Texas A&M baseball’s Grahovac returns after healing journey

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) - Texas A&M third baseman Gavin Grahovac smiled when thinking about his health.

He’s now a veteran in the program, entering his third year in Aggieland. And yet, Aggie fans have only seen him at 100% health for a couple of games in his career.

“Done a lot of work to get to this point,” Grahovac said. “So, thankful for everyone who’s helped me get to where I’m at right now.”

Grahovac is set to begin his junior season with the Aggies fully healed from a torn labrum to his non-throwing shoulder, an injury that has plagued him since the opening weekend of his college career. However, the path back to full strength has been winding and required time and assistance from several people in and out of the Aggie program.

“It’s been a long journey,” Mike Grahovac, Gavin’s father, told KBTX. “He had to go through a lot mentally. First time he’s ever had to sit and miss a season in his life, so I think it was more of a mental thing for him… Being injured like that – he’s not taking the game for granted anymore.”

As the Aggies opened the 2024 season against McNeese, freshman Grahovac claimed the leadoff spot for the Aggie batting order. His introduction to college baseball was a 4-for-9 weekend with a pair of RBIs and four walks. He also picked up a nagging shoulder injury after diving onto his left shoulder while playing third base.

The Aggie medical staff kept Grahovac in the lineup through his first season with the help of cortisone shots, leading to the first-year standout claiming Southeastern Conference freshman of the year honors. Playing every game that season, Grahovac slashed .298/.290/.596 and claimed the program’s freshman home run record with 23.

Returning for his sophomore season, Grahovac’s pain only got worse. Six games into the season, Grahovac had a swing that hurt so much it forced action.

“He played, but he still had the pain and then he tried to come back his sophomore year and it was still bothering him,” Mike Grahovac said. “They finally made a decision to get an MRI on him and when the MRI was taken, it showed an injury. That’s when the decision was made.”

The Aggie third baseman missed the remainder of the year after undergoing surgery on the shoulder and was forced to take a new perspective on the game. Head coach Michael Earley put Grahovac in the first-base coach’s box to keep him active with the program.

“That did help him, once he got going, in seeing that,” Mike Grahovac said of his son’s tenure as first-base coach. “His mentality is a lot different. He’s a leader and everybody looks up to him.”

During the offseason, Grahovac returned to California to train with his father once he was cleared to begin swinging. After a career as a high school baseball coach, Mike Grahovac owns a hitting facility where he gives lessons to players. He became his son’s personal trainer leading up to the season.

The Grahovacs took instruction from doctors who work with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the Aggie standout’s recovery. It was a monotonous process that, at times, took steps backward before advancing toward recovery.

Grahovac began the process with just 20 swings off the tee per day. That advanced by 10 swings to the point he was able to mix soft toss in at 50 swings, Mike Grahovac said.

“To him, it was like, ‘Alright, I feel great doing this. Let’s get going,’” he said. “But we stuck to the plan of what the doctor said… We trusted his plan.”

“It’s always been me and my dad when it comes to the baseball side of things,” Grahovac said, as a grin formed on his face. “Just having a coach in the household at all times, it can be good and it can be difficult.”

It wasn’t until he was cleared to hit pitches off a machine that Mike Grahovac saw his timing returning. At that point, he felt like his son was close to returning to his slugging ways.

In the meantime, Grahovac’s mother, Najla Grahovac, worked with her son on staying mentally strong through the process. They’re processes she uses every day as a personal trainer.

“She knows how I am as a coach and then she brings in her side of it – how she works, how she talks to him about success, failure,” Mike Grahovac said.

Grahovac returns as one of six players with starting experience and the most decorated hitter in his one full season of college baseball. With the departure of A&M career home run leader Jace LaViolette to the 2025 MLB Draft, Grahovac remains one of the most powerful bats in Earley’s lineup.

“It’s huge,” Earley said of Grahovac’s return. “It’s huge from a leadership standpoint. It’s huge from a cultural standpoint. Gavin does a lot of things besides baseball and hitting, but from a pure baseball and talent standpoint, there’s not really a lineup in the country he wouldn’t hit 1-through-4 in.”

When the Aggies take the field for the first time Feb. 13 against Tennessee Tech, both of Grahovac’s parents will be in the stands at Blue Bell Park, remembering all the effort it took for him to run out on that field once again.

“For us to see him go through all this work – and nobody knows how much work he’s put into this offseason – it’s been incredible how much time he’s spent getting up early, getting to the weight room, getting in the cages. How much time he’s put in with Coach Earley and the coaches over there, one-on-one. It’s going to be a very exciting moment to see him back on the field.”