{"id":985,"date":"2025-04-24T10:43:05","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T10:43:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/04\/24\/tate-carey-earns-starting-spot-for-michigan-after-strong-showings\/"},"modified":"2025-04-24T10:43:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T10:43:08","slug":"tate-carey-earns-starting-spot-for-michigan-after-strong-showings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/04\/24\/tate-carey-earns-starting-spot-for-michigan-after-strong-showings\/","title":{"rendered":"Tate Carey earns starting spot for Michigan after strong showings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>It\u2019s uncommon for true freshmen to make an immediate impact on a collegiate baseball roster, and the Michigan baseball team was no outlier. Starting off the season with majority <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/sports\/baseball\/breaking-down-the-2025-michigan-baseball-roster\/\">upperclassmen<\/a> in the starting lineup, the Wolverines looked to their experience to carry them to wins.<\/p>\n<p>But as is Michigan coach Tracy Smith\u2019s coaching style, players get the playing time they deserve. For freshman right-hander Tate Carey, that time has been earned on the mound following others\u2019 lackluster performances, and the Wolverines are better for it.<\/p>\n<p>With predicted starter sophomore right-hander Gavin DeVooght being out of the rotation due to injury only a month into the season, Michigan had some holes to fill. On top of the untimely injury, the Wolverines had a tremendous lack of consistency on the mound \u2014 especially from starting pitchers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need our starters to be more efficient with their pitch count and get us deeper into the game,\u201d Smith said March 29. \u201cOne of our top arms (DeVooght) has been out now for two or three weeks, and that\u2019s been a little bit of the mantra \u2014 everybody has to step up to cover that gap.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>Though junior right-hander Kurt Barr made his way out of his slump, sophomore right-hander Vigue has yet to pitch well in a large stretch of games. His last start against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/sports\/baseball\/pitching-breakdown-culminates-in-michigans-2-1-series-defeat-to-no-15-oregon\/\">Oregon<\/a> saw him implode on the mound, giving up six runs and seven walks in 4.2 innings.<\/p>\n<p>Clearly, a change had to be made.<\/p>\n<p>So, Smith turned to Carey. Getting his first start in a low-stakes midweek game against Akron, Carey delivered a memorable showing. He allowed no hits through the run-ruled seven innings, getting four strikeouts while walking only one batter.<\/p>\n<p>Recognizing Carey\u2019s prowess, Smith tested him out as a Sunday starter in the weekend series against Mount St. Mary\u2019s. Though again not the most daunting of opponents, Carey executed to a tee. Pounding the strike zone, Carey earned himself seven strikeouts and no runs through his five innings. But best of all, he didn\u2019t give up a single free base, one of Michigan\u2019s biggest problems.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re gonna need somebody to take and seize those roles,\u201d Smith said after Game 3 against the Mountaineers. \u201cThe message has been consistent, just do that right there. No matter what uniform you\u2019re playing against, be aggressive in the zone and results will take care of themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>After his commanding weekend presence, Carey had earned himself a conference-series weekend start. This time, he would be facing elite competition in the form of now-frontrunners of the Big Ten, Iowa.<\/p>\n<p>Against the Hawkeyes, Carey didn\u2019t perform as well as he had in his previous starts, though it was still enough to keep the Wolverines in the game. In his performance, Carey gave up two hits, two runs and walked two batters. The strikes were still there as he continued to command the zone, with a total of eight strikeouts through 4.2 innings.<\/p>\n<p>Hitting the ball hasn\u2019t been a problem for the Wolverines, but the lack of assertive pitching has. Pairing Carey with junior right-hander David Lally Jr. and Barr, Michigan finally has the three reliable starting pitchers that can complement their power-hitting tendencies.<\/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>It\u2019s uncommon for true freshmen to make an immediate impact on a collegiate baseball roster, and the Michigan baseball team was no outlier. Starting off the season with majority upperclassmen in the starting lineup, the Wolverines looked to their experience to carry them to wins. But as is Michigan coach Tracy Smith\u2019s coaching style, players [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":986,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[1102,1103,222,1106,1105,1104,875,1101],"class_list":{"0":"post-985","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-carey","9":"tag-earns","10":"tag-michigan","11":"tag-showings","12":"tag-spot","13":"tag-starting","14":"tag-strong","15":"tag-tate"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985","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=985"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":987,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985\/revisions\/987"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}