Ryan Smoyer is headed to Notre Dame.
The senior-to-be at Otsego High School verbally committed late Friday afternoon to
play college baseball for the Fighting Irish.
The 6-foot-4, 200-pound right-hander will pitch, although he also plays third base
for Otsego.
Smoyer had an unofficial visit to ND July 16 and will return for his official visit
Sept. 22. He’ll sign his national letter of intent in November.
His scholarship, including financial aid, is worth approximately 65 percent. The NCAA
limits baseball teams to 11.7 scholarships each year which means full
scholarships are rare.
"The atmosphere there was one of a kind," said Smoyer, who missed most of
his junior season because of a broken thumb suffered April 13 when he slid head
first into home plate.
He was 1-1 with a 2.93 earned-run average before the injury, but has pitched well
this summer since returning to the mound the second week in June.
Smoyer also visited Toledo and Ohio University of the Mid-American Conference, and
Cincinnati, which is Notre Dame’s rival in the Big East Conference. In addition,
he received interest from some Big Ten Conference schools.
He has a 4.03 grade-point average and plans to major in biology/pre-med with hopes of
becoming a doctor once his baseball career is over. He ranks third in his class.

"The academics are great and the university receives awesome support,"
Smoyer said. "They have a concept that everyone, athletes and non-athletes,
is one big family."
Under NCAA rules, Fighting Irish coach Mik Aoki is prohibited from commenting on
Smoyer until he receives the player’s signed national letter of intent.
ND is 54-56-1 in Aoki’s two seasons, including records of 31-27 overall and 14-13 in
the Big East last season.
"The baseball program has a good track record," Smoyer said.
The Fighting Irish first became interested in Smoyer when he was a sophomore and then
watched him pitch against St. Francis this year before he was hurt. Once he was
healthy, ND watched him pitch twice for his summer team.
"There was definitely some anxiety about college baseball after I got
hurt," Smoyer said. "I was hoping I’d come back healthy and I just had
to show the college coaches what I could do. As soon as I got back on the mound,
I felt great. My arm had a little bit of soreness, but I expected that after
being off for so long."
Smoyer’s fastball has been clocked consistently at 86-88 miles per hour. He also
throws a curveball and a changeup.
"My velocity was back to where it was and I’ve had good command of all three
pitches this summer," Smoyer said.
Smoyer said his No. 1 goal next season is to develop one of his pitches into his
strikeout pitch, the one pitch he can go to whenever he needs a strikeout.
"They want me to have one pitch that I can rely on in any situation,"
Smoyer said. "I rely on my fastball and curveball right now, but the
college hitters are even better. That’s the biggest thing I have to work on. I
want to keep improving all three pitches."
Even though Smoyer was hitting .433 when he was injured, he won’t hit or play in the
field at ND.
"They recruit players to specific positions," Smoyer said.
Smoyer committed early, so he can enjoy his senior year at Otsego. He’s a three-sport
athlete, playing quarterback on the football team and wing on the basketball
team. He was a second-team All-Northern Buckeye Conference honoree in both
sports as a junior.
He considered trying to play baseball and football in college, but it didn’t work at
out. Baseball is his favorite sport.
"I would have loved to play both, but with the baseball schedule and academics,
it would have been too tough time-wise," Smoyer said.