Fall Baseball Practice Recap
It was good to be back at Duane Banks to watch some baseball, as the Hawkeyes kicked off their first week of fall practice. I was able to catch the intersquad scrimmages on Thursday and Friday to get a glimpse of the 2022 team.
-Thursday Scrimmage-
Ty Langenberg (Soph) was the performer of the day on the mound in Thursday’s scrimmage, notching four strikeouts looking and retiring seven of nine batters faced. Langenberg pitched in eight games last season out of the bullpen, but could potentially see himself get a midweek start or two this upcoming season.
Freshman Marcus Morgan (Fr) retired five of seven batters faced in his appearance. He allowed one hit and one walk, while striking out one. The fastball sat between 89 and 92, which is about what was expected. The coaching staff is hoping to get that up to a consistent 92-93 by the time the season begins. Coach Marty Sutherland had this to say about Morgan earlier this offseason…
“I think it could jump really quickly. He is a really heavy off-speed guy. Throws a ton of breaking balls. He doesn’t use the fastball quite as much…He will have a tendency to come around and cut that fastball, so he doesn’t get it spinning efficiently. Once that happens, it may go to 92-93 right away. As he gets stronger, he could be a mid 90s guy.”
Freshman Chas Wheatley (Fr) was an intriguing prospect because he is out of Canada and was pretty quietly recruited. Wheatley retired seven of ten batters faced, allowing a home run to Michael Seegers and a couple of walks. The only disappointing thing about his appearance was the fastball velocity. He sat in the mid to upper 80s , which is a bit below the 90-92 that Coach Sutherland told me they had heard. He retired batters, which is ultimately all that matters.
At the plate, Brayden Frazier (rSoph), Izaya Fullard (rSr) and Ben Wilmes (Fr) led the way for the gold team combining for six hits, two home runs and a walk in nine plate appearances. Frazier and Fullard hit the home runs off of Cam Baumann (rSr).
For the black team, Michael Seegers (Soph) was 2/3 with a home run, which is a very promising sign for the sophomore. A rise in power off of his bat could give him a real shot to crack into the starting lineup. Peyton Williams (rSoph) and Anthony Mangano (Soph) both had a pair of hits.
At catcher, Cade Moss (Soph), a transfer from Kirkwood, threw out two baserunners trying to steal. He has looked very solid behind the plate through two days.
Good news came on Connor McCaffery (rJr), as he was a full participant in the scrimmage, logging three at bats and played in the outfield. Due to Covid and a hip injury, McCaffery has not played the last two seasons.
-Friday Scrimmage-
Pitching dominated the Scout Day scrimmage for the most part, which can be taken as a good thing or a bad thing. Nearly 20 MLB scouts were in attendance as the Hawkeyes threw ten different pitchers.
Kirkwood transfer Luke Llewellyn (rSoph) started the day on the mound and was pretty impressive vs four batters. He struck out three, while throwing a fastball in the low 90s (92.3) and a curveball in the mid-70s.
Duncan Davitt followed and was solid, retiring five of six batters with the only batter reaching via error. Looking ahead to the season, Duncan will likely be a guy that comes out of the bullpen, but you can’t rule out a start or two.
Sam Petersen (Fr) and Weston Fulk (Fr) teamed up to score the first run of the day for gold team with a double and then an RBI single off of transfer Ben DeTaeye (rSoph). NDSU transfer Ben Tallman (rSoph) and Mitch Wood (Fr) tied the score with back-to-back extra base hits.
Missouri transfer Jared Simpson is an intriguing guy on the roster and touted a fastball in the low 90s, but allowed Tallman and Wood to tie the game. If Robin Lund can get Simpson back to his old self from Iowa Western, then he could be a big piece this upcoming season.
The biggest moment of the day came when South Dakota State transfer Adam Mazur took the mound. Mazur gained a ton of traction during the summer after dominating in the Cape Cod League. He retired four of six batters, while allowing two singles. The fastball was clocking 92-95. He will be one to watch the rest of fall practice.
Kirkwood transfer Casey Day (rSoph) finished up the day for the gold team, retiring three of four batters, including two strikeouts. The coaching staff believes he could be a late inning option out of the bullpen.
Peyton Williams picked up a couple of singles, while Ben Wilmes walked twice. As I mentioned before it was a pitching dominated scrimmage, so no one stood out with multiple hits.
-Infield Lineup Notes-
This is how the team took infield this week…
1B- Peyton Williams (rSoph), Weston Fulk (Fr), Will Mulflur (Soph)
2B- Izaya Fullard (rSr), Sam Petersen (Fr), Ben Wilmes (Fr), Brendan Sher (rJr)
SS- Brendan Sher (rJr), Michael Seegers (Soph), Ben Wilmes (Fr), Sam Petersen (Fr)
3B- Brendan Sher (rJr), Andy Nelson (Soph), Mitch Wood (Fr), Sam Hojnar (rSoph)
The next order of business is to get this same lineup, but for the outfielders.
The Hawkeyes will kick off their fall baseball games on Wednesday, September 22 vs Mississauga Academy out of Canada. The game is open to the public.