With Chase Allen likely done for the season, Michigan pitching thins further

A lack of pitching depth has plagued the Michigan baseball team all season. 

Without junior left-hander Connor O’Halloran — the Wolverines’ undisputed ace — on the mound, Michigan often struggles to keep conference games competitive. The Wolverines have been outscored 42-9 on Sundays during a recent abysmal month-long run. On Tuesday, that staff leanness was prominent again — on full display as the Xavier offense inundated the Wolverines with 14 runs. 

And with junior right-hander Chase Allen — Michigan’s Saturday starter — now likely done for the year due to an injury, that pervasive problem will only be exacerbated. 

“We’re probably going to be without the services of Chase the rest of the way,” Michigan coach Tracy Smith said May 12. “… Highly unlikely he’ll be pitching for us the rest of the year.”

Allen’s abrupt end to the season means his 2023 campaign concludes with 10 games started — his first in the Wolverines’ second contest of the year and last in a midweek matchup with Kent State on May 3. That unusual midweek start followed three consecutive suboptimal outings against Rutgers, Michigan State and Oklahoma State — all starts in which he gave up five or more runs in three or less innings. That three-game stretch ballooned his ERA above 7.00, the second-highest in the Big Ten. 

But while Allen has had his share of struggles — as every Michigan pitcher has, save O’Halloran — he has also enjoyed superior stretches and consumed a high share of innings, as one of only four Wolverines with over 50 innings thrown.  

His best performance was an eight inning, three-earned-run-allowed triumph over Cal State Fullerton on Feb. 26. He then started four consecutive games resulting in a Wolverines’ victory over a stretch in late March and early April. And Allen isn’t unacquainted with those types of successes, compiling a 7-2 record a season ago in 2022. 

“What I love about Chase … when I came out to get the ball he wanted to punch me in the face,” Smith said after Allen twirled 105 pitches en route to an eventual win over Penn State on March 25. “… I love the competitive nature. As badly as I know he wanted the baseball, we felt that he had done his job and did it very well today.”

Allen’s absence means expanded roles for other arms. Senior right-hander Noah Rennard — the past Friday closer — has assumed Allen’s position as the Saturday starter; junior right-hander Ahmad Harajli slides into the spot vacated by Rennard; senior left-hander Jacob Denner has seen more innings in series finales, resulting in his first two wins of the season and a Big Ten Pitcher of the Week award. 

But even with those pitchers thriving in newfound roles, the Wolverines will sorely miss Allen’s ‘competitive nature’ and experience — especially at the present moment. 

With one Big Ten series left, Michigan will look to sweep Ohio State to preserve its remote chance at a regular season conference title, which the Wolverines are somehow still mathematically in the running for. Then Michigan will attempt to rattle off a run in the Big Ten Tournament for a hope at the NCAA Tournament automatic bid — a daunting task with a thin pitching staff. 

To achieve either of those lofty goals, the Wolverines will now have to do it without one of their most seasoned pitchers.