14 — Wednesday, March 15, 2023
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Joshua Brown: Give Tracy Smith time,
patience to build program amid early-
season struggles
The start of
Michigan base-
ball coach Tracy
Smith’s
tenure
has not gone as
anticipated
by
some,
opening
to a 6-9 record.
And he would
be the first to
admit it, calling
its home-opener loss on March 8
to a 2-8 Oakland team “embar-
rassing.”
But this isn’t really Smith’s
squad. With multiple players
transferring away from the pro-
gram, MLB Draft picks and inju-
ries that have thinned the roster,
he was dealt the equivalent of a
seven-deuce Texas Holdem hand
for this season.
“I think it’s been well docu-
mented,” Smith said at Michigan
Media Day Feb. 9. “A little bit
of shortness to the roster piece
that happened there. … We may
ask you if you’ve not played this
position, ‘Hey you might do it
this year,’ or you haven’t pitched
since high school, ‘Guess what,
you might have to give us some
innings this year.’ ”
Utilizing position players like
third baseman and Mitch Voit
as pitchers in order to fill a Wol-
verines staff that had a 7.00 ERA
last year, and has only managed
a 6.10 ERA so far this season, is
a microcosm of the strenuous
climb Smith was faced with upon
taking the job in Ann Arbor. This
is despite taking over a program
that won the Big Ten Champi-
onship last year and was a few
outs away from the NCAA Super
Regionals.
Yet with so many challenges,
Smith hasn’t been afraid to com-
bat them. He just needs time to
do so. And everyone should give
him that time.
So how should the 2023 Mich-
igan baseball team be evaluated?
Smith was hired by Michigan
on July 3, well after the 2022
recruiting cycle ended. Follow-
ing former coach Erik Bakich to
Clemson, shortstop and captain
Riley Bertram and right-hander
Willie Weiss transferred to the
Tigers. Michigan also lost three
key players to the draft, includ-
ing outfielder Clark Elliott.
This left senior catcher Jimmy
Obertop, who briefly entered the
transfer portal before withdraw-
ing, as the intended centerpiece
of Smith’s lineup card for this
season. But then he suffered an
elbow in fall practice, which has
kept him out of competition so
far and will likely continue to do
so until the end of March at the
earliest. Even when he returns,
he will only be able to be the des-
ignated hitter given the nature of
his injury.
To attempt to fill these voids,
Smith had to scramble late in the
transfer portal, acquiring gradu-
ate shortstop Cody Jefferis from
San Diego and junior catcher
Gabe Sotres from Michigan
State. But these temporary fixes
cannot fully compensate for the
Wolverines’ overarching defi-
ciencies.
Nonetheless, Smith is try-
ing, and that should count for
something. With such a depleted
roster, there is only so much a
first-year coach can do.
The limited pitching depth
has loomed large, as Smith
inherited just two returning
pitchers that threw over 70
innings last season in junior left-
hander Connor O’Halloran and
junior right-hander Chase Allen.
Yet two solid starters cannot last
any team, let alone Michigan, for
an entire weekend series.
“When
you
got
Connor
O’Halloran and Chase Allen on
the mound that aren’t walking
guys and pitching in the zone
and being aggressive, that’s the
difference,” Smith said after
Michigan’s 9-4 loss to UCLA.
“So we’re not giving free bases,
which we gave a ton of free bases
the last couple of games. That’s
the difference.”
To make up the difference,
among many more, Smith will
need time to recruit to bring
in talent that can blossom over
time within the program. And
his experience before coming to
Michigan should help with that.
After
his
departure
from
Arizona State, where he took
the Sun Devils to four regional
appearances, Smith became CEO
of Diamond Allegiance, an orga-
nization that works to improve
the travel ball system. Smith can
utilize those relationships with
younger athletes to recruit in
future years. But that takes time.
“I’ve recruited my entire life
through the travel ball organiza-
tions,” Smith said. “But through
this company that I was the CEO
of last year, I was interacting
daily with all the top leaders and
top organizations of all the top
travel ball clubs all around the
country. So now when I’m back
in coaching it’s given me unbe-
lievable access and relationships
that I didn’t have two years ago.”
Building these relationships
over the past two years can be
pivotal for Smith at a school like
Michigan, where luring talent
to the colder temperatures pro-
vides an additional layer of dif-
ficulty. But the Wolverines have
already seen flashes of young
potential in freshman center
fielder Greg Pace Jr. in addition
to Voit. With time, these center-
pieces can be building blocks for
Smith if he can match them with
high-ceiling recruits in future
years.
As Smith molds the pro-
gram in his image, the bones
of it have already been in place
through the strong culture he
inherited despite the many
positional weak spots the Wol-
verines have. That’s even show-
ing up in their newest faces
“Obviously I’m gonna help
the team as much as possible,
whatever that is,” Voit said at
Michigan Media Day. “At the
end of the day stats are stats,
but wins are wins and I’m try-
ing to get as many wins as pos-
sible for this team.”
And that culture has already
been on display. Smith publicly
called the team out after strik-
ing out 13 times against Golden
Grizzlies pitchers, questioning
“if it bothers us.” Instead of
wilting, Michigan showed met-
tle in two resilient wins against
UAB the following weekend.
In the second game against the
Blazers, Voit pitched 3.2 score-
less innings and posted two
RBI, including the game-win-
ning sacrifice fly in the bottom
of the eighth inning, to earn
himself his first collegiate win
as a pitcher.
Keeping the team motivated
amid a six-game losing streak
is what coaches are there for,
and these games showed that
the Wolverines are still buy-
ing into what the new coaching
staff is selling.
If the team stays in lockstep
with Smith and the coach-
ing staff, Michigan baseball’s
upside can grow in the future
as Smith is able to further
leverage his background in the
travel ball landscape to pro-
cure prospects on the recruit-
ing trail.
Successful
talent
devel-
opment and a unified team
culture translate to winning
baseball. But the talent for the
Wolverines isn’t there yet, so
don’t expect a repeat of last
year’s Big Ten Championship
run. Rather, evaluate this sea-
son on if Michigan continues
to fight hard throughout the
season and show flashes of
youthful upside if their roster
deficiencies further compound
and put them out of Big Ten
contention. For Smith to stay
on schedule in building back up
the program, the Wolverines
have to stick together.
The Michigan baseball pro-
gram, which was a game away
from a national championship
less than four years ago, has
the puzzle pieces spilled out on
the table to eventually become
an annual Big Ten Champion-
ship and NCAA Tournament
contender once again.
BASEBALL
GRACE LAHTI/Daily
‘Sometimes God’s greatest gift is
unanswered prayers’: Inside Tracy
Smith’s journey to Michigan
COLE MARTIN
Daily Sports Writer
After an illustrious coaching
career, Tracy Smith has finally
made his way to the Michigan
baseball team.
But for Smith, a career in base-
ball almost never happened.
“I fancied myself a basketball
guy first,” Smith told The Daily.
“Basketball was my first love,
(but) I happened to be a little
bit better at baseball. I couldn’t
shoot.”
Smith was so serious about bas-
ketball that he considered playing
at St. Joe’s, an NCAA Division II
program. In the end, his baseball
ties from Kentland, Ind. pointed
him in a different direction and
Smith committed to Miami Uni-
versity of Ohio.
Due to the intense baseball
culture in Kentland — a town
that produced three MLB players
throughout Smith’s childhood —
Smith was able to develop his tal-
ents in that environment.
“I was very fortunate,” Smith
said. “There (were) three little
dinky towns that fed into the
high school, and within that area,
we played legion baseball. The
coaching back then was really
good. There was a gentleman
named Tater Blankenship. … He
was my little league coach all the
way through.”
Working
with
Blankenship
proved
beneficial
for
Smith.
Blankenship’s demanding style of
coaching enabled him to develop
the fundamentals of the game in
his early teen years. And as Smith
continued to grow up, it became
clear that he was more than just
a gifted little league baseball
player.
Smith took the next step of his
baseball career at South New-
ton High School, where he was
coached by Denny Stitz. Accord-
ing to Stitz, it was clear that
Smith was athletically gifted —
and not just at baseball.
“When he got into high school,
he was (part of) a very talented
group of kids,” Stitz told The
Daily. “He was recognized in the
region as being one of the best
athletes because he could do a lot.
… But in baseball, he excelled. He
had tools (and) was probably the
best pure baseball athlete I had
while I was at South Newton.”
In high school, Smith played
all four years at the varsity level,
winning three sectional champi-
onships in the process. Stitz cred-
its Smith’s success as much to his
skill as to his work ethic.
At South Newton, Stitz also
coached Smith on the basketball
team, and he preferred a roster
that was well-conditioned. So
Stitz and Smith’s father told him
that if he wanted to play bas-
ketball, he’d have to run for the
school’s cross-country team addi-
tionally. And that’s exactly what
Smith did, becoming one of the
best runners on the team in the
process.
“When he put his mind to
something, the athletic talent was
there,” Stitz said. “As far as his
mind would take you, that’s how
far he could go.”
After high school, Smith’s
strong mindset moved on to
Miami — but not because of base-
ball.
Smith was so unsure of his
future aspirations that he didn’t
sign with the RedHawks pro-
gram until after his senior year of
high school. Again, baseball was
something he was good at, but he
didn’t see it in his future.
Instead, Smith aimed to work
in the classroom and earned a
teaching degree at Miami. Smith
prioritized having fun while
playing baseball, combining his
work ethic with his upbeat per-
sonality.
“(Playing baseball) was going
to pay for a little bit of the edu-
cation,” Smith said. “… I had no
plans or aspirations at that time
of being a coach.”
