Mike Boeve has hit his way to MLB draft opportunity
Editor’s note: The Milwaukee Brewers selected 3B Mike Boeve with the No. 54 pick in the second round of the 2023 MLB Draft on July 9.
OMAHA, Neb. (BVM) – Mike Boeve grew up a Nebraska kid obsessed with baseball. His father Jim was a longtime coach at local Hastings College. And Mike was always by his side.
“I grew up going to the field. I was around the game early,” Mike said. “Being around my dad’s college team and growing up around some of those players when I was a kid, obviously you look up to them.”
Mike is now a college player himself, with the opportunity to go far with the game of baseball.
Boeve mans the hot corner for the University of Nebraska Omaha, where he is one of the best pure left-handed hitters in the country. He hit .364 in 2022, with a slugging percentage of .584%. This won him Summit League Player of the Year.
Nebraska-Omaha’s Mike Boeve may be the best college hitter that no one is talking about. Over two seasons, Boeve has slashed .343/.450/.511 with 39 doubles. He followed up a monster sophomore season with a nice summer on the Cape. pic.twitter.com/kGfOqnOcBH
— Ryan Miller (@ProspectsRyan) February 12, 2023
In 2023, Boeve finished the season with a 1.075 OPS while hitting over .400.
These eye-popping numbers have not gone unnoticed by MLB scouts either. Boeve is the No. 55 prospect in this year’s draft according to ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel.
“Coming out of high school, professional baseball was a dream,” Boeve said. “It wasn’t something that I really thought could get to this point.”
Boeve stepped in as a freshman and hit .319 in 47 games and that mindset began to shift a little bit.
Mike Boeve has left his new ballpark.
⚾️💥👋👀#OmahaBSB | #EveryoneForOmaha pic.twitter.com/YpPOeKwSfM— Omaha Video (@OmahaVID) March 6, 2021
“That’s when I first realized that this was something I had a real shot at doing,” Boeve said. “It was something I had dreamed of, so why would I not try to make the most of it?”
The draft is now a little over a month away and the pressure for someone in Boeve’s situation could be a lot to deal with. But Boeve has a great supporting cast around him with his family and his peers in Omaha.
“I have been fortunate to get around the right group of people that don’t put that type of pressure on me,” Boeve said. “I try to take expectations away from myself. The expectation is to go have fun and play as hard as I can. If I do that, everything falls into place.”
Across my looks Mike Boeve (2023 Eligible) @OmahaBSB @YD_RedSox has hit well to all fields and shown extra base pop. Hit .365/.491/.584 this spring for the Mavericks. #BACape22 pic.twitter.com/GOpdXlxJ5F
— Geoff Pontes (@GeoffPontesBA) July 13, 2022
This mindset has led to a lot of success for Boeve, giving him quite the individual resume, highlighted by his conference player of the year award and multiple All-Summit first team selections. His proudest achievement however is the best teammate award he won as a high school junior.
Boeve missed a chunk of that season due to injury, but he was still able to make an impact despite not playing.
“It’s something I take pride in,” Boeve said. “If you’re not a good person first before a good player, you really might not make it to the level you want to.”
Boeve does not necessarily have long-term goals of certain achievements or accolades. For him, it is all about doing everything he is capable of.
“At the end of the day when I retire, if I know I played for as long as I can and my mind and my heart was still in it, and I got to the best ability I could, that’s gonna be a great career and I will be satisfied with that.”
