SPORTS 11

Thursday, June 13, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Henry, four other Wolverines selected in 2019 MLB Draft

As the sun set in Corvallis 
on Monday night, the Michigan 
baseball team was celebrating — 
they had just beat Creighton in 
the NCAA Regional final game, 
17-6, on the back of its potent 
offense.
Then, they were given another 
reason 
to 
celebrate: 
within 
minutes of each other, the two 
junior 
Michigan 
aces 
were 
drafted. 
Left-hander 
Tommy 
Henry 
was 
drafted 
by 
the 
Arizona Diamondbacks with the 
74th pick and right-hander Karl 
Kauffmann went to the Colorado 
Rockies at No. 77.
They were the first of five 
Wolverine upperclassman to be 
drafted. Next was Big Ten Player 
of the Year junior outfielder 
Jordan Brewer, who was No. 106 
overall to the Houston Astros. 
Then junior right-hander Jack 
Weisenburger went to Oakland at 
No. 614 and finally, senior infielder 
Jimmy Kerr came in at No. 982, 
drafted by the Detroit Tigers.

For Kauffmann and Henry, 
being drafted was expected; both 
had been impressive starters the 
last two years and shutting down 
opposing offenses.
Henry 
watched 
his 
draft 
stock skyrocket throughout the 
first two months of the season. 
He allowed just three runs in 
his first five starts, including a 
one-hit shutout at The Citadel, 
where he threw just 88 pitches, 
facing 27 batters and striking 
out 13. Towards the end of the 
season, though, he began to 
falter. His earned-run average 
nearly doubled after a string of 
bad starts, where it eventually 
finished 
at 
3.61, 
eventually 
pushing him from Friday starter 
to Saturday starter — replaced by 
the man picked three spots later.
Kauffmann, steady throughout 
the year, ended with the lowest 
ERA on the team at 2.62. He 
wasn’t 
a 
strikeout 
pitcher 
like Henry, though. Instead, 
Kauffmann would let his defense 
do the work by inducing ground 
ball after ground ball.
Weisenburger, 
the 
lone 

member of the Michigan bullpen 
to be drafted, did not put up 
the impressive numbers that 
Kauffmann and Henry did. With 
just 29 innings of use this year 
and 27.2 last year, Weisenburger 
had a .6 walk-to-strikeout ratio 
in his junior campaign and was 
often the third or fourth arm to 
come out of the bullpen.
This 
year’s 
breakout 
performer for the Wolverines is 
quite clearly the junior college 
transfer Brewer. In his first 
year of Division I baseball, the 
outfielder stole the show. He 
made astonishing diving catches 
and key pick-off throws from 
the warning track to keep games 
close. In the batters box, he came 
alive with a team-high slugging 
percentage and batting average 
of .612 and .349, respectively, 
along with 23 steals.
Another standout from this 
year, Kerr spent almost all 
of his time at first base and 
started every single game this 
year. The regionals were a 
snapshot of Kerr’s season for the 
Wolverines: 4 home runs in four 

games. In other words, Kerr was 
clutch.
So as the rounds went by and 
Michigan was preparing for 
its clash against No. 1 UCLA, 

players boarded the bus after 
practice and went wild when 
they heard the news that their 
captain was drafted by the team 
45 miles away.

KENT SCHWARTZ
Daily Sports Writer

Big game success: A look at how Michigan flipped the script

The 
past 
two 
weeks, 
the 
Michigan 
baseball 
team 
has 
captured the attention of every 
college baseball fan in the country 
as it’s made a run to the College 
World Series.
At first, though, it wasn’t even 
clear the Wolverines would make 
the tournament; they had barely 
avoided an early exit from the Big 
Ten Tournament with a walk-off 
double from Jordan Nwogu, and 
before that, they had relinquished 
the Big Ten regular season title 
in two straight series losses to 
Indiana and Nebraska.
They weren’t playing well, 
they were tight and showing a 
weakness for big time games.
“You don’t play baseball well 
when 
you’re 
stressed,” 
said 
Michigan coach Erik Bakich after 
the series at Nebraska. “So we’re 
going into this weekend loose, 
confident and relaxed.”
It 
was 
a 
common 
thread 
throughout their season that 
big games were their weakness, 

especially 
in 
April 
after 
disappointing series losses at 
Ohio State, Texas Tech (who they 
will play this Saturday) and in 
California.
Until May 20, in a game against 
No. 20 Illinois, it wasn’t clear 
whether Michigan would show 
up 
in 
the 
big 
moments.
Then there was 
Nwogu’s big hit, 
and the next day, 
there was life in a 
team that looked 
despondent in the 
days before.
The Wolverines 
won 
their 
next 
game 
against 
Maryland, almost 
guaranteeing their spot in the 
NCAA tournament.
Throughout the year, Michigan 
beat itself more than anyone 
else. 
Errors, 
walks 
and 
bad 
baserunning would all converge 
on 
the 
same 
day 
and 
give 
opponents easy victories. Four 
errors, two hit-by-pitches and 
three walks gifted a game to the 

Hoosiers. Four errors and nine 
walks resulted in an 11-2 loss to 
the Red Raiders.
Even last Saturday against No. 1 
UCLA in the Super Regionals, the 
Wolverines had five crucial errors 
and 10 walks while three of the 
five Bruin runs were unearned.
But 
for 
the 
most part in the 
last two weeks, 
Michigan 
has 
played lights out, 
no longer weighed 
down 
by 
self-
inflicted pressure. 
It 
has 
gotten 
the 
clutch 
hits 
when it needed to 
and hasn’t been 
crushed by the big 
time lights.
“What I’d like us to do better is 
continue to trend upwards when 
we have setbacks like this, to use 
it as growth and fuel to better 
our performance in the future,” 
Bakich said after the series at 
Ohio State. “If we’re going to be 
the team that I think we’re going 
to be, then we’re going to have to 

play well when it means the most 
and a rivalry series is one of those 
weekends when it means the 
most.”
Apparently 
the 
Wolverines 

needed to see a clutch hit to believe 
it and when Nwogu launched a 
double against the Illini, they 
bought in and have finally grown 
to their true potential.

KENT SCHWARTZ
Daily Sports Writer

We’re going 
to have to play 
well when it 
matters most ...

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Junior left-hander Tommy Henry was selected 74th overall in the 2019 MLB Draft.

CAMERON HUNT/Daily
Sophomore outfielder Jordan Nwogu hit a walkoff double in the Big Ten Tournament

