It’s been a great week for Michigan State baseball coach Jake Boss — that’s not a phrase that we’ve heard too much over the past decade.
The Spartans snuck into the Big Ten Tournament as the 12th and final seed, earning a first-round matchup with No. 5 seed Purdue. Michigan State was able to pull off the upset over the Boilermakers to advance to a second-round matchup with No. 8 Iowa and — you guessed it — the Spartans pulled off a second straight upset to move on to the quarterfinals.
Michigan State now has a quarterfinal date with USC (42-14, 20-10 Big Ten) on Friday. The winner of that game will head to the semifinals likely against the top team in the Big Ten, UCLA.
On top of the Big Ten Tournament success that seemingly came out of nowhere for Boss and the Spartans, a former Spartan ace just received his first minor league promotion just eight games into his rookie season in the Baltimore Orioles’ organization.
Joseph Dzierwa was just promoted from High-A Fredrick to Double-A with the Chesapeake Baysox.
Well earned move up to Double-A for Joseph Dzierwa.
— The Verge- An Orioles MiLB Podcast (@TheVergePod) May 17, 2026
The 6’8” lefty put up a 2.21 ERA with a 31.4% strikeout rate and a 6.3% walk rate across 40 IP in High-A to begin his pro career. Opponents hit just .158 against him.
This isn’t exactly a shocking promotion considering he was dominating completion at the High-A level, but I’m not sure anyone expected him to jump a level less than two months into his rookie season. He had a 2.21 ERA with 50 strikeouts in 40.2 innings. Dzierwa also held batters to just a .160 average and his WHIP (walks + hits per innings pitched) was an incredible 0.81.
Essentially, Dzierwa was looking far too good for the High-A level and the Orioles wasted little time moving him up to Double-A where he’ll face stiffer competition.
Dzierwa’s ERA was 1.97 at the beginning of May but after giving up three earned over the past 8.2 innings, it’s up to 2.21. It’s crazy to say that an ERA “jumped” a bit to 2.21. That’s how good of a season the former Michigan State ace has been having.
I bet Boss wishes he had him back for one more Big Ten tourney run.
Joseph Dzierwa is a late-bloomer
At Michigan State, the 6-foot-8 ace had a decent first two seasons but his ERA was hovering over four. He was decent, but he didn’t exactly look like a future MLB pitcher, let alone an ace on a .500 team’s staff.
Something clicked ahead of his junior season.
The lefty became an ace and dominated opposing hitters for an entire season, posting a 1.82 ERA over 118.2 innings pitched. He almost matched his innings pitched from his freshman and sophomore seasons combined as a junior in 2025 and he did so while striking out 137 batters with a WHIP of about 0.84. Dzierwa went 11-3, tying his win total from 2023-24 combined.
Dzierwa is the definition of a late-bloomer and now he’s looking like a future rotational piece for the Baltimore Orioles. If he keeps pitching like this, he’s going to find himself in Triple-A by year two of his professional career. That’s how you know you’ve made it.
I think we’ll see Dzierwa in the big leagues soon.
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