Q&A: Illini second baseman Michael Massey

Champaign – The perspective surrounding the Illinois baseball program is changing rapidly for all involved.

It’s shifted from an inexperienced ball club to a team made up of upperclassmen that have their eyes set on playing in the College World Series.

Leading this group is junior second baseman and Preseason All-American Michael Massey, who is one of the top collegiate baseball prospects in the country.

Massey started all 53 games for the Illini last season, batting .326 with 6 homeruns and 46 RBIs. He made the All-Big Ten second team and earned an ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove Award for his defensive play.

Heading into his junior year campaign, Massey had a dream come true for him this offseason and is using his overall experience, he hopes, to lead Illinois into the postseason.

Orange and Blue News Staff Writer Erich Fisher caught up with Massey to talk about his offseason, accolades and expectations for himself and the Illini heading into the 2019 season.

So just starting off here, how’s everything been shaping out for this team leading up to the season?

Michael Massey: Yeah, it’s been awesome. I’m feeling good. Team’s looking good. It’s kind of cool because my first two years we’ve kind of had the label of being young and inexperienced, but I know I feel confident as a junior and just knowing the ropes a little bit. We have 42 or 43 upperclassmen on the team, so it’s been good to have the experience. There’s been an exciting buzz around the team. A lot of guys are pretty confident.

What’s this offseason been like for you, personally?

MM: Yeah, the offseason has been good. It’s been a little bit quicker than past offseasons, I think, in the sense that we kind of had two fall balls. So, you know, coming straight from summer ball then we had fall ball in August and September. Normally we kind of shut it down from there and it's more of a lifting and strength and conditioning type of offseason, but obviously with the trip to Aruba over Thanksgiving break was something that was a little bit different. It was pretty cool to be able to keep playing.

I saw you got a chance to play down in the highly regarded Cape Cod league this summer. What was that whole experience like for you?

MM: Yeah that was something that was really cool and sort of a dream come true. I think as a kid growing up, you always heard about the Cape league and all the players that get a chance to go play there and just the reputation of the league speaks for itself. Just having that opportunity to play there and I wouldn’t have had that opportunity if it wasn’t for the coaching staff at Illinois working with me and setting it up and kind of being my line of communication between me and the Cape. That was a really cool opportunity and great competition and I feel like I got lot better out there and I’m just grateful for the opportunity.

I mean, a lot of current pro’s and future pro’s have played in this league, so what’s that kind of feeling like knowing a lot of guys that are out playing for money have gone through the same league as you?

MM: That is really cool to have that. Like I said, it’s a great league with great competition. They’ve really developed a lot of players through that league and you can really see why a lot of guys that go into that league excel in the next season and in the future of baseball as well. There are so many good coaches out there and you pick up so many good things you could probably implement into your game. That was something I felt I had a good opportunity to do.

And you were able to put up some solid stats down there (.280 batting average in 82 at-bats and a .337 on-base percentage). Was it a confidence boost for you knowing you can go and play against top competition and be relatively successful?

MM: Yeah that was definitely a confidence booster. I think as a player growing up, you watch the College World Series because you have a general idea who are consistently in that mix and to be able to go out and have a chance to compete with those guys, you watch their programs on TV for so long and they get kind of built up, and an opportunity to compete against those guys and have a little bit of a chip on my shoulder to prove that the Big Ten is right there and we’re coming and especially Illinois. We’re on the rise and coach (Dan) Hartleb is doing a great job with the program.

Just like there are great players down south, there’s great players up here as well. It’s not always about the school or where you come from. It’s about the individual and how you’re coached and kind of what you got inside you.

Then heading into this season, the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper named you on the Preseason All-American third team, so what was it like receiving that sort of accolade?

MM: Anytime anybody recognizes your ability, what you’re doing and what you’ve done in the past, you feel awarded more so than anything. Yeah, it’s cool. It’s an honor, but at the same time there’s a key word in there and it’s “preseason” not “postseason.” You’re not an All-American till you go out there and actually do it. Nobody remembers preseason All-Americans so while the honor’s cool, I still have to go out there and do it. I got to go out there and win games and play well, so I’m excited for the season.

So, the team has some big shoes to fill with Bren Spillane turning pro, what’s it been like trying to make up for his absence in the lineup?

MM: Yeah, he’s a phenomenal player. You look at numbers he put up last year, it’s just a testament to how he worked and how talented he is and it shows how much he grew as a player. Any time a guy is the college baseball player of the year, that’s a pretty big void to fill. But’s it’s like what coach Hartleb has said many times, that responsibility doesn’t fall on one guy. Collectively, we’re just going to have to pick it up. Every single guy in the lineup is going to have to give a little bit more, produce a little more for us to be a successful team.

And while you lost a couple bats, you’re pretty much returning all your arms besides having (closer) Joey (Gerber) go pro. What kind of advantage is that for you guys having an experienced pitching rotation?

MM: That’s huge, especially when you talk about the one thing in playing in the Big Ten is playing in the Midwest. Trying to play here in February and March is pretty difficult I’m sure you know with the weather. So, having guys that are experienced and having guys that can go on the road and play in different environments and having the different traveling schedule is what that’s kind of all about.

So, having guys that can go out, focus and throw strikes and get the job done is something that as a position player and a defender is going to be fun to play behind. Guys are going to be in the strike zone. Guys are going to be going at guys and they have the experience. Being able to play behind that is definitely going to make me more confident and hopefully make the entire team more confident.

And with this team as a whole, do you feel like it has a chip on its shoulder going into this season after barely missing out on postseason play previously?

MM: Yeah, I do. I think coming as close as we did last year and not having that regional to show for it and be put into playoff contention did. But at the end of the day, we did some things that year and we kind of shot ourselves in the foot a little bit. We dropped some games we shouldn’t have dropped. We maybe had a few stretches there where we could’ve ended it early, but we didn’t. So, yeah, I think there’s definitely a chip from the standpoint that we didn’t get to the regional or the postseason, but I wouldn’t phrase it as a chip that we got snubbed. And that’s something coach Hartleb has made very clear.

We got to understand that as players, we didn’t get our job done, ultimately. Nobody snubbed us, we snubbed ourselves. I think it’s something that’s going to help us a lot this year when it comes to focusing.

Last thing for you here, I know you’re obviously focusing on this upcoming season, but has the thought of going pro after this season at least in the back of your mind/open to the possibility of leaving afterwards?

MM: Yeah, I’m certainly open to the idea of that. It’s been a life-long dream of mine since I’ve been a kid. But at the same time, that’s really put on the backburner for me. Like I said, personally for me in my career, I haven’t won a Big Ten Championship, haven’t won a regional, never been to a super regional, never been to Omaha. So, personally I don’t have much experience in the postseason, and I have don’t have much to show for it. In my college career, there’s been plenty of things coming into college I would’ve hoped to accomplish by now. I’m mainly focused on accomplishing those things with my teammates and that includes winning Big Ten Championships, getting to Omaha and ultimately finishing the job and winning a National Championship.

The possibility of going pro after this year cool, but my main focus is on my teammates, being the best leader I can being an upperclassman and just kind of showing the young guys the ropes a little bit and hopefully winning some games and a championship this year.