Mitch Voit is living out a dream with Michigan baseball
WHITEFISH BAY, Wis. (BVM) – Mitch Voit finished his high school baseball career by receiving multiple awards naming him the best player in the state. The Michigan Wolverine commit was the Gatorade Wisconsin Baseball Player of the Year, the PBR State Player of the Year and was named the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association State Player of the Year for WIAA Division I.
“I mean, it’s awesome,” Voit said. “It’s always a nice feeling when you’re getting recognition like that. I put in a lot of hard work to be where I am today so to get these awards, it’s showing me physically that my hard work is paying off. None of this is possible without my teammates this year.”
Voit was a part of a star-studded Whitefish Bay baseball team that was considered by many to be the best team in the state this year. Along with Voit, the Dukes featured Louisville commit Michael Lippe, Alabama commit JD Dix, UW-Milwaukee commit D.J. Kojis and fellow Michigan commit Jack Counsell, the son of Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell.
“You go into these games with basically a super team and everyone has fun, everyone is relaxed, they’re all playing their own game,” Voit said. “I think that was important for us this year. We all played our own game.”
Voit’s game involved him going 11-0 on the mound with 87 strikeouts through 53.2 innings of work and an ERA of 0.54. At the plate, he had an OPS of 1.46, a batting average of .566, five home runs, 11 doubles, two triples and 37 RBIs.
On the field, Voit showcased why Michigan baseball recruited him as a pitcher and an infielder. Although people tried to have him focus on one position, Voit stayed true to what he believed in and continued to train for pitching as well as the infield.
“It’s a huge compliment,” Voit said about Michigan recruiting him for infield and pitching. “Obviously a lot of people have tried to sway me one way and make me focus on one thing but I always loved being versatile.”
That versatility began from the moment his dad started teaching him how to pitch. In fact, it was built into Voit’s early training to be on the mound. The Voit family’s house has stairs in front of it and Voit would go out with his dad and throw tennis balls at the stairs. The ball would bounce back like a grounder and Voit’s versatility began to take shape.
“I found it fun,” Voit said. “I’d find a spot on the stairs and I’d aim for it, throw and it’d roll back to me like a ground ball…He didn’t even have to do anything he’d just send me off on my own.”
His dad got him into pitching but his whole family helped Voit develop his love for the game. Voit never had to look far to find someone to play catch with because there was always someone around no matter where he was.
“My dad played it, both my brothers played it, my sister played softball and they all played baseball with me and it was always so fun,” Voit said. “I played it with my friends. I felt at home playing baseball.”
Also Voit’s mom, Sharon, who asked Mitch to mention her during the interview for this article (shout out to Sharon), was always supportive. With his whole family behind him, Mitch landed a spot with Hitters Baseball, the premier baseball club in Wisconsin.
“At Hitters, it’s kind of an expectation that you’re playing college baseball,” Mitch said.
Even though he wasn’t in high school yet, college baseball was becoming more of a reality. It was around this time that his dad asked him where he wanted to go to school.
“I said to myself ‘what’s the school with the best education and the best baseball?’ And I’m like ‘Michigan,’” Mitch said. “Since then, that was where I wanted to go.”
With his dream school chosen, all that was left was for Mitch to put in the work required to get to Ann Arbor. He finally stopped impersonating Ryan Braun at the plate – Braun was his favorite player growing up so Mitch would use Braun’s batting stance – and continued to improve his game.
Colleges began to take notice and he was getting recruited, but then Michigan got involved and it was all over. He verbally committed to Michigan baseball in October of 2019 as a sophomore.
I am very proud to announce that I will be furthering my academic and baseball career at the University of Michigan. I would like to thank my parents and God for this ability to play baseball. I would also like to thank my coaches and teammates at Hitters Baseball. #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/AyYE4SaPBH
— Mitchell Voit (@1Mvvoit) October 8, 2019
He had accomplished his dream and even after Michigan head coach Erik Bakich left the program to become the head coach at Clemson, Mitch’s loyalty to the Wolverines didn’t waiver.
“I’m so excited to head there and they got a great community over there,” Voit said. “It sucks that the coaching staff just left but I was committed to the school and I just can’t wait to get there.”
Soon, he will be on campus and be able to continue his baseball career at the next level. It hasn’t hit him yet and Mitch says it won’t hit him until he has a Wolverine jersey on. In the meantime, he can continue to inspire the next generation of Whitefish Bay and Wisconsin baseball players.
“It’s really cool to realize that you’re one of the people that you used to look up to,” Mitch said.
He realized it from seeing the young kids that would come to Whitefish Bay baseball games eye’s light up when he’d give them a high five. Mitch used to be one of those kids. Now he will get the chance to experience that again, only this time, it will be a young Wolverine fan seeing him play at Ray Fisher Stadium.
