DALLAS - Ryne Sandberg has seen it all during his baseball career, be it as a legendary Chicago Cubs second baseman and Hall of Famer or through the coaching and managing profession.

Sandberg saw a lot of himself in Derrick Mitchell, who is now a nearly 30-year-old college football player on Western Michigan University's Cotton Bowl team.

Chicago Cubs Hall of Fame second baseman Ryne Sandberg waves his cap to the crowd after being introduced at the baseball team's annual fan convention Friday, Jan. 15, 2016, in Chicago.

Their lives first intersected during spring training 2012, when Sandberg was manager of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, the Philadelphia Phillies' Triple-A club. Sandberg took a liking to the prospect from Paw Paw, who was a 23rd-round draft pick of the Phillies in the 2005 First-Year Player Draft.

"He reminded me of myself - even-keel guy. I just saw him as a guy that had a nice, aggressive side about him when the game was on the line or just competing on a daily basis. I liked that about him," Sandberg said in a phone interview.

Sandberg was drawn to the rangy Mitchell's athletic ability and the former shortstop's potential as an outfielder.

"But he was also a very classy guy, a very good teammate and I really liked his demeanor of coming to the ball park and just being around him - a positive, positive influence. Really, he was about everyone around him. He was about the whole team."

If only Sandberg could see Mitchell now.

"Gramps," as some of his WMU teammates call him, is a redshirt sophomore punter-holder-kickoff specialist for one of the nation's top teams at a school located about 20 minutes from his hometown. In the capper to a historic WMU season, the Broncos (13-0) take on Wisconsin (10-3) in the Cotton Bowl on Monday at AT&T Stadium (1 p.m. ET, ESPN).

Three days later, Mitchell, who spent a decade playing minor-league baseball, will celebrate three decades of life.

The expression, "Age is just a number," is true in Mitchell's case.

"I think once (WMU's team) saw I was committed and really wanted to be here, it's, 'Hey, you're just another guy, I don't care how old you are,'" Mitchell said. "Once you start producing a little bit on the field, it all goes away. Take age, the number, out of there and go try and win ball games. So I think that's kind of the beauty of it."

A natural at everything

Athletically, ol' No. 39 on WMU's roster can hold his own with any of his teammates, some of whom are a dozen years younger. When he showed up at WMU two years ago as a walk-on, he first tried out at quarterback before he opted to dust off the kicking skills he began developing at a young age.

Mitchell is one of those guys who seems to be a natural at everything he does and it makes others shake their heads in disbelief or envy. Likewise, WMU star QB Zach Terrell is one of those multi-talented people, but even he responded with an incredulous look when asked about Mitchell.

"I'm like, 'Come on, man, you're 30 years old. You shouldn't be able to beat everybody in all these different sports and do all this different stuff,' and that's the thing," Terrell said. "It's kind of cool to have him around because, what can't he do? And that kind of gives us all that confidence."

Mitchell may have inherited certain gifts from his mother, Cyndee Heary, whom he calls "beautiful" and "intelligent," but the athletic genes come from his father.

Rick Mitchell was a three-sport standout at Paw Paw, where he's now athletic director and basketball coach. Back in his athletic prime in the early-1980s, he was the final player cut at Detroit Pistons tryouts.

Derrick Mitchell thrived in the same three sports at Paw Paw. He was starting quarterback/kicker, point guard and shortstop - all pressure positions - for the Redskins.

Former teachers and coaches, from his time growing up in Paw Paw to now, have remarked about Mitchell's maturity and poise. Those qualities, as well as his stand-up personality, have endeared him to everyone with whom he makes contact.

"Just his demeanor and his approach on things is perfect for a specialist," WMU special teams coordinator Rob Wenger said. "You couldn't find a better situation than a former baseball player. Those guys live at-bat to at-bat and they've got to wait around all day in the infield. It's the same thing as a pitcher, a punter or a kicker. His leadership, his mentality, it's changed the game for us.

"He's been with us for a couple years but this year, now that he's not just a kickoff guy, he's a punter for us, he's the best holder that I've ever been around. He's really grown and developed and flourished at everything we've asked him to do. Derrick doesn't get enough credit at all."

Left is right

A right-hander by nature, Mitchell kicks left-footed, which is another trait passed down by his father.

As WMU's kickoff man, Mitchell has 18 touchbacks this season and averages 62.6 yards. As the Broncos' punter, the 6-foot-2, 207-pounder has only 17 attempts and he's averaging 41.3 yards with a long of 56.

Mitchell is the sure-handed holder for WMU freshman Butch Hampton's field goals and extra-points. He brings an even greater value as Hampton's mentor.

"It's definitely all about the process. ... You don't really know until you're thrown into it, so just trying to help those guys understand that - these guys here on the team, these young guys," Mitchell said.

Mitchell is a leader by example for the Broncos, but he's also willing to lend an ear or offer words of advice or encouragement to his "peers."

Having already lived the athletic lifestyle and having maintained a career after high school in baseball, Mitchell is in a completely different realm now. But he has so many experiences to share with WMU's players.

"He's experienced a lot. I mean, he's getting married coming up here pretty soon," WMU head coach P.J. Fleck said about Mitchell, who met fiancee Heather Soulard in Manchester, N.H., during his minor-league days. "So, I mean, he's so much more mature than everybody else and experienced so many things on the field, off the field and on the diamond."

'Failing is growing'

Fleck is fond of the saying, "Failing is growing." Baseball being a game of failure and overcoming it, Mitchell learned that first-hand in the minor leagues.

In his 10-year, eight-team professional baseball career, ranging from stints in rookie ball to Triple-A, he hit .240 with 88 home runs, 365 RBIs and a .708 OPS.

Mitchell reached the peak of his minor-league career in 2011 and 2012. In 135 games with the Double-A Reading Phillies in 2011, he homered 19 times, stole 20 bases and drove in 79 runs. The following spring training, Sandberg promoted Mitchell to Triple-A, where he was on track to actually get the call for the big leagues.

However, Mitchell was hit by a fastball and it broke his hand, ending his season near the midway point. Turned out, that signaled his baseball window starting to close. A few bright spots remained, but he was released by the Triple-A Gwinnett Braves in 2014.

"Once it kind of came to an end, they put me down to Double-A and I'd seen it before, being in the minors that long, just being in professional baseball that long, seeing guys come and go, I knew it was about my time. When it happened, there was no doubt - I knew I wanted to come back to school and get my degree," said Mitchell, who is majoring in business. "That was very important to me. And while that was going on, (he thought) 'I still might be able to kick.'"

Sandberg is mostly known for his baseball prowess, but he was a high-level football player in his own right. He was a high school All-American quarterback from the state of Washington, and he had Division I offers to play football before being drafted for baseball and choosing that path.

When first told that Mitchell was playing college football, Sandberg sounded a bit surprised. That's more a product of Mitchell's age, however, and not because of his athleticism.

Sandberg said that Mitchell had "all the tools" and very good speed for a guy in the 6-2 to 6-3 range height-wise. Sandberg had him pegged as a center fielder at the major-league level.

"For me, good defense, I look at that usually first in a baseball player because I was a National League guy and he had those tools," said Sandberg, who started his big-league career as a shortstop with the Phillies. He eventually became a coach and manager in Philadelphia, and now he's currently an ambassador for the Cubs.

"But also (Mitchell) was a guy off the field that did the appearances. My wife and I were active in feeding the homeless and seeing the kids at hospitals, and he was one of the guys that would go and show up for those things and participate and really enjoyed doing that. He was an on-the-field, off-the-field guy for me - all-around package."

-- MLive sports reporter Cory Olsen contributed to this story.