Fall Baseball Storylines
August 23rd marks the first day of classes at the University of Iowa, as well as the first day of fall practice for the Iowa Baseball team. The general feeling among the fanbase is pretty optimistic for the squad, even though they have added over 20 new players to the roster through recruits and transfers.
The Hawkