Entering a new season, the Michigan baseball team has grown older, and more so than usual.
In 2022, NCAA baseball continues its march towards normalcy after two years of canceled games and altered schedules. However, one major COVID-19 consequence still remains that will have a huge impact on the way college baseball is played in the upcoming season: almost all players have an extra year of eligibility.
And the Wolverines are taking full advantage.
“College baseball has been an older version of itself,” Michigan coach Erik Bakich said. “I do think the caliber of college baseball as a whole is better with a lot of older kids that are physical, stronger and more experienced. It’ll be interesting to see what it looks like.”
To make up for the pandemic’s lost seasons, players were granted another season of eligibility. Many are taking the offer.
And eligibility isn’t the only factor aging the face of college baseball. The MLB draft was also shortened the past two years. Normally forty rounds, it was reduced to only five rounds in 2020, and twenty in 2021. Only around a third of the expected amount of picks have been made since the pandemic began, and the remaining players are still hanging around the college level.
The Wolverines are no exception; their roster reflects these developments in the sport’s landscape. It is likely that Michigan will field a starting lineup of almost entirely juniors and seniors.
The shortened draft has led some players who may otherwise have been drafted in later rounds, such as senior right-hander Willie Weiss, junior infielder Ted Burton and junior outfielder Clark Elliott, to extend their careers in Ann Arbor. Along with this, the Wolverines have taken on several graduate transfers utilizing their extra year of eligibility.
“A lot of tough things have come from COVID, but it happened to give me a pretty special opportunity,” graduate outfielder Joe Stewart said. “I didn’t initially plan to play another season.”
As Michigan looks to return to the heights of the college baseball world, veterans coming from outside the program will provide a valuable perspective.
“Those (graduate students), they’ve been around the block, they know how college baseball works,” Elliott said. “Having those guys, especially in postseason runs, can be so beneficial.”
That experience matters for the Wolverines, who are eyeing postseason success. The program has been consistently competitive within the Big Ten and NCAA in recent years, having ended its 2019 season as runner up in the Men’s College World Series. However, Michigan has consistently fallen short of championship hardware.
Despite these repeated struggles, Michigan has only become hungrier.
“We should compete to win the championship every year,” Bakich said. “It’s just one of those things, it’s been a little bit elusive.”
This year’s older face may be the edge to finding that success, even in a more grizzled collegiate scene.