FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The University of Michigan baseball program and head coach Rich Maloney have announced today (Wednesday, Sept. 14) that Steve Merriman will be joining the Wolverine staff as a pitching coach. Merriman, who has more than 15 years experience as a coach and scout, will handle the pitching coach duties. He replaces Matt White, who took a position with the Boras Corporation.
“Steve comes to us with a wealth of experience and a tremendous passion for pitching and mentoring young men,” Maloney said. “We share a common bond in that we consider ourselves to be grinders. Steve shares with me a dream to take Michigan back to Omaha. I am excited for the future of Michigan baseball and glad that Steve will be partnering with us to continue our great tradition.”
Merriman comes to Ann Arbor after spending the last two years in the Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau. He helped all 30 MLB teams’ area scouts with gathering information and evaluations for their clubs as well as attending and setting up regional and national showcases for high school players, writing reports on potential draft picks and doing in-home interviews with families of potential draft players.
Merriman spent five seasons as the pitching coach in the New York Mets and Arizona Diamondbacks organizations. With the Mets, Merriman was the instructional league pitching coach from 2004-06 and the rehab pitching coordinator in 2006. He also served as a Major League bullpen coach during Mets spring training games and was a pitching coach for the Brooklyn Cyclones of the New York-Penn League. With Arizona, Merriman served as the pitching coach of the Missoula Osprey of the Pioneer League and worked with the team’s extended spring training camp. He also spent time as an associate scout for the Colorado Rockies (2002-04) and was a bullpen catcher and bullpen practice pitcher for the Detroit Tigers (1996-99).
No stranger to the University of Michigan, Merriman will begin his third stint as a member of the Wolverine coaching staff. He was the hitting coach during the 1995 season, when he also worked with the catchers and base running. Merriman then was the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator in 2002. He worked with the catchers and was responsible for the coordination of the team defense.
Merriman was the head coach of Macomb Community College in Warren, Mich., from 1999-2001, where he led the Monarchs to back-to-back regional finals, had five players picked in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft and directed more than 90 percent of eligible players to four-year institutions. He also served as the pitching coach at the University of Toledo in 1996.
Merriman graduated from Central Michigan University with a bachelor’s of science in education in 1991. He earned a master’s of education in sports administration from Wayne State University in 1997.
