Report: Erik Bakich Staying at Michigan

Submitted by Raoul on

Kendall Rogers reports that Erik Bakich "has turned down Stanford and is staying at Michigan long-term." He also says that Bakich is not a candidate for the South Carolina job. (Tweets below in a reply.)

Great news!

Maizen

June 14th, 2017 at 7:22 PM ^

Wow, Stanford is a college baseball powerhouse and Palo Alto is a pretty nice place to live. Really excited about this. Bakich has done a great job thus far.

Ty Butterfield

June 14th, 2017 at 7:38 PM ^

Huge for Warde to get this done. Want to see the baseball team in the tournament every year.

Alton

June 14th, 2017 at 9:01 PM ^

Michigan just had 11 current players and 6 incoming Freshmen selected in the MLB draft.  Seven of the 11 current players picked have a year of eligibility remaining, so that's 13 players who could play for Michigan next year or could sign a minor league contract.

With Bakich coming back, hopefully we hold on to a good number of those 13.  Michigan's draft (with round):

6th round:  P Cody Bolton, incoming Fr (PIT)

6th:  P Oliver Jaskie, Junior (SEA)

11th:  3B Drew Lugbauer, Junior (ATL)

16th:  P Ryan Nutof, Junior (CIN)

17th:  1B Jason Pineda, incoming Fr (SDP)

24th:  C Harrison Wenson, Senior (LAA)

25th:  P Bryan Pall, Junior (SEA)

27th:  1B Jake Bivens, Junior (DET)

28th:  CF Johnny Slater, Senior (SEA)

28th:  P Michael Hendrickson, Junior (CLE)

29th:  P Grant Reuss, Junior (DET)

33rd:  P Mac Lozer, Senior (NYM)

33rd:  C Joe Donovan, incoming Fr (CHC)

35th:  P Jeff Criswell, incoming Fr (DET)

36th:  SS Michael Brdar, Senior (STL)

37th:  OF Jesse Franklin, incoming Fr (SEA)

40th:  P Angelo Smith, incoming Fr (CHW)

Not sure I understand why Jackson Lamb wasn't selected.

UNCWolverine

June 14th, 2017 at 9:24 PM ^

I still find it a bit crazy that there are so many rounds in the MLB draft. And to that point there there is such a large minor league program for that sport. Guess the sport can sustain it so why not. But compared to other sports it seems a bit odd. NFL has basically as many teams and twice the roster but essentially no minor leagues, unless you count practice squad and CFL which is a stretch.

Alton

June 14th, 2017 at 9:36 PM ^

So a typical team has 1 MLB, 1 AAA, 1 AA, 1 "high-A", 1 "low-A", 1 short-season A and 1 rookie team.  That's 7 full baseball teams, each with 25 active players plus however many players on the disabled lists.  Figure 200+ players.

Also figure that about 5 years is the typical career (sure, there are players with 20-year careers, but plenty of players who get 1-3 years and then are cut).  So each team needs about 40 new players a year.  A team drafts 40 players, ends up signing about 25 or so of those 40, and then they get about 15 more from overseas or from undrafted free agents.

 

Raoul

June 14th, 2017 at 11:05 PM ^

There are separate news articles saying that three of first four drafted will sign and go pro: Bolton, Lugbauer, and Nutof. I haven't seen anything definitive on Jaskie yet, but I'd be surprised if he didn't sign.

Jackson Lamb has another year of eligibility. Wonder if he might return to Michigan. (He could always go the undrafted free agent route.)

EDIT: Michigan and Texas tied for most draft picks (11):

UNCWolverine

June 14th, 2017 at 9:18 PM ^

Whoa, turned down Stanford? If that's true then I'm shocked. My buddy played baseball there and we talked about this a few days ago. We both figured done deal if they offered. Wow. That's fantastic.

Zeke21

June 14th, 2017 at 10:15 PM ^

Stanford is really something. Mark Marquess has been their coach since 1977.

So Coach B is Really making a commitment to M.  Go Blue.

m1jjb00

June 14th, 2017 at 10:46 PM ^

That's what crossed through my head.  But, it was in the voice of that 5-year old or so girl in that radio Geico ad where the Dad can't man up and give a rudimentary explanation of where babies come from.