August 14: DeSmidt Another Example Of Baseball’s Winnipeg Brainiacs

Jeff DeSmidt has a problem. However, for most of us, it’s problem we’d all like to have.

DeSmidt is trying to figure out a way to get his Masters degree and play professional baseball at the same time.

The 23-year-old from Mahtomedi, Minnesota, just northeast of St. Paul, has a degree in Biochemistry from the University of Minnesota. A catcher with the Goldeyes, DeSmidt was a Big 10 Conference second-team all-star in 2007, leading the Golden Gophers in both home runs and runs batted in.

But while he’s finished his undergraduate degree and still loves to play baseball, he’d also like to get to work on that Masters so that he can one day make the move into medicine.

“I’m looking for a way to do both until I’m finished with baseball,” DeSmidt said earlier this month, just before reading to the kids at the Henderson Library.

“I looked into it at the University of Minnesota, but they frowned on it. It doesn’t look like that’s going to work out there. But perhaps there is another university that would allow me to do both.”

Naturally, we suggested he look into the Masters programs being offered at the University of Manitoba, but in the meantime, DeSmidt is a member of a pretty smart ball club.

Reliever Chris Homer was the first member of his family to graduate from university when he completed a Bachelor of Science in criminal justice at Marist College in New York.

This month, Goldeyes left fielder Dee Brown will complete a criminal justice degree from Rollins College in Florida.

Rookie reliever Ian Thomas, who was on the Dean’s List at Louisburg Junior College, is a recent graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University.

Reliever Matt Davis, a teacher in the off-season, is a graduate of Ohio State University, Josh Asanovich was a star at Arizona State, Cory Patton is a graduate of Texas A&M while Wes Long is a grad of the University of Alabama-Huntsville.

Of course, being around smart guys doesn’t necessarily fix DeSmidt’s problem.

“There has to be some way to do this,” DeSmidt lamented. “The problem with so many Masters programs is that they want you to work right through and get it done with no distractions. But I don’t want to stop playing ball while I can still play. Maybe that will be my goal in the off-season, figuring out a way to complete a Masters degree while playing professional baseball.”