11
Thursday, June 25, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com SPORTS
Joe Donovan and Matt Schmidt sign minor league contracts
Junior catcher Joe Donovan and
redshirt-senior infielder Matthew
Schmidt became the fifth and sixth
players from Michigan baseball to
join the professional ranks, signing
with Cleveland Tuesday and Kansas
City Wednesday, respectively, as
undrafted free agents.
Donovan and Schmidt join the
other four Wolverines — junior
right-hander Jeff Criswell, junior
shortstop
Jack
Blomgren,
and
junior outfielders Jesse Franklin
and Jordan Nwogu — who were
drafted June 11.
Donovan was drafted in the 33rd
round by the Chicago Cubs in 2017
and would have almost certainly
been the fifth Wolverine drafted in
2020, with early draft projections
marking him as an eighth to
twelfth round selection, but the
COVID-19-induced
shortening
of the 2020 draft from 40 to five
rounds resulted in Donovan’s road
to professional baseball taking an
unexpected turn.
Donovan’s .228 career batting
average and 10 homeruns over
his 92 game collegiate career do
not jump off of the page, but his
impressive arm strength embodies
the defensive prowess that MLB
teams typically look for in their
catchers. Donovan threw out 46
percent of would-be-base-stealers
in the abridged 2020 season, and
the Indians will certainly be hoping
Donovan can translate that rate of
success to the next level.
And
while
his
offensive
numbers may not be eye-popping,
he has proven to have a knack
for delivering at the plate in big
moments, especially over the course
of Michigan’s 2019 postseason run.
Those moments may not always
show up on the stat sheet, but
Donovan provided tangible value
with the insurance run he created
by hitting a sacrifice fly in the
ninth inning against No. 1 UCLA
in the Super Regional, and with his
homerun in the eighth inning of the
Wolverines’ lone victory over No.
2 Vanderbilt in the Men’s College
World Series final.
Overall,
Donovan
shows
potential to grow into the sort of
defensive cornerstone teams hope
for their catchers to be and has
proven an ability at the collegiate
level to provide the clutch offensive
production that those same teams
see as a bonus.
Donovan earned considerable
playing time over the course of the
three years he spent in Ann Arbor,
but Schmidt’s collegiate career
followed a different path.
Schmidt began his college career
at the University of Texas then
transferred to Cypress College for
two years before making his final
move to Michigan prior to the
2018 season. He started just eight
games in his first two seasons in
Ann Arbor and batted .158 over
the course of those two years. The
2020 season represented Schmidt’s
chance to show what he could do
at the plate and in the field when
given regular playing time, and he
made enough of a mark in twelve
games played to earn a contract
from the Royals.
Schmidt earned a mere .212
batting average in 2020, but the
towering ninth-inning home run
he hit against then-No. 2 Vanderbilt
in the season opener suggests he
is capable of hitting against elite
pitchers.
Early season hitting numbers are
quite volatile, so it is possible that
Schmidt’s average would’ve gone
up as he adjusted to his starting
role.
Regardless,
the
Royals
clearly saw enough talent and
improvement to give him a chance
at the professional level.
Athletes are back: Michigan’s plan for safe resocialization
On
Monday,
the
University
announced
football,
men’s
basketball and women’s basketball
teams can return for voluntary
workouts. Before the athletes can
participate, however, they will first
have to go through the athletic
department’s
14-day
pre-report
assessment, followed by a six-day
resocialization period.
The 14-day pre-assessment is
conducted before the athletes take a
single step into the team’s facilities.
In this period, a text message is sent
out every morning asking questions
as they relate to travel locations,
any feeling of symptoms, mental
health and anxiety levels, sleep and
diet. The answers are reviewed by
athletic trainers that are prepared
to intervene depending on the
athletes’ responses.
After that period, they may
begin the resocialization process;
the design of which was guided by
NCAA, NFL and NBA guidelines as
well as local public health experts
at the University of Michigan.
On
what
associate
athletic
director Darryl Conway calls day
zero, the athletes will report to
University Health Services for
testing.
“They will get two COVID tests,”
Conway said in a press conference
Thursday afternoon. “One being
the viral PCR test that actually tests
for presence of the virus, and the
other being a serology or antibody
test.”
Following
these
tests,
the
athletes will enter a shelter in
place period in which they will
have virtual education sessions
and review their health history
with their athletic trainer. These
sessions will last until day three.
On day four of the resocialization
process, COVID-19-specific tests
will be conducted along with EKGs
and team physical clearances that
include concussion testing and
body composition tests.
Starting on the fifth day, sport-
specific fitness will begin. Strength
and flexibility testing will be the
bulk of what’s on the athletes’
schedules for both the fifth and
sixth day of resocialization.
On day seven, the resocialization
process is concluded and strength
and athletic training starts in a
program designed to ramp up,
eventually
getting
all
athletes
attending their voluntary workouts
to 100 percent. All athletes and
coaches are still subject to daily
screening and required to adhere
to
policies
regarding
masks,
social distancing and proper hand
hygiene.
This policy, in the absence of
a waiver, acts as protocol to keep
student athletes safe and informed,
and all athletes are expected to
adhere to it — failing to will result
in repercussions.
“We will treat it like if somebody
else breaks a team rule,” athletic
director Warde Manuel said. “We
will talk to them, we will try to
educate them and we will try to
get them to where we are. But
continued disregard of the policies,
procedures and protocols that are
in place could lead up to removal
from the team.”
The
future
introduction
of
athletes hinges on the viability
of this process that Michigan is
currently putting to the test.
“We will evaluate what it’s
looked like over the next couple of
weeks,” Manuel said. “Then look to
possibly bring back (more athletes),
starting with our fall sports, in the
beginning of July after the July 4
holiday.”
The
first
phase
is
already
underway, and the relative success
— or failure — will be determined
over the next few weeks. The final
verdict will be paramount for all
decisions pertaining to athletics for
the remaining part of the summer
and into fall.
NICHOLAS STOLL
Summer Managing Sports Editor
JACOB COHEN
Daily Sports Writer
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Catcher Joe Donovan signed a minor league contract with the Cleveland Indians.
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Athletic department announced phase one athletes reintroduced in 20-day process.