The Michigan baseball team is well represented on this year’s all-Big Ten teams, which were chosen by conference coaches and announced Sunday. Nine Wolverines — five position players and four pitchers — received recognition.
Sophomore second baseman Ted Burton and redshirt sophomore left-hander Steven Hajjar both made the all-Big Ten first team. Despite coming into his starting role midway through the season, Burton managed to lead the team in average (.355) and OPS (1.118), and finished among team leaders in homers (6) and doubles (12). Hajjar had a consistently excellent season, throwing five-plus innings in all of his 13 appearances and earning seven quality starts.
Fifth-year catcher Griffin Mazur, fifth-year shortstop Benjamin Sems, sophomore left fielder Tito Flores and sophomore right-hander Cameron Weston made the second team. Mazur developed from a light-hitting catcher at Irvine to a slugger at Michigan (6 homers, 33 RBI), likely earning himself a selection in the 2021 MLB draft in the process. Sems made many acrobatic plays in the field and consistently contributed on offense (team-leading 41 runs). Flores overcame a midseason slump and finished as one of the Wolverines’ premier hitters (team-leading 36 RBI). Weston led all starters in ERA (2.40) and WHIP (1.12), and tossed a complete-game one-hitter against Michigan State.
Sophomore first baseman Jimmy Obertop and junior right-hander Willie Weiss made the third team. Obertop missed some time with an injury, but still finished with a team-leading 10 homers. Weiss made several multi-inning saves and allowed only seven earned runs all season.
One player from each Big Ten team earned a Sportsmanship Award. Graduate right-hander Joe Pace is Michigan’s recipient.
“He’s a super hard worker and a great ambassador to Michigan baseball,” Mazur said of Pace. “He’s a classy guy. I think everybody respects him …. He’s definitely incredibly deserving of that award.”
Sophomore right fielder Clark Elliott and fifth-year third baseman Christian Molfetta are notably absent from the all-Big Ten teams. Both were extremely dependable in the field and important cogs in the Wolverines’ offense.
“It was a crowded ballot this year, with a lot of deserving kids on it,” Michigan coach Erik Bakich said. “I didn’t really think that those two guys got snubbed. I just thought it spoke more to the strength of the conference and the caliber of players in the conference.”