{"id":598,"date":"2025-03-30T05:44:47","date_gmt":"2025-03-30T05:44:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/03\/30\/brayden-jefferis-uses-his-tools-in-michigan-win-over-penn-state\/"},"modified":"2025-03-30T05:44:50","modified_gmt":"2025-03-30T05:44:50","slug":"brayden-jefferis-uses-his-tools-in-michigan-win-over-penn-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/03\/30\/brayden-jefferis-uses-his-tools-in-michigan-win-over-penn-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Brayden Jefferis uses his tools in Michigan win over Penn State"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Penciled in at the two hole, freshman outfielder Brayden Jefferis was a key piece in the Michigan baseball team\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/sports\/baseball\/michigan-ties-up-penn-state-series-with-8-7-win-after-an-early-burst-of-runs\/\">win<\/a> over Penn State on Saturday. Finishing the day 4-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored, Jefferis accounted for four of the Wolverines\u2019 eight runs scored.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Coming off of performances against Eastern Michigan and Purdue where he garnered three RBIs in just two games, Jefferis has been seeing the ball well. Replacing graduate outfielder AJ Rausch, Michigan\u2019s everyday center fielder, Jefferis made just his third start of the season \u2014 but the moment wasn\u2019t too big for the true freshman.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust try to have fun and relax,\u201d Jefferis said of his approach. \u201cI wasn\u2019t trying to do too much.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jefferis\u2019 approach was simple, but it did the trick. After graduate shortstop Benny Casillas led off the game with a double, Jefferis played a ball into the opposite field, bringing Casillas around to score the game\u2019s first run. Not forcing the ball to the pull side, Jefferis did exactly what he needed to do.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>Two innings later, Jefferis put the ball in play again, but it stayed in the infield. Hustling down the line, he beat out a would-be double play to reach base on a fielder\u2019s choice. Jefferis\u2019 hustle ended up being crucial for Wolverines as he scored from first on junior infielder Mitch Voit\u2019s RBI double, tying the game up in the third inning.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Even on hits where he didn\u2019t get his A-swing off, Jefferis made an impact through aggressive baserunning and hustling down the basepaths \u2014 baseball plays that aren\u2019t always flashy but make a difference.<\/p>\n<p>But more often than not, it was his A-swing powering the Wolverines\u2019 offense. In the bottom of the fourth, Jefferis laced one up the middle, scoring a runner from third to keep Michigan\u2019s offense \u2014 and the freshman\u2019s confidence \u2014 humming.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Capping off his day with two additional singles, Jefferis finished with 13 total bases and reached base safely in all five of his at-bats. While Jefferis wasn\u2019t spraying the ball to the fence his simple approach helped him score runners and put himself in position to score. And with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/sports\/baseball\/mitch-voit-a-consistent-reckoning-force-for-michigan\/\">heavy-hitting<\/a> Voit behind him in the order, just being on base could put you in scoring position.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf I had to sum up that guy, I\u2019d give him the ultimate compliment which is \u2018you\u2019re just a baseball player,\u2019 \u201d Michigan coach Tracy Smiths said. \u201cNot that he\u2019s not talented, but he\u2019s just a baseball player.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>Smith\u2019s praise of Jefferis as a baseball player didn\u2019t stop on the basepaths. Placed in centerfield, Jefferis captained the outfield effectively from center field as he was a perfect four-for-four on put-outs. The southern California product dealt with the Midwest wind and rain with ease in his first start on the Wolverines\u2019 home turf.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShame on me for not putting him in the lineup sooner,\u201d Smith said. \u201cSeriously.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even though Jefferis hasn\u2019t had too many opportunities to show his skills, he has made the most of them as of late. In Michigan\u2019s crowded outfield <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/sports\/baseball\/with-two-open-spots-michigan-looking-to-find-answers-in-the-outfield\/\">platoon<\/a> there are a half-dozen ballplayers competing for just three spots. But if Jefferis can keep up this level of production, his five-tool capabilities will lead to consistent plate appearances.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Penciled in at the two hole, freshman outfielder Brayden Jefferis was a key piece in the Michigan baseball team\u2019s win over Penn State on Saturday. Finishing the day 4-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored, Jefferis accounted for four of the Wolverines\u2019 eight runs scored.\u00a0 Coming off of performances against Eastern Michigan and Purdue [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":599,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[604,605,222,607,361,606,248],"class_list":{"0":"post-598","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-brayden","9":"tag-jefferis","10":"tag-michigan","11":"tag-penn","12":"tag-state","13":"tag-tools","14":"tag-win"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":600,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598\/revisions\/600"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}