Kerr's Unlikely Rise to Power: It's Crazy
6/7/2019 9:23:00 AM | Baseball, Features
By Steve Kornacki
LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Everybody wants to live their dream. First baseman Jimmy Kerr actually is and that realization has come for the third-generation Wolverine despite long odds against him ever attaining stardom.
He sat in the dugout of Jackie Robinson Stadium following practice for Friday night's (June 7) NCAA Super Regional opener with UCLA and tried explaining his unlikely journey. It was either the University of Michigan or the U.S. Military Academy for Kerr, and while he became a contributor the first three seasons, he wasn't turning heads.
Three generations of Michigan baseball after then-sophomore Jimmy Kerr aided in a 2017 win over Ohio State. Grandfather John Kerr and father Derek Kerr played on some of the greatest teams in program history.
Nobody could've envisioned Kerr hitting four home runs completely out of the stadium at Oregon State last week while becoming the Most Outstanding Player of the Wolverines' Corvallis Regional championship run.
Nobody could've figured the Detroit Tigers would draft him in the 33rd round Wednesday as a third baseman.
Nobody could've looked at a hitter who contributed two homers and 27 RBI combined as a freshman, sophomore and junior, and even in their wildest dreams expected Kerr to bust out with a team-leading 12 homers and 56 RBI as a senior.
"It's crazy," Kerr said, "If you'd told me a year ago this would happen, I'd have told you it's crazy."
He smiled wide and shook his head. Jimmy's not only living a dream -- he's living a wild, wild, wild one. And taking the Wolverines (44-19) along for the ride.
"If our team was going to be good, then we needed a guy like Jimmy Kerr to have a breakout senior year," said Michigan coach Erik Bakich. "And he's done that. He was a complementary role player for three years, but that wasn't good enough for him. He wanted to contribute so he stayed back all summer and instead of getting a job or playing summer ball, he just wanted to work on his strength.
"He stayed in Ann Arbor and worked out with our strength coach (Jason Cole) and got really, really strong, and much more physical. And that has translated to much more power in his swing. And he works on that swing a lot. He has a very good understanding of the pitches he can smash."
Kerr also understood he was down to one season to realize his dreams.
"It's just a lot of hard work, and I need to thank a lot of people for helping me along the way -- especially J. Cole," said Kerr. "I've been through some rough times and rough years, but I had to face the facts."
He batted a career-low .175 with one homer and four RBI in 2018.
"I could sulk and not do anything about it," Kerr continued. "But J. Cole got me in the weight room every day and made it fun again. He helped me see that the weight room could really help you out. The results kept coming and I kept going."
Cole said the dedication Kerr showed last June, July and August "was off the charts," and he never missed a single one of the five-days-a-week sessions. They would lift Monday and Tuesday, work on agility, speed and footwork Wednesday and lift Thursday and Friday.
"Two things we really focused on with Jimmy and all our guys were strength and power," said Cole. "Those are two things we can really have a direct effect on. You can measure those."
Cole said Kerr weighed 182 pounds when he arrived from Scottsdale, Arizona, after playing for Notre Dame Prep, and he's leaving at 202 pounds. Cole said Kerr's strength gains "are noticeable," and his bench press went from 175 to 245 pounds while his deadlift got up to 350 pounds.
"We measure back squat," said Cole. "We measure bench press and deadlifts, vertical jump and the things that can tell you about raw attributes. We measure it two ways. We have absolute strength regardless of how much you weigh. Then we break it down into relative strength. We put it into formulas, and it's how much you back squat divided by your body weight. We give them goals, and an elite back squat is if you can do two times your body weight.
"The primary focus for Jimmy is lower half and enabling him to put more force into the ground. That's big whether you're throwing, running or hitting. The glutes and the back side are really the powerhouse. Those are the biggest and most powerful muscles we have. But it's not just your glutes, quads or lats. It's the whole organism, more of a holistic approach."
Kerr said he got the back squat up to 315 pounds last summer before experiencing a back injury and having to adjust.
"My relationship (with Cole) was built around the Pit Shark -- which is like a belt squat we do in the weight room," said Kerr, smiling. "He tortured me on the Pit Shark. I about died. My Pit Shark weight went up unbelievably since last summer to now."
