From Bob Welch to Chris Hoiles, to 2015 World Series manager Terry Collins, to most recently Matt Shoemaker, the Eastern Michigan University Baseball program has its newest former player playing in Major League Baseball, Max Schuemann, who has become one of the more surprising stories in the league this season with the Oakland Athletics.
Schuemann is 27 years old and hails from the Kalamazoo suburb of Portage. The shortstop and outfielder played at Eastern from 2016 to 2018 under Mark Van Ameyde and Eric Roof. His best season with the Eagles came in 2018 when he hit .317 with four home runs, produced 30 RBI, and a .400 On-Base Percentage.
Initially playing basketball and baseball in high school, he went undrafted in the 2015 MLB Draft, where he attended college at Eastern. He was not an everyday player at Eastern until his sophomore year and only batted .246 that year. He finished his Eastern Michigan career playing 156 games and batting .271 with six home runs.
In the United States, players must attend college for three years if they avoid signing out of high school for baseball with a Central League team. After three years of playing for Eastern Michigan, Schuemann was drafted in the 20th round of the 2018 MLB draft and signed with the Oakland Athletics.
Schuemann worked his way up through the Athletics minor league system in just a little more than four seasons because there was no 2020 Minor League Baseball season because of COVID. He started his minor league career with the Vermont Lake Monsters of the short-season (now folded New York-Penn League) and struggled there, batting .195, though he did have a .313 on-base percentage.
Moving up to the next level, the A’s Single-A affiliate at the time, the Beloit Snappers, in 2019, he was much better. Hitting .256 with a .339 on-base, three home runs, and 25 stolen bases in 94 games.
After the 2020 season was canceled, he spent 2021 with three teams: High-A Lansing Lugnuts, Double-A Midland Rockhounds, and Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators. He had his best season in the minor leagues to this point. He hit .271 with these teams and had seven home runs and 52 stolen bases. He was most productive with Double-A, hitting .320 and getting on base at a .398 clip with Midland. This was the first season in which he was moving up throughout the system, which is a sign that an individual will eventually make the big leagues.
2022 gets even better for Schuemann. Although he only played 90 games versus 118 games in 2021, he had his best numbers again with Midland. He hit .290 with an OBP of over .400 for the first time at the professional level. He spent 79 games with Midland and 11 games in Vegas.
2023 was Schuemann’s final entire season in the minors; he spent 103 out of 116 games he played with Triple-A Las Vegas and hit a very impressive .277 with a .402 on-base and a career-high in a minor league season with ten home runs.
After spending six games with Triple-A Las Vegas this year, Schuemann finally got the call to the Major Leagues on April 11, becoming the only 18th player in Eastern Michigan history to see action in a Major League game.
Schuemann first saw action for the Athletics on April 12, where he pinch-ran for Seth Brown, scored the game-winning run against the Nationals in the 10th inning, and made his first major league start the next day. He recorded his first Major League hit on April 20 with a home run in Cleveland against the Guardians at Progressive Field, with his family in attendance.
Schuemann has since become the Athletics everyday shortstop due to many players injuries, but he has made his statement to remain there moving forward. Since May 8, he has hit .274 with a .362 on-base percentage, a .750 OPS, 38 runs, 27 walks, and 13 extra-base hits: five home runs and eight doubles.
Furthermore, Schuemann has become one of the hottest hitters in the league for July, hitting .383 and getting on the base of .480 with a slugging percentage of over .600 since July 3. The Athletics briefly moved Schuemann up to the leadoff spot, but he struggled there and remained one of baseball's better number-nine hitters.
Schuemann has a Major League slash line of .260/.353/.377 through 79 games. He is the first Eastern Michigan alumni to have regular playing time in MLB as an offensive player since Chris Hoiles in the early to mid-1990s.
The rookie is projected to finish the season with nine home runs, which would only be one behind his minor league single-season best of 10 last year as a professional. Schuemann makes a realistic push to be in the top 10 or higher in the AL Rookie of the Year Voting. According to baseball-reference, he has a Wins Above Replacement total of 1.9, which is above average for a major league player at the end of July, and a 112 Adjusted OPS+, 12 points higher than the Major League average.
Although the Athletics are essentially out of the playoff race for 2024, Schuemann has become one of their more impactful players. A big part of the journey took place at Oestrike Stadium on West Campus. Schuemann will continue to look for more of his first 79 games in MLB as this season plays out and further seasons come along to represent the Script E in Major League Baseball.
