Tim Shannon, class of 2012 graduate, has continued his baseball career into college.

After tearing his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) at the last spring baseball practice for the Michigan Wolverines, Shannon had to undergo Tommy John surgery.

“It was tough, but I’ve heard stories about pitchers in the pros that have had the same surgery come back and still be successful, so I felt pretty confident that I could do the same,” Shannon said.

Brave and confident words from Shannon but that should come as no surprise since he has always dreamt big. A Twins fan growing up, Shannon looked up to the players on the mound as his role models.

“As a kid, I used to model my game like the Twins’ star pitchers, Francisco LIriano and Johan Santana,” Shannon said.

In his senior year of high school, Shannon received recognition for his pitching, being selected to first team all state, all section 6AAA, all Lake Conference, and as a Mr. Baseball finalist.

The 6’7”, 208 lb right-handed pitcher received an offer from the University of Michigan to play division one baseball for the Wolverines. He agreed almost right away.

“I was a big Wolverine fan when I was a kid. When I was younger, I watched Michigan football with my family on Saturdays. I had some relatives with season tickets so I would also go to one or two games a year,” Shannon said.

At Michigan, during the last fall baseball practice of the year, Shannon went through his pitching motion and heard a pop. He later found out that he had torn his UCL and fractured his elbow.

Shannon had a busy offseason after that.

While studying for his major in political science and focusing on rehabbing his elbow, the Wolverines coach that had recruited him was fired from Michigan.

Shannon ultimately decided the best place for his future was at the University of Minnesota.

“I was being talked to by other colleges to play baseball, but once the [U of M] contacted me, I was in,” Shannon said, “It helped a lot to know a lot of the guys on the team from high school. It also helped knowing a lot of people throughout the campus and ultimately just being home.”

Shannon is now a redshirt junior for the Gophers, with this past season being his first since his injury. His stats for those games were ten starts, two wins, and five losses. He also pitched 52.1 innings and struck out 26 batters.

“I had a great experience coming back. One of my favorite experiences was when the team went down to the Twins’ spring practice and scrimmaged them. College baseball has been everything I had hoped it would be and more; it’s a dream come true,” Shannon said.

Shannon believes playing professionally is a possibility.

“I’m taking one thing at a time. I’m going to control the things I can and enjoy playing college baseball. It’s also important for me to get my degree,” Shannon said.

Overall, Shannon is ready for the upcoming season to begin.

“For this next season, I’m expected to be a leader on the mound and I expect myself to take more of a leadership role on the team,” Shannon said. “We have a lot of talented guys coming in and a lot of talent coming back so I’m really excited and we expect big things.”