Cole noted that Kerr "is a plus-one kid," who does what's instructed "and then some," while also pushing teammates to exceed expectations.
"If we had 35 kids like Jimmy," said Cole, "we'd be out of a job. He'd do it all himself. It's intrinsic. I know his dad a bit. The deck was stacked against him a bit, but he came in and overcame a lot of hurdles. He made up his mind: 'I'm going to leave here having done all I could do.' It's really fun to watch.
"I wish him the best of luck. Going to the Tigers, whether he becomes a major leaguer, he will be a guy you will squeeze every drop out of. He will empty the tank."
Which is what he's done at Michigan, coming down the stretch run with quite a run.
He launched one of his four homers in the Corvallis Regional over the towering batter's eye background in center. It turned out that no one -- not any of the storied sluggers from the Pac-12 -- had ever launched one over that obstacle.
Kerr said, "I talked to my dad and said, 'It's like every time I hit a homer, I'm not trying to.' Whenever you try to do it, you get long (with your swing) and I just try to keep it simple and trust my hands. They'll do the work for me. It's about going slow and slowing the game down."
John Kerr (pitcher, 1962) and Derek Kerr (catcher, 1986)
His father, Derek, played with Hall of Famer Barry Larkin and Jim Abbott for two Big Ten championship teams in 1984 and 1986, and was a member of the program's last World Series team 35 years ago. His grandfather, John, was a pitcher on the 1962 NCAA championship team and threw 19 innings in one day to help claim the regional title that got the Wolverines to Omaha.
"They're both so smart about the game that it's ridiculous," said Jimmy. "So, they're so great to talk to before and after games. It means more than anything to have them at so many games this year. And they're here along with my mom and grandma and my uncles."
The left-handed slugger has managed to stay within himself and not start playing home run derby. Perhaps his biggest hit of the regional was the two-run single he lashed out against left-handed Creighton pitcher Ryan Connolly to make it 9-4 for his team en route to a 17-6 rout.
"It's what you can do for the team," said Kerr, one of the captains. "That was a big deal because that guy got me out the time before, and I'd faced him the day before. He's got a very tough slider."
He just kept coming up big.
"I mean, that was one of the most fun weekends of my life," said Kerr. "And we played so well as a team except for that one inning (a seven-run ninth in the only loss), and it felt like we always had momentum and were on the attack. That makes it so much easier to have good at-bats."
He credited Michigan assistant coach Nick Schnabel and volunteer coach Michael Brdar, a former teammate, for both his hitting and defensive progress.
"I'm really comfortable at first base now and really like it a lot," said Kerr, who played mostly second and third prior to this season. "I came here as a below-average defender, and playing three different positions isn't easy, but Coach Schnabel made me feel comfortable at all three of them. And every day, working with him and Brdar in the cages, I don't think I'd be able to hit college pitching without those two.
"Baseball skill-wise, they are the two people who have gotten me where I'm at."
While riding back with teammates from a Wednesday training session at a local gym, the kid with the Ian Kinsler Tigers jersey ("Kinsler was my man.") discovered he'd been drafted by Detroit.
"And to my favorite team, the Tigers," said Kerr, shaking his head once again. "It's a dream come true. Absolutely a dream come true."
Bakich's faith in him has been pivotal.
"He's one of the most impactful people I've ever been around in my life," said Kerr. "I mean, giving me the opportunity to even come here. I had one other school I could've gone to for baseball -- Army, West Point. That was an amazing opportunity, but I couldn't turn down the opportunity to go to my dream school.
"I'm so grateful for the man he's allowed me to become the last four years. I never pictured myself in this situation. I owe that guy a lot, and will maintain a strong relationship with him the rest of my life."
And so the unlikely Wolverines are here -- needing two wins to reach the College World Series in Omaha against the top-seeded Bruins -- after a surprising turnaround following an unexpected unraveling at the end of the regular season.
"It's a blessing to keep fighting with the guys," said Kerr. "As a senior, every day is so important that you want it to go on. Being with these guys for another week is the most important thing about it.
"Obviously, a chance to win a championship again is unbelievable. There are only seven teams that have gone to Omaha in Michigan history in 153 years of Michigan baseball and we're that close. I mean, it's special. It's been a special year so far and we're hoping to keep it going."
