Going into his fifth year playing as one of the University of Minnesota’s starting outfielders for the 2022 season, <a href="https://www.daily-journal.com/sports/campus-catch-up-bertrand-enjoying-life-as-a-golden-gopher/article_7463fa12-b038-11ea-ac49-0fe846ed2dec.html" target="_blank">Easton Bertrand</a> caught some unfortunate luck.
After slashing .295/.364/.505 with five home runs, three doubles, 10 runs and 13 RBIs over 95 at bats during his 2021 senior season, the 2017 Manteno graduate was poised to once again be one of the Gophers top offensive threats in 2022 until he managed to suffer back-to-back concussions, including one during the first week of March when Bertrand was struck right below his left eye in batting practice.
“The issue was previously this past summer I got a concussion and moving forward everything was going well,” Bertrand said. “Then the season came around and the first weekend of March I was diagnosed with another concussion. I got hit in the head again and it took me a while to recover.
“It took so long that I needed a prescription for glasses, I now need to wear goggles for playing baseball and all that kind of stuff…I’m doing well now.”
Bertrand’s season-ending injury came just 14 games into his redshirt senior season. The 6-foot-4 215 pound outfielder batted .383/.702/.444 with four homeruns, three doubles, 12 runs and 9 RBI over 47 at-bats while also securing five stolen bases before being forced to forgo the final 38 games of the season, leaving his team to finish 16-36 overall in 2022.
“It was definitely fun playing in 2022,” Bertrand said. “The mental maturity kicked in and the mental process was clear. The adjustments I was making day-to-day was really helping out and it sucks that it got cut short, but at the end of the day things happened for a reason.
“I’m always going to say I could have done something really special in 2022 because mentally and physically it just felt different — everything was in sync.”
Although Bertrand’s 2022 season got cut short due to injury, he plans on making his return come 2023. The current Gopher still has one more year of eligibility left and he plans to use it accordingly by entering the transfer portal to try and find a new, exciting opportunity on the team and individual levels.
“It sucks to have to leave, but for this next year I want to have the chance to do something special at the next level,” Bertrand said.
Even though most of Bertrand’s senior season was spent watching from a distance the veteran noted that he learned a lot from watching from afar.
“I kept telling myself ‘one more week,’ and then it kept trickling down longer and longer to the point where I couldn’t come back,” Bertrand said. “It was interesting being away from the team for a month-and-a-half just trying to recover, but I gained a lot of perspective in that time, and some say watching is even better than paying in terms of growing your game.”