The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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MARCH 2021 THE WOLVERINE 13 INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS MICHIGAN'S TOP PERFORMERS Baseball redshirt sophomore pitcher Steven Hajjar: He was tabbed to the Baseball America Preseason All-American second team Feb. 1, completing an impressive tri- fecta that saw him make an appearance on all three major preseason squads. He was also named to the third team by D1Baseball.com and second team by Baseball Magazine. The Andover, Mass., native went 3-0 with a 2.70 ERA in four starts during last year's shortened 15-game season. He was also named the Big Ten's Freshman of the Week on two separate occasions in 2020 (Feb. 17 and March 9). Women's basketball junior forward Naz Hillmon: She was selected for the Wooden Award Late Season Top 20 Watch List Feb. 1, with the accolade given on an annual basis to the best men's and women's col- lege basketball player in the nation. The highlight of Hillmon's season occurred Jan. 21 at Ohio State when she poured in 50 points on 20-of-30 shooting, be- coming the first player in the NCAA this year to reach the 50-point plateau. The Cleveland native has earned the Big Ten's Player of the Week honor three times this season, while also taking home ESPN's National Women's Player of the Week Award twice. Baseball pitching coach Steve Merriman: U-M base- ball head man Erik Bakich announced Jan. 29 he had hired Merriman to his staff to replace the departed Chris Fet- ter, who left after last season to become the Detroit Tigers' pitching coach. The role in Ann Arbor will be nothing new for Merriman, who served as the Wol- verines' pitching coach in both 2002 and 2012. He most recently worked as a minor-league pitching coordinator and coach in the Colorado Rockies' organization, and has spent time with the Chicago Cubs, Arizona Diamondbacks, Detroit Tigers and New York Mets. Men's basketball guard Mike Smith: ESPN college basketball writer Jeff Borzello named him one of the nation's eight best trans- fers in a Jan. 28 article, with the Burr Ridge, Ill., native having come to U-M as a graduate transfer from Columbia this past offseason. "He is the starting point guard for the Big Ten favorites and a potential Final Four team," Borzello wrote. "And he has adapted his game from being the focal point of the of- fense at Columbia to being a distributor first, a transition that previous Ivy League graduate transfers have found difficult." The only other Big Ten player included on ESPN's list was Minnesota junior center Liam Robbins, who came to Minneapolis from Drake. — Austin Fox Inge: "It will be a com- mitment. Both of my kids play summer ball, so that 's a big com- mitment I dedicate to them, but they start in June, and we'll finish up then if we go to the World Series. I'll only miss a little bit of that. " The only downside is I might miss some of their high school baseball games, but I figured I'll give it a year and see how it works out with the family. But as far as baseball goes, it's incredible." The Wolverine: Along those lines, what's been your early experience in the weeks you've been working with the team? Inge: "The guys are amazing. I love them. They're hard- working. Bakich and the whole staff, they've done an amazing job recruiting personalities on top of just talent. Talent is one thing, and I've seen talent. I've seen the best talent. But if you don't have the right team and mental attitude, I don't care — take the talent somewhere else, because you're going to bring the team down. "What they've put together here has been pretty amazing. It's been really fun to get to know these guys." The Wolverine: You're heavily into preparing for the 2021 season. What's been your approach as a first-year coach with the players? Inge: "I talk to them like I'm a teammate. I still have the men- tality that I'm a player more than having the coach mentality. "The best coaches I had sometimes were players … not downgrading any of the coaches I've had, because they were amazing. But when [11-time All-Star] Miguel Cabrera comes to you and says, 'Hey man, you look like you're doing a little something with your swing,' you take his word for it … He's just trying to help his teammate get better, so the team can get better. "That approach is kind of the way I take coaching. Don't think of me as a coach; think of me as another player you can bounce ideas off of. I only want success for them." The Wolverine: How closely did you watch the Michigan team in the 2019 College World Series? Inge: "It was really fun to watch. I was just watching as a bystander, but I've rooted for all Michigan teams when I was playing. "I was really pulling for them, and then found myself heart- broken at the end. But just watching them in the dugout, those personalities, their interviews, I could tell they were well-coached even before I got here." — Chris Balas Inge played 13 seasons in the big leagues, most notably from 2001‑12 with the Detroit Tigers, and was named an MLB All‑Star in 2009. PHOTO COURTESY DETROIT TIGERS