and perform.
Voit and sophomore right-hander Kurt Barr have been the lone bright spots in a pitching staff that has failed to consistently put together complete outings. A 7.23 team ERA is nowhere near good enough to boast an above .500 record, let alone compete for a regular season Big Ten title. But still, Michigan remains resolute in its goals.
“It goes all the way back to the fall, as we were talking about what our goals were for the season,” senior first baseman Dylan Stanton said March 24. “And the biggest one that we had was that we want to win the regular season. … So we’re just sticking to our goals.”
As valiant as it is to hold on to lofty preseason goals, it is also disingenuous. Because when Smith has just five or six pitchers that he trusts to go into a tight ball game and put the team in a position to win, a Big Ten championship surely isn’t on the horizon. The rest of the bullpen isn’t playing winning baseball.
In fairness to Smith, his bullpen is incredibly young, and youthful pitchers can’t always be expected to be composed in big-game moments right off the bat. But even the veterans in the bullpen haven’t been contributing to winning baseball. Senior right-hander Chase Allen has struggled mightily, flaunting a 9.86 ERA, and junior right-hander Ricky Kidd hasn’t provided consistent innings either, with an opponent batting average of .360 and an abysmal walk-to-strikeout ratio of 15-to-10.
Right now, there’s no player, veteran or freshman, reliable enough to make the Wolverines’ ambitious goals a reality. And Tuesday, these issues came to a head. Against in-state rival Michigan State, Michigan took a chance with its pitching rotation. Desperate for someone to step up, Smith turned to freshman left-hander Wyatt Novara. Up to this point in the season he has struggled, throwing just 1.2 innings while showcasing plenty of control issues. But nonetheless, Smith called on him to step up.
While Novara did get his shot, it wasn’t for long. In fact, he didn’t even record an out. After loading the bases with two walks and a single, he was yanked in favor of Allen. Smith knew that there was a high chance that Novara wasn’t going to perform, but he sent the freshman out there anyway.
Why? Because Smith didn’t really care if his team won this game.
Despite both teams being in the Big Ten, the contest did not officially count as a Big Ten game. So, Smith’s focus was trained on the upcoming weekend series against Maryland. If the Wolverines lost this game, it wouldn’t affect their Big Ten record, just their overall one — effectively, this game didn’t matter for their plans of a Big Ten title. Therefore, Smith was content using pitchers that he knew weren’t going to win the game. He was content with losing.
“Losing is not fun,” Smith said. “Losing to your in-state rivals is not fun. But we’ve got to stay focused on the task at hand which is to win weekends.”
The reasoning makes sense from a coaching perspective. Certainly the weekend series that counts towards the conference record is much more important than the mid-week game that doesn’t, but if Michigan’s goal really is to win a Big Ten title, essentially giving up a game is not a recipe for achieving that goal. A team that is shooting for a Big Ten title is trying, and able, to win every single game, no matter what the situation is. And right now, that isn’t the case for Smith’s squad.
So if the Wolverines really want to stay focused on the final goal of a championship, someone in the bullpen needs to step up. Soon. Whether it be a veteran or a freshman, someone in that Michigan bullpen has to find a way to perform if a Big Ten title can even be considered as a possibility.
But if that doesn’t happen, then the goalpost needs to move in order for this season to be labeled as anything outside of unsuccessful.