MLB Hoosiers: Mercer Says Success of Players in Majors 'Tremendous Advertisement For Our Program'

Indiana baseball coach Jeff Mercer doesn't take any credit for the seven former Hoosiers in the major leagues, but he's their biggest fan and appreciates how their success also helps his program right now.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — For the first time ever, there were seven former Indiana baseball players in the major leagues this season. And no one has cheered louder than current Indiana coach Jeff Mercer. 

Mercer has only been at Indiana for two-plus years, so none of the current major-leaguers played for him. But Mercer, an Indiana native himself, is just as proud because it says a lot about the status of the Hoosiers' baseball program these days, which has been on the rise for a decade now.

"I couldn't be any happier for all those guys,'' Mercer said during a recent Zoom interview. "We certainly don't take credit for their success — that was the guys before us who did a tremendous job here — but for all seven of those guys, they are absolutely Indiana players. 

"That name on the front of their jersey meant something when they were here, and it's even nice to see how they all support each other on the next level, too.''

The seven players who saw action in 2020 are Kyle Schwarber and Josh Phegley of the Chicago Cubs, Alex Dickerson and Caleb Baragar of the San Francisco Giants, Kyle Hart of the Boston Red Sox, Jonathan Stiever of the Chicago White Sox and Aaron Slegers of the Tampa Bay Rays.'

Slegers is the only one still playing. His Rays team is up 3-2 in the American League Championship Series and Slegers has pitched great the past two nights.

Mercer says that their success serves a two-pronged purpose right now. His current players see that the dream of reaching the big leagues is certainly possible. And, of course, it's great for recruiting to point out so many guys in the pros. 

Indiana leads the Big Ten in MLB players right now, and it's not even close. No other team had more than four alums in the bigs.

"Yeah, there's no question that it's huge for recruiting, because we can tell kids that you can come to a place like Indiana and make it there to the majors,'' Mercer said. "People will think you have to go south or go out west because of the weather, but this is proof that it can get done here, too. 

"And those seven? I'm telling you, that's just a start. There are several other Indiana guys knocking on the door right now too, and they'll be in the big leagues pretty soon themselves. And there's no question in my mind that we have several guys on our roster right now who have a great change of having big-league careers.''

Mercer also said that these current major-leaguers have proven that Midwest kids can play at the highest level, too. Schwarber, the most famous of the former Hoosiers because of his postseason heroics with the Chicago Cubs in 2015 and 2016, is from Middletown, Ohio. 

Phegley is from Terre Haute, Ind., Stiever is from Cedarburg, Wis., Hart is from Cincinnati, and Baragar is from Jenison, Mich., all proud Midwestern kids. (Full disclosure, Slegers is from Scottsdale, Ariz., and Dickerson is from Poway, Calif.) 

And former Hoosier Sam Travis didn't play in the bigs this year, but he has major-league time under his belt and likely will stick with someone in 2021. He's from Orland Park, Ill. 

"I think that's an important thing to point out, too, that there's a lot of talent here in Indiana and throughout the Midwest,'' Mercer said. "When we're recruiting, we don't have to go south to get all our talent. There's plenty right here in our backyard. These guys are proof of that, and the guys on our roster are, too.''

There's no doubt about that. Last spring at Indiana, of the 35 players on the roster, 21 were from Indiana and nine others were from adjoining Midwest states. 

And to go one step further, their entire weekend pitching rotation — Gabe Bierman, Tommy Sommer and Braydon Tucker — are all Indiana natives, as are four of their top relievers, Connor Manous, Braden Scott, Matt Litwicki and Ty Bothwell. 

"Obviously, I love the talent on our team, and it's mostly homegrown,'' Mercer said. "We've been able to recruit Indiana and the Midwest really well since we got here (in 2018), and, quite frankly, the success that Indiana has had in the past 10 years or so has had a lot to do with that.

"We can point to a lot of positive things that are going on here right now, and have gone on. I think we're up to 22 guys right now in pro ball at various levels, and that's great.

"They're all Hoosiers in my mind, and I'm very proud of everything they're accomplishing out there on the next level. They'll always be our guys.''