Before winter break, AJ Shepard approached Indiana baseball head coach Jeff Mercer with a tough truth: his body wasn’t recovering the way he had wanted it to.
The Hoosiers’ redshirt freshman catcher missed the entire 2023 season rehabbing from his second Tommy John surgery, and just three games into last year, Shepard sustained a season-ending hand injury.
Indiana Athletics announced Friday afternoon he elected to take a medical waiver and will not return to the program ahead of the 2025 season.
“I have a ton of respect for AJ,” Mercer said during a media availability Friday. “He’s going to graduate from Indiana, come back and get his degree and be a tremendous success ... We wanted to make sure that we honored him and thanked him and had a moment to really celebrate him. He’ll always be a Hoosier.”
A Manassas, Virginia, native, Shepard ranked as the nation’s No. 23 overall catcher in the high school class of 2022. He was the state’s No. 13 ranked prospect and committed to Indiana as a freshman in high school.
After redshirting his freshman season, Shepard flashed his power during last season’s “Baseball at the Beach” opening series. Shepard knocked two homers and four RBIs in three games, but he suffered his hand injury while playing first base in the weekend finale.
While Shepard was never able to fully display his capabilities as a Hoosier, his teammates offered high praise for his work ethic.
“I think he was one of the best players I’ve ever played with,” junior outfielder Devin Taylor said. “He’s played three career games, but no one saw what he was doing behind the scenes.”
Mercer said Shepard is continuing to undergo procedures to treat both last season’s injury and an elbow injury he suffered in high school. He stopped by Friday’s practice to catch up with the team and will continue to take classes.
Without Shepard in the fold, Indiana’s catching room is headlined by redshirt senior Jake Stadler and sophomore TJ Schuyler. Freshman Hogan Denny –– the No. 1 ranked catcher in Indiana for the class of 2024 –– was named Baseball America’s Big Ten Preseason Freshman of the Year and figures to carve out a role in the lineup, as well.
Stadler took over as the team’s starting catcher last season and made 42 starts behind the dish, finishing the year batting .278 to go along with 42 hits and 27 RBIs. He figures to be the team’s opening day catcher when Indiana takes on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on Feb. 14 in the Sanderson Ford College Baseball Classic in Surprise, Arizona.
