Michigan catcher Cole Martin has been leading the Wolverines this season behind the plate handling the pitching staff while providing excellent leadership.
After experiencing the worst year in Michigan baseball history in 2011, Martin, a freshman at the time, realized he had a chance to make an immediate impact on the program, which needed a leader to step up.
Martin came to Michigan as a quiet walk-on out of John Glenn High School in Bay City, Mich. and had a role on the team right away, starting 52 games in his first two seasons. Although he was a true catcher coming out of high school, there’s a bigger learning curve at that position than any other between high school and college.
Bakich says confidence, leadership and conviction are all things Michigan looks for in its catchers, but these are the skills that Martin lacked through much of his early career.
“At the catcher position in high school you’re never really taught that the whole game revolves around the decisions you make,” Martin said. “When I was a young kid playing as a freshman and sophomore (at Michigan), I had a lot of older guys surrounding me on the field. I didn’t really have that confidence in myself to make decisions.”
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