Staff Directory

Ely Stuart

Title:
Director of Player Development
Email:

Ely Stuart is in his third season with the Central Michigan baseball program. He serves as the director of player development.

In his first two seasons on coach Jake Sabol’s staff, Stuart helped oversee steady improvement in the victory total and in virtually every statistical category both at the plate and on the mound.

In 2026, the Chippewas finished in a tie for seventh in the Mid-American Conference, increasing their win total by more than 40 percent from 2024, when Sabol took the reins of the program. CMU won six of its 11 MAC series in 2026 for a total of 13 league victories, its most conference wins and league series victories under Sabol.

CMU showed marked improvement at the plate in 2026, hitting .290 as a team and totaling 60 home runs, a 15-point batting average improvement and a 20-homer boost over the 2025 Chippewas. The Chippewas finished 2026 with 175 extra-base hits, a near 10-percent increase over the previous season. Eight Chippewas hit at least five home runs in 2026 after just two hit five or more in 2025.

Ten Chippewas earned Academic All-MAC honors in 2026.

Among the highlights of Stuart’s time on Sabol's CMU are road wins over Power 5 opponents Michigan State (twice), Notre Dame and Central Florida, and a dramatic walk-off victory over rival Western Michigan on 2024 Senior Day at Theunissen Stadium.

Stuart completed his playing career with the Chippewas in 2024, when he led CMU with 43 RBI and shared the team lead with six home runs while starting all 55 games at third base. He earned a spot on the Mid-American Conference All-Defensive Team.

Stuart was a two-year letter winner with CMU after transferring from UC Riverside, where he played in 2021-22. He earned All-Big West Conference honorable mention in 2021 when he hit .293 with 23 RBI and was named the Big West Male Scholar-Athlete of the year. He played at Golden West College in Huntington Beach, Calif. in 2019-20.

Stuart served in summer 2026 as the hitting coach for the Upper Valley Nighthawks of the New England Collegiate Baseball League and has also coached in the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League, served an internship with Student Sports in Torrance, Calif.; coached at his alma mater, Northwood (Irvine, Calif.) High School; worked field maintenance at Golden West; and served as a youth coach in Long Beach, Calif.

Stuart was a three-time All-Pacific Coast League honoree at Northwood, where he was coached by his father, Rob, a 1986 seventh-round draft choice of the Atlanta Braves.

Stuart holds a master of arts in sport administration from CMU, a bachelor of arts in sociology from UC Riverside, and an associate degree in liberal arts from Golden West CC.