MSU Baseball Feature: Taking Care Of The Task At Hand

Michigan State redshirt senior outfielder Greg Ziegler faced a less than ideal start to his final season of college baseball. In December of 2023, while preparing for his final season of collegiate baseball, Ziegler began to feel pain in his right wrist.

He went for therapy, while continuing to practice as much as possible.

Then, in January 2024, his wrist pain spread into pain in his right hand. While taking live at-bats at an indoor practice a week before the spring 2024 season was set to start, Ziegler took a swing and began to feel a pain that was worse than he was experiencing before. Ziegler said that this was the moment he knew something was wrong.

"One swing, I kind of just felt like it gave out," said Ziegler.

After X-rays, Ziegler learned he had broken a bone which would require hand surgery and cause him to miss the first 16 games of the season. Although Ziegler had missed time before with a fractured finger, this was the first injury in which he would have to sit out of all baseball activities until he was medically cleared.

Ziegler is rather familiar with things not always going as planned, as he has transferred twice during his college baseball career. The first time he transferred from Missouri State to Johnson Community College in 2021. The second time, Ziegler would transfer from Johnson Community College to Michigan State, where he has remained for the last two seasons and his entering his final regular-season weekend in a Spartan uniform.

Zeigler, who is majoring in kinesiology, plans to pursue a chiropractor career after his baseball career is finished.

MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said that while Ziegler was experiencing pain in his wrist before, the break in right hand was out of his control.

"It was kind of one of those flukish-type of injuries," Boss said.

Boss also said that Ziegler made sure to not jeopardize himself by trying to rush his recovery.

"A lot of guys will feel and think they can do more than they actually can, and end up re-injuring themselves," said Boss. "He backed off when he needed to back off, he listened to the experts, and we got him back as soon as we could."

Ziegler found his love for baseball grew even more during his time away. He learned the game can be taken away quickly during his recovery process.

"Just remembering both times that the game was taken away from me that this isn't going to last forever," said Ziegler. "Just trying to be the same person every day for the guys around me and trying to leave this place better than when I came here."

Although he was anxious to get back into the lineup, his role started out small. Ziegler would start out as a pinch runner for his first four games back. Ziegler said his time being a pinch runner allowed him to feel like he could help the team in any way possible.

"It definitely was exciting. I'd say if you were to ask me that two years ago, I think I would be a little more selfish with that answer," said Ziegler. "But knowing that my team has full support in me, and I could get some cheers and laughs going.... just knowing that even when I'm fully healthy, if I come back and I'm still not really a whole lot of playing time, I'm still just doing what I can to help the team win."

Ziegler has been a key contributor since his return in early March. Zeigler has the highest batting average on the team at .371. He had a smashing return, including hits in 10 out of his first 12 games, and added a 10-game hitting streak from April 9-27, which is tied for the third-longest on the team. Last weekend at Minnesota, Ziegler hit his fifth home run of the season, which is also third on the team, all in playing in 30 games, 17 less than the team leaders.

He said the time he missed with the injury at the beginning of the season has contributed to early success this season.

"I think a lot of it is observing the way that people go about things in the game, whether it be our team or other teams," said Zeigler. "Just having conversations with coaches and players off the field during the game that you might not be able to have while you are playing because you are invested in the task at hand."

Ziegler and the Spartans are finishing out the final four games of the 2024 regular-season, opening with a non-conference match-up with Eastern Michigan on Tuesday, May 14 in a 6:05 p.m. first pitch at McLane Stadium at Kobs Field.

The Spartans then host Nebraska in a three-game B1G weekend series, Thursday-Saturday, May 16-18 to wrap up the regular-season. The series opens on Thursday, May 16 at 6:05 p.m. ET. Game two of the weekend on Friday, May 17 will now start at 5 p.m. ET. The series finale and MSU's regular-season finale on Saturday, May 18 will now start at 12 p.m. ET. Saturday is also MSU's Senior Day as the Spartans will honor their senior players and managers in a pre-game ceremony. Fans are encouraged to arrive early to join in the celebration.

Fans can follow MSU baseball action with "Tickets," "Watch Live," "Listen Live" and "Live Stats" links at MSUSpartans.com.

Michigan State's schedule is subject to change, stay tuned to MSUSpartans.com and @MSUBaseball on Twitter for schedule updates.

Players Mentioned

Greg Ziegler

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