For the RedHawks, Smith
played a morale-boosting role
while being one of their best all-
around athletes, making comical
home videos in which he used
dummies to enact himself falling
off of the stadium’s walls.
“Tracy was a bit of a livewire,”
Smith’s college teammate Tim
Naehring told The Daily. “(But)
he was probably the best pure
athlete on our entire team.”
With his pure athleticism also
came a competitive fire. Smith
played all over the field for the
betterment of his team. He also
had the unique ability to take a
step back from his own individual
play, examining what changes he
could make to facilitate Miami’s
success. That skill is one of many
that has translated to his mana-
gerial career more than 30 years
later.
“I remember Tracy telling me
right from the beginning, ‘Hey,
all the stories from college, these
guys are hearing none of that
today,’ ” Naehring said. “… Tracy
did have a side of him where
he had a lot of fun and probably
learned his coaching style from
what he knows he was capable of
as a college athlete.”
But despite his success at the
collegiate level, he never thought
baseball could be a career.
That all changed when he was
drafted by the Chicago Cubs in
the 1987 and 1988 MLB Draft.
Baseball now looked like it could
be a legitimate career option, and
after college, Smith reported to
spring training with the Cubs.
But it came with a cost. While
playing
for
Chicago,
Smith
missed the birth of his first child.
He realized that his familial
obligations outweighed his love
for baseball, so Smith retired in
1990. Baseball was once again on
the back burner.
“I hung it up to go raise a fam-
ily,” Smith said. “(I wanted to) go
get a master’s degree. And that
kind of started the … coaching
path.”
After hanging up his cleats,
Smith interviewed to be an
administrator at Miami Universi-
ty Middletown, but got a rejection
letter. However, that ‘no’ turned
out to be his greatest blessing.
“I was devastated,” Smith said.
“But I say it’s like that Garth
Brooks song, sometimes God’s
greatest
gift
is
unanswered
prayers. And so I started coach-
ing.”
Coaching was a job that Smith
immediately excelled at. After
starting his career at Miami
University
Middletown,
the
same school that rejected him
in an administrative role, Smith
became head coach of Miami
five years later. Eventually, he
made his way to Indiana, where
he got a taste of Big Ten action,
winning the conference tourna-
ment in 2008. In the 2013 sea-
son, Smith won the NCBWA
National Coach of the Year
award, once again leading the
Hoosiers to a Big Ten champi-
onship and advancing the pro-
gram to its first College World
Series in its history.
Smith eventually left Indi-
ana, coaching at Arizona State
for seven seasons and lead-
ing the Sun Devils to a 201-155
record before being fired.
And
after
Arizona
State
in 2021, Smith was unsure if
he’d return to coaching. Then,
Michigan called.
And Ann Arbor wasn’t new
to him.
While at Miami, Smith had
his first run-in with Michigan,
playing the Wolverines numer-
ous times in his four-year col-
lege career. Smith competed
against
numerous
Michigan
legends and coaches, such as
Jim Abbott and Bud Middaugh.
When he arrived in Ann
Arbor, seeing those names gave
him a sense of comfort in the
unfamiliar environment of Ray
Fisher Stadium.
“I don’t want to say it’s sur-
real, but it’s kind of neat,” Smith
said. “To be connected to this
place as someone who’s played a
lot of names I see on the walls. …
That’s kind of fun.”
Now, he takes over the reigns
as the program’s head coach,
leading the team in front of
those walls everyday.
“When I was at (Arizona
State) and my sabbatical was
forced upon me, I swore I
would never come back (to the
Midwest),” Smith said with a
chuckle. “… Everybody was like
‘I thought you weren’t coming,’
(and) I said, ‘Well, it’s Michi-
gan.’ ”
And because of the Wolver-
ine program he played against
in his collegiate career, Smith
has always had a soft spot for
Michigan, even going as far
as to call himself a ‘Michigan
man.’
“Culture and whatever (for-
mer coach Erik Bakich’s) staff
did, and just the department
in general, has been fantastic,”
Smith said. “Now we’re gonna
put our own touches on this
thing in terms of recruiting …
but zero complaints in terms
of just the quality of human
beings, the things that we’ve
walked into and the focusing on
baseball.”
While his personal touch-
es remains to be seen, Smith
knows he’s the man for the
role in righting the ship for the
Wolverines after a tumultuous
offseason. His coaching experi-
ence and work ethic show that
he possesses all the tools for
success. And after living a life
making the most of unanswered
prayers, Smith could excel in
inheriting a roster full of ques-
tion marks.
Whether the Wolverines can
replicate his vision is unknown,
but after a life of unpredictabil-
ity, Michigan making a resur-
gence under Smith would be
just another egg in his basket.
BASEBALL
RILEY NIEBOER/Daily
JOSHUA
BROWN