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.

