March 20, 2024

By Trevor Fitzpatrick

Canadian Baseball Network

As with many families in Canada, Max Granatstein’s is really into hockey.

A quick sweep through his dad Rob’s X profile will show hockey highlights, custom made jerseys, and of course, Max on the ice.

Max’s winter months growing up were spent at the Ted Reeve Hockey Association as a defenceman and then he’d flip over to the baseball diamond to spend the warmer months as a catcher with the Leaside Leafs Elite.

“I’ve played hockey and baseball my whole life. I was training to become a really good hockey player,” Granatstein recalled, “I was going through the athletic training there and became really good at baseball. I was like, you know what, this might be the sport for me, so I stuck with it.”

One of his performances caught scouts’ eyes towards the end of September 2023. Still uncommitted at the time, the left-handed hitter reached a top exit velocity of 91.2 mph during the Leafs’ Prep Baseball scouting day.

From there, the NAIA’s University of Michigan-Dearborn came calling. Head coach Craig Cotter and pitching/catching coach Travis Faulkner both had chats with Granatstein.

“They’re both great guys on the phone and when I went down to the school, Travis gave a good tour and brought a bunch of the guys out, it was really fun,” said Granatstein. “It’s a great school academically, which was always first priority, and then it’s a smaller team, so there’s a good chance I’ll be able to play more.”

As of the current 2023-24 season, the Michigan-Dearborn Wolverines have 30 players rostered. Among them, only one Canuck – Luis Gallardo (Red Deer, Alta.). The right-handed pitcher has made three appearances, posting a 7.07 ERA through 14 innings.

It’s been a rough start for the Wolverines as a whole this year. They’ve gone 2-14 while struggling on both sides of the ball with a .209 team batting average and 13.74 team ERA, two areas where Granatstein can help make a difference.

“[An important part of being a catcher is] just having a good relationship with pitchers and being able to calm them down, especially when they’re struggling,” he said. “You have to be able to help them stick to what they know and remind them they don’t have to be perfect every pitch.”

That ability to remain calm is one he credits to his coaches at the Leaside Leafs and played a large role into why he’s spent his career with the team.

“I’ve had some of the best coaches of my career there like Jesse Hodges for hitting and Casey Walsh for my IQ. Representing the team is awesome, it doesn’t matter where you are. If you’re good enough, you can go somewhere.”

For now, Granatstein is focused on preparing the best he can for his upcoming move. His studies will be especially important moving forward due to the Wolverines having minimum GPA requirements.

Staying organized and finding a way to balance his studies with his training will be key for his continued success.

“School is my priority. If I start falling off and not keeping track of what I have to do, it’s all going to go down,” said Granatstein. “My mindset is to stay on top of everything I have to do for school and baseball the best I can.”

The Michigan-Dearborn Wolverines play their next games on March 20 – a doubleheader against the Rochester Warriors.