might not be in the 2026 , but that didn鈥檛 stop the Tigers from going viral this past weekend.
, a Tigers pitching legend and MLB鈥檚 1989 No. 1 overall draft pick, shared a story from freshman season during Sunday鈥檚 broadcast of Troy and Ole Miss.
鈥淚 can take y鈥檃ll back to my freshman year and my College World Series experience,鈥 McDonald said. 鈥淥n the biggest stage, I鈥檝e never failed at anything in my life.
鈥淚 come in against Stanford, and coach [Skip] Bertman puts me in relief. I hit the first batter. I load the bases, we鈥檙e in extra innings. We鈥檙e up by three runs, and I give off a walk-off grand slam to Paul Carey.鈥
It was a new experience for McDonald.
鈥淚 was due to ship off to the Alaskan summer league a week later, and I called coach Bertman and told him, 鈥榊ou know, I don鈥檛 think baseball is for me,鈥欌 McDonald said. 鈥溾橝nd I鈥檓 just going to continue playing basketball at 糖心传媒 because Dale Brown thinks I have a future in playing basketball.鈥欌
The dual-sport athlete said he didn鈥檛 come out of his room for three days. After 糖心传媒 baseball coaches called him and told him that failure is bound to happen in sports, McDonald decided to go to the Alaska Baseball League, but he was still unsure about continuing his career in the sport.
Once he landed, he was told he was the starting pitcher for opening day.
鈥淭hirty minutes before the game, I鈥檓 warming up, and the clubhouse kid comes over to me,鈥 McDonald said. 鈥淢ike McFarlane was over there, and he gave me a piece of paper. And it鈥檚 folded up, and he walks off. And the only thing he says to me is, 鈥業s this how you want to be remembered?鈥欌
The opposing team鈥檚 coach wrote Carey鈥檚 name as batters 1-9.
鈥淧aul Carey鈥檚 not even playing on that team,鈥 McDonald said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 not even playing in the Alaskan summer league that summer, but he thought it鈥檇 be funny.鈥
McDonald said he folded up the lineup sheet and put it at the top of his locker.
鈥淭hat was the kick in the rear end that I needed,鈥 McDonald said. 鈥淭wo and a half hours later, I threw a complete game and struck out 14. Shut out. We win the ball game, and as they say, the rest is history.鈥
McDonald said after the game that he gave the lineup sheet to the clubhouse kid.
鈥淵ou go give this to that other coach,鈥 McDonald said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 mean it sarcastically, but tell him I said, 鈥楾hank you, because I had gotten punched for the first time, but I needed that to get over the hump.鈥欌
McDonald then spoke about failure in general.
鈥淔ailure is tough, man,鈥 he said. 鈥淲hen you fail on the biggest stage, and I failed on the biggest stage you could fail on at the College World Series in front of everyone. It didn鈥檛 seem like it at the time, but it made me better in the end.鈥
The story has over since it was posted on Sunday night.