Michigan Professional Athletes

When San Diego's postseason survival came down to a single swing, it was a Michigan man who delivered it.

Jake Cronenworth, the former Wolverines infielder now manning second base for the Padres, crushed a solo home run off JoJo Romero on the first pitch he saw in the fifth inning of NLDS Game 3, putting San Diego ahead 3-2 against the Milwaukee Brewers. The Padres held on to win 4-3 at Petco Park on October 6, staving off elimination and forcing a Game 4 in what has been a tightly contested series.

The moment carried full dramatic weight. San Diego had entered the game one loss from going home, and the offense had been quiet. Cronenworth didn't wait for the situation to compound. He took Romero's first offering deep, reclaimed the lead, and gave his team something to protect. He finished the game with two hits, one RBI, and a run scored — the kind of complete performance a team needs from a middle-of-the-lineup piece when its back is against the wall.

After the game, Cronenworth credited the home crowd at Petco Park and specifically pointed to the two-inning relief outing from Michael King, who came on to slam the door and earn the save. His composure at the plate was equally deliberate — he noted it was a good first pitch to hit, and he didn't miss it.

The win underscored what has become a recurring theme for this Padres club: resilience built on contributions from unexpected sources. San Diego was also without closer Mason Miller, making the bullpen management all the more precarious, and yet the team found a way. Cronenworth, who entered the series hitting just .077 through Game 1, had already driven in a run in Game 2 to inch his average up before breaking through entirely in Game 3.

His postseason slash line sat at .200 after Game 3, before the Padres dropped a 3-1 decision in Game 4 to fall to the brink of elimination once again. But the Game 3 swing — the one that bought San Diego another day — will linger as the defining Michigan moment of this October.

For Wolverines fans tracking alumni across the majors, Cronenworth remains the most visible name on the postseason stage. No other Michigan alum in this research period surfaced in playoff action, making his clutch turn all the more notable as a lone-banner moment for Ann Arbor in this MLB postseason.

Michigan Alumni Week in MLB: Sept. 20–26

Two Wolverines are making noise at opposite ends of the diamond as the 2026 MLB season barrels toward October — one swinging the hottest bat in San Diego, the other quietly carving up big-league lineups from the Mets' bullpen.

Cronenworth Carries the Padres

Jake Cronenworth delivered the kind of performance that defines a wild-card race. On Sunday, Sept. 20, the Michigan product went 3-for-4 with two home runs, five RBI, and three runs scored as San Diego rolled past Miami 7–3. It was a vintage Cronenworth showing — the kind of game that reminds the Padres exactly why they've kept him in the middle of their lineup.

The timing couldn't be more critical. San Diego is locked in a tight wild-card battle, and Cronenworth's explosion gave the club a jolt heading into a brutal stretch against the Dodgers and Diamondbacks. He carried a .229 average into the week and held steady at .224 by Saturday — respectable production for a second baseman shouldering heavy postseason-push pressure. The Padres' wild-card hopes live and die with performances like Sunday's, and Cronenworth delivered when the calendar page mattered most.

Beyond the stat line, Cronenworth also picked up an award during the week, per Sports Illustrated — a recognition that underscores his value to the San Diego organization even amid a season that hasn't been without its ups and downs.

Weisenburger's ERA Speaks for Itself

While Cronenworth dominated the box score, Jack Weisenburger has been doing something quieter and arguably just as impressive: posting a 2.13 ERA this late in the season. The Michigan right-hander worked 1.0 inning with a strikeout against Texas on Sept. 24, part of a brief but effective run in the Mets' bullpen.

The week wasn't without turbulence. The Mets optioned Weisenburger to make room for Justin Hagenman following an injury to another pitcher, a roster move that underscores how thin big-league margins are in September. Still, the ERA speaks for itself. A 2.13 mark heading into the final days of the regular season is exactly the kind of audition that earns a pitcher a longer look in 2027.

Weisenburger's ERA after his Sept. 20 appearance against Philadelphia — 1.1 innings, two strikeouts — stood at 2.31 before ticking down to 2.13 by week's end. The results have been consistent even if the roster spot hasn't been guaranteed.

Bonus Wolverine Watch

Keep an eye on Mitch Voit, the Mets' 2026 Minor League Player of the Year. The 2025 first-rounder hasn't made his MLB debut yet, but Baseball America notes the versatile infielder is already pushing for a big-league role. With Cronenworth and Weisenburger representing Michigan at the major league level, Voit could soon make it three active Wolverines in the organization.

Michigan's MLB footprint remains deep. Cronenworth is the headliner right now, but this is a program that keeps producing — and October is when that pedigree starts to matter most.

The Wolverine Everyone's Watching

Michigan's pipeline to professional baseball has produced plenty of names worth tracking this September, but none is generating more noise than Mitch Voit — a former Wolverines first-rounder who has turned the Mets' minor league system into his personal showcase.

The Mets announced their 2026 Player Development Awards last week, and Voit walked away with the top honor: Minor League Player of the Year. The infielder/second baseman earned the recognition after a standout season across New York's farm system, drawing praise from interim manager and senior VP of baseball development Andy Green, who called his progress "impressive." It's organizational validation for a prospect who entered 2026 already slotted among the Mets' top-five prospects, but has spent the year making the case that ranking look conservative.

Then the internet got involved. Voit went viral — not just for his bat or his glove, but for his appearance. Social media posts speculating that he looks too polished to be real ("Most attractive person of all time," read one widely-shared caption) sent Mets fans and baseball observers into a frenzy, with some joking he must be AI-generated. For a prospect trying to be taken seriously, going viral for looking like a video game character is a strange kind of problem to have — but it only amplified the spotlight on his on-field résumé. Voit appeared at Citi Field during the week, a moment The Mets Pod described as "the past and future" visiting the ballpark in the same frame.

The big question now isn't whether Voit can play. It's how soon he'll be doing it in Queens. The Mets' minor league mailbag has been flooded with questions about his timeline, with the organization managing expectations while clearly accelerating his path.

Cronenworth Heats Up Late for San Diego

While Voit dominates the prospect conversation, Jake Cronenworth — Ann Arbor's most established big leaguer — quietly put together one of his better weeks of the season for the Padres. The second baseman went 2-for-4 in Saturday's 8-2 win over Miami and collected multi-hit efforts in four of his six games this week, raising his average from .209 to .223 over the stretch.

It's the kind of late-season surge that could matter for a San Diego club managing roster decisions heading into the offseason. Cronenworth had a hit in all six games tracked this week, with a pair of multi-RBI contributions sprinkled in. Quiet, consistent — very much the Cronenworth brand.

Weisenburger Flashes Upside in Relief

Don't sleep on Jack Weisenburger, another Michigan man working his way through the Mets' system. The right-hander tossed three innings against Baltimore on Wednesday, striking out five and allowing just one earned run in a 7-1 Mets loss — a strong individual line in a rough team night. His ERA sits at 2.61, a number that keeps him firmly in the organizational conversation even as Voit absorbs most of the headlines.

The Bigger Picture

Michigan is stacking names across MLB organizations right now — Cronenworth in San Diego, Weisenburger and Voit in New York, Jordan Nwogu working through the Cubs' system in Iowa. But Voit is the one rewriting the program's ceiling. A Player of the Year award and a viral moment in the same week is the kind of September that tends to stick.