The Old Man; WPIAL Product Matt Frey Discusses Long, Hard-Fought College Baseball Journey

I’ll start this story out by saying that Matt Frey is younger than me. Be it only by around two months, it’s about the only subtle joke I can crack about Frey because at the end of the day, he played college baseball for six years, six more years than I ever played a college sport for.

(Photos courtesy of the University of Michigan Photographers)

As one of the oldest players in NCAA baseball last season, Frey certainly used his wisdom and experience to his advantage for the Michigan Wolverines on way to becoming an All-Big Ten performer.

The Franklin Regional High School graduates’ journey to the University of Michigan is something truly out of a movie. A 2015 high school graduate, he was a slender kid who hadn’t quite reached the level he wanted to be at in order to play Division I college ball.

Taking a gap year between high school and college, Frey hit the weight room and started working on his craft. At a baseball tournament, Davidson College, an Atlantic 10 program, noticed his talent and potential to become a solid college ball player. With it being a highly regarded liberal arts college in addition to a Division I opportunity, Frey decided it was a chance he couldn’t pass up, even if it was as a walk-on.

In his first year at Davidson, there were certainly some growing pains involved as he was not quite ready to be an every day player for the Wildcats. However, in his final two seasons, he proved he belonged despite year four ending prematurely due to COVID-19.

Thankfully, the NCAA granted athletes another year of eligibility. By this time, the word was out about the kind of work ethic and talent Matt had. He was hitting .327 with 16 hits in 16 games in 2020 prior to the stoppage. He’d really found some pop and former Michigan Head Baseball Coach Erik Bakich was wise to offer the Murrysville native a chance to play Big Ten baseball.

After completing a Bachelor of Arts in Economics degree in 2020, he planned to add a masters in sports management in his graduate year. While he did that, a torn ACL forced him to miss the 2021 season and allowed him to play a sixth season. With that extra year, he picked up a masters degree in supply chain management, making it three degrees in six years.

If you’re going to stay in college baseball for a while, you might as well accumulate some degrees while you’re at it, right? I think so, anyway. But, he accumulated more than just knowledge in business, but also some hardware to show the long journey was worth it.

This past season, Frey hit .322 with 75 hits, 59 runs scored, 57 RBI’s, and 12 homers. It landed him on the Third-Team All-Big Ten as selected by the coaches. He also helped lead the Wolverines to the NCAA Regionals after winning the Big Ten Tournament. While this appears to be it for his playing days, it is quite the note to end on considering where this story began just seven years ago as a high schooler with zero Division I interest.

To think where he started in 2015 with and where he ended is truly extraordinary. Even he cannot believe it sometimes. But, for those who know Matt, he remains insanely humble about what he’s managed to accomplish over those six year of college ball. It was almost all in a day’s work for the two-time University of Michigan grad.

Now, it is time for one of the “old man” to do the next old man type thing by relocating from Ann Arbor and discovering what may be next in his life. With three degrees and two masters degrees, it hopefully will not be too difficult for him. The world is yours, Matt, like Nas said in his 1994 song. Congratulations on what you accomplished in your time in baseball. Thank you for connecting with me and for allowing me to share your journey through college baseball.