Michigan baseball: Tracy Smith finds his pitching coach
Michigan baseball has its new head coach in Tracy Smith and he has rounded out his full-time staff. According to a report from Kendall Rodgers of D1Baseball.com, Brock Huntzinger will be joining as the team’s pitching coach.
Huntzinger was a graduate assistant at Arizona State before joining Boise State as its pitching coach in 2020.
He is an Indiana native that committed to play for IU out of high school, but elected to go pro and was a third-round pick in the 2007 MLB Draft, signing with the Boston Red Sox. He never made the major leagues, but spent time with the Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Oakland A’s and Chicago White Sox organizations.
Smith’s other assistant addition was Ben Greenspan, who was named associate head coach and recruiting coordinator.
Greenspan is seen as an ace recruiter and helped Arizona State accumulate talent during his time there, bringing in top 10 classes in five of six years from 2016-21. Player development has also been critical, headlined by his work with 2020 No. 1 overall pick Spencer Torkelson, who now plays for the Detroit Tigers.
Greenspan also played two seasons at Indiana and was a captain and Academic All-Big Ten performer in 2007. He spent time on Smith’s staff in both Bloomington and Tempe.
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Background on Michigan baseball’s new head coach
Smith, 56, has plenty of Big Ten experience, coaching at Indiana as an assistant in 1995-96 and later holding the main job from 2006-14.
He last coached at Arizona State from 2015-21. Smith began his head coaching career at Miami and went 317-220-1 from 1997-2005, advancing to a pair of NCAA Regionals. Rogers went 287-237 in nine seasons on the job at Indiana with three NCAA Regional berths and a trip to the College World Series in 2013.
Smith’s time at Arizona State saw him go 201-155 in seven seasons in Tempe. Arizona State played in four NCAA Regionals on his watch before he was fired at the end of the 2021 campaign.
“My family and I are proud to join the University of Michigan family, and this storied Michigan baseball program,” Smith said in a statement on July 3. “Having competed on the field against the likes of Barry Larkin, Jim Abbott, Casey Close and many others, I am aware of the tremendous talent and tradition of this program. I would like to thank Warde Manuel, Rob Rademacher, the staff and our student-athletes for allowing me the opportunity to build upon the history of U-M baseball and the recent successes of my friend and colleague Erik Bakich. The standards in the Big Ten Conference and at the University of Michigan are set high, and I am honored to lead our next group of champions. Go Blue!”
