Baseball’s Markham to Sign with Rice University

10/30/2023

Trey Markham will play baseball and attend school at Rice University in Houston in the fall after committing to the program.

“It is a great school and they have a great program,” said Markham, who plans to study mechanical engineering. “Head Coach Jose Cruz Jr. and Assistant Coach Paul Janish are both MLB guys. It will be awesome to learn from them and their experiences. It is one of the top academic schools and they have a great community.”

Cruz became the Rice coach in 2021, returning to his alma mater after his decade-long career in the Major Leagues. Janish played 13 years including nine with the Cincinnati Reds. He was a member of the 2003 National Champion team at Rice.

“They have a great tradition of developing players and MLB draft picks,” said Markham.

Markham, who was also an all-region selection in football as a junior, is focusing on baseball for his senior season.

“I have always wanted to play baseball,” said Markham. “Football is awesome but after I got hurt, I wanted to go all in for baseball to see how I can do. It was a tough decision because I already had football offers and I did not have anything on the table for baseball. I am glad I made the decision. It was important to me to have good academics along with the baseball fit. It worked out well.”

Markham was sidelined last spring at the start of the season, recovering from an injury. He saw just 14 at-bats over 10 games over the second half of the season.

“I am looking forward to a great comeback year,” said Markham, whose given name is Michael Markham III but goes by Trey. “I did not have a great year or much of a year overall because I was hurt. I did not play my best ball coming off the injury. I am excited to get back into it and have a good year for the school. It is exciting to see how successful we can be as a team.”

Markham had a strong summer in club ball and was selected to the Future Stars Series Main Event from a National combine, earning a spot on teams that played at Fenway Park. He also participated in an event at Riders Field in Frisco, Texas.

“Trey is a long-time Bronco coming to summer camps as a middle schooler,” recalled Head Coach Josh Garcia. “Even in middle school, Trey caught the attention of his coaches with his work ethic and attention to detail. Trey has had some ups and downs in baseball with recent injuries but what has brought him here today is his persistent work ethic. If you watch Trey in the weight room or on the field, he looks like a man on a mission. Rarely do you see him break focus or even take a minute off from the work in front of him.”

He joins a group of seven baseball players who have committed to play baseball in college, including Carson Borges (Regis University), Johnny Casale (LMU), Willie Cornejo-Farmer (LMU), Jack Meissner (UC Santa Barbara), Jack Ohman (Yale) and George Smith (Regis University).

“It has been a goal of mine since I was a little kid to play college baseball,” said Markham. “I want to play at the highest level I can and college is a big step. I have worked hard a lot of years and it is great to have this in front of me.”

Markham will participate in the Brophy Signing Day Celebration on Nov. 8.