Baseball

While sitting in the dugout watching his infielders take pre-practice ground balls last week, Northwestern coach Paul Stevens confessed one of his regrets to senior third baseman Mike Phelps.

If only Stevens had redshirted Phelps his freshman year, Stevens said.

“Yeah, we were joking about it,” said Stevens, whose Wildcats have fewer scholarships than most Big Ten baseball teams, leading to almost no non-injury redshirts in the wardrobe. “(But) it’s just a fact that as guys get older and more mature and they understand the game a little bit more, they’re better players.

“What might he be next year? I don’t know. You just never know.”

This season, though, Stevens knows exactly what he’s getting when Phelps mans the hot corner. A career .242 hitter heading into the season, the third baseman is hitting .321 in 30 starts and is an anchor at third base with a much improved glove — enough to leave Stevens pining for one more year.

But in his first three seasons at NU, Phelps looked as though his impact wouldn’t leave anyone asking for more.

“It’s tough coming off the bench and playing well,” said Phelps, who went to the plate only 95 times in his first three years, entering most of his 71 games as a pinch-hitter or defensive replacement. “A lot of guys come in (to) pinch-hit and don’t do well, and they get their hopes down that they’re not going to get in again.”

Phelps said at times he got discouraged, with his average dipping to .192 his sophomore year in 26 at-bats. He started four of his 16 games that season and committed three errors in the field.

Still, he never gave up, he said, and neither did Stevens nor his teammates. He played in 34 games his junior year, and his average jumped to .255 while his error total dropped to two.

And when starting third baseman Josh Lieberman graduated, Phelps finally got a chance to step in full-time.

“He just wanted enough time to prove that he could be a good ballplayer,” said his mother, Karen. “The more you play, you’re feeling more comfortable on the field and more confident about yourself.

“I just see the change in the way he’s playing because he feels so much more confident right now.”

He’s also making his teammates more comfortable and confident, senior shortstop Jon Mikrut said.

“He’s getting to balls that he hasn’t gotten to before,” Mikrut said. “He’s making plays that are ridiculous plays in big situations. He’s really stepped it up over at third base.”

All of this is natural improvement, Stevens said, typical of almost any baseball player from year to year. His maturity level is higher, he is more relaxed and his contributions on the field and at the plate improve with every game.

Now if he only had that fifth year.

“It would have been nice to have been redshirted and all,” Phelps said. “But I don’t really have any regrets as to why I’m here for four years instead of five.

“I wouldn’t take that back for anything. I’ve had a good run.”

Reach Patrick Dorsey at [email protected].