Bakich Q&A: U-M Coach Enthusiastic about Baseball Season Prospects
2/14/2019 1:10:00 PM | Baseball, Features
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan baseball team experienced tremendous highs and lows last season. U-M started slowly, going 4-11, but then lit up the sky with a 20-game winning streak that was the program's longest since 1987. However, the Wolverines didn't finish like they'd hoped, exiting the Big Ten Tournament with only one victory and missing out on a second consecutive NCAA Tournament berth.
Michigan coach Erik Bakich, though, loves the way the 2019 team used that experience as a learning tool and became highly motivated to make this season something special. The Wolverines have won plenty of games over the last three seasons (111-59, .653), but only two have come in the postseason. They're on a mission to have a season akin to 2015, when Michigan claimed the Big Ten Tournament title before going 2-2 in the NCAA event, sniffing a trip to Omaha for the College World Series.
This new journey begins Friday (Feb. 15) with the first of three weekend games against Binghamton at the New York Mets' facilities in Port St. Lucie, Florida. Then they travel the following weekend to Charleston, South Carolina, for three games with The Citadel. March games in California against Cal State Northridge, Long Beach State, UCLA, USC and Oklahoma State (at Dodger Stadium) will provide plenty of challenges before returning for the March 15 home opener with Manhattan.
Bakich sat down with MGoBlue.com this week before departing for Florida and talked about his team:
Q. Your second baseman, Ako Thomas, has missed time with injuries over the last two seasons but is healthy now and really geared up for his senior season, wanting badly to win a Big Ten championship. Can you discuss the elements that he brings to this team?
A. He's the ultimate positive life force. He's a catalyst. He energizes our team on the field with one web gem after the next, and finding a way to get on base and score runs. And he's a catalyst who energizes our team off the field because he's the consummate teammate, a great teammate. He's got a smile as big as Ray Fisher Stadium and provides such a positive, contagious energy that he has the ability to walk into the locker room and have a relationship with everyone on the team. The times that he's been out have been more impactful than just losing a good player. It's losing a true spark.
So, having him healthy is a big deal. To see him smiling on and off the field is really important.
Jesse Franklin batted .327 and led Michigan with 10 home runs last season.
Q. You played your left-handed hitting slugger, Jesse Franklin, mostly at first base because he was recovering from a labrum injury. Is he ready to play his natural position in center field, where you lose a heck of a player in Jonathan Engelmann (drafted and signed by the Cleveland Indians)?
A. He's our centerfielder now, and he's as good of a defender as we've had here in center. He plays defense right up there with Pat Biondi (who reached Triple-A Las Vegas last season in the Mets' organization) and a kid I coached at Vanderbilt from the Bahamas named Antoan Richardson, who played in the big leagues (for the Atlanta Braves and New York Yankees).
Jesse can really, really defend. He has the ability Pat and Antoan also have. When the ball is hit, he can just turn his head and run to a spot without looking at the ball in flight, and then turn around and catch the ball. That's very hard to do off a batted ball in a game. He has very good natural instincts, and now that his labrum is better, he's able to throw and so he's back out there.
He's a dynamic player. He plays a premium defensive position and has premium left-handed power. That makes him very intriguing.
(Note: Franklin batted .327 and led Michigan with 10 home runs, 47 runs batted in and a .588 slugging percentage. He made Baseball America's All-America second team and was a unanimous selection on the All-Big Ten Freshman Team. He was drafted by his hometown Seattle Mariners after high school.)
Q. Sophomore leftfielder Jordan Nwogu (.349, six homers, 29 RBI and 11 stolen bases) had a breakout season as a freshman. What are you expecting from him this year?
A. He turned the corner when he turned the corner mentally and got into attack mode on the field. He's a nice, quiet kid off the field but now understands that being aggressive on the field is more favorable. He began hunting opportunities and capitalized on a slow team start, where we were willing to try some new guys and mix up the lineup. He grew to play like an All-American, like he belonged.
Q. Among the incoming freshmen, who might make big contributions right out of the gate?
A. I think the storyline on breakout seasons will be the guys who have been patient and are older guys who haven't played too much like Jimmy Kerr. He's been basically a backup for three years but has significantly improved. He's stronger and much more physical, is a great leader and has grown up. He'll start at third and first. His offensive skill set has really improved, and he's hitting with much more pop in his bat.
Benjamin Keizer is the guy who comes to mind from the pitching staff. He's pitched marginal innings the last two years but is going to be pitching meaningful innings this year in high-leverage relief appearances and earned that opportunity. His physical skills have finally caught up with his intangible skills, which have always been excellent. With his leadership skills, he and Jimmy now both are seniors who've been elected captains with (starting pitcher) Tommy Henry.
Q. Harrison Salter did a nice job for you catching down the stretch last season. How's that position shaping up this year?
A. Harrison is battling with Joe Donovan, and those two will get the lion's share of the playing time. Joe will be our starter and Harrison will back him up. He did that very well last year and got a lot of playing time. They give us some stability behind the plate.
Q. How's the starting rotation shaping up?
A. Ben Dragani (6-2. 2,76 ERA) is out for the year. He got hurt in summer ball and had Tommy John surgery but is going to be back fine next year.
U-M returns two-thirds of its three-man weekend pitching rotation in juniors Henry (pictured) and Kauffmann.
We'll have Tommy Henry (7-3, 3.09 ERA) on Fridays, Karl Kauffmann (6-3, 3.08 ERA) on Saturdays and Jeff Criswell (3-2, 2.23 ERA with 32 strikeouts in 32 1/3 innings pitched out of the bullpen) on Sundays.
Henry and Kauffmann bring a wealth of experience, and it's not often you return two weekend starters to anchor the front end of the rotation. That's very important for us. They are stronger and more durable now, and both are coming off two good years. They're both recognized within the conference.
But they are two different pitchers. Tommy is a four-pitch lefty who is now running his fastball up into the low 90s (mph) and has three really good off-speed pitches. Karl's bread and butter is the movement on his fastball. He's got as good of run and sink on his ball as anyone. He's throwing harder and has a good breaking ball, a good changeup. He's hard to hit off of because his ball is moving off of somebody's barrel, and he initiates a lot of weak contact.
Our fourth starter when we play four games in a week is (2018 Gatorade Player of the Year in Oregon) Willie Weiss, a freshman from Portland, who is a special player and is going to be premium college pitcher in the years to come. We'll certainly use him as one of the first guys up, if not the first guy up out of the pen (on weekends) along with Angelo and Ben and others.
Q. Criswell was drafted by the Detroit Tigers after a great career at Portage (Michigan) Central and opened plenty of eyes last year as a freshman.
A. He's a big prospect because he has arm strength. He's learned how to harness that arm strength and become more of a pitcher as opposed to a thrower. He's scrapped the curveball and is throwing a slider, which has turned into a very good pitch. And he has a good changeup as well. So, we really like what Jeff brings to the table. He's got the strongest arm on the team and has lit up the radar guns quite a few times at 96 miles per hour. Now, he has the challenge of going from the reliever mentality to the starter mentality.
Q. Where does another freshman from last season, Chicago White Sox draft pick Angelo Smith, fit into the pitching staff?
A. He's got maybe the best numbers of all our relievers coming back (1.14 ERA, .184 batting average against and 20 strikeouts in 23 2/3 innings) and is a guy who, along with Ben Keizer, are the first left-handers up. Angelo has the funky, low three-quarters slot, and all of his pitches tunnel out of the same spot. So, he generates a lot of swing-and-miss and is a year better.
Q. The recent weather has pushed your practices indoors. What are you looking forward to most about the first games in Florida?
A. I just like watching the team play. Our job as coaches is to eliminate our job. The training is our time; the games are their time. We just want them to attack that baseball field -- whether it's in Port St. Lucie or at Fisher Stadium -- like it's a kindergartner attacking recess. Play on the jungle gym and play on the field like you're fearless. Have nothing inhibiting them.
I tell them, 'I hope you guys make aggressive mistakes because you are pushing your limits and testing your boundaries.' Go for it. Take the chance. Take the risk. We want to free them up the best we can to go out and compete their butts off and have as much fun as they can doing it.
Q. So, it's important that they have fun?
A. (Laughter) Winning's fun.
Q. Anything else you want to add about your team?
A. The senior class, and upperclassmen in general, have done an outstanding, excellent job of upholding the standards that we re-committed to after starting out 4-11 last year. They have an attention to detail, a team-first approach, and make everything about Michigan, and the block M is something they uphold. They police the team and used those standards from day one this fall.
We had our best fall ball, our best fall academically, our best fall athletically, no off-the-field issues, and more time invested in community service events than we've ever had. They visit at Mott Children's Hospital, they read to kids in schools, and look to connect. So, it feels right, it feels good. It feels like a group of guys that are bound and determined to finish this season strong.
You learn what you're doing when you're playing well. Even the smallest attention-to-detail behaviors and how when everyone buys into that impacts the outcomes of games. They hold this team accountable to everything. Now, they want to leave behind with them the type of season that will forever go down in our 153-year history as one of the best that Michigan has put together.
We've won a lot of games over the last few years, but they just don't feel like they have much to show for it. I've seen not just talk but actions to back it up. It's a long season and we have a long way to go. It just gets back to how are we going to get better today and improve, and that's where they've really shined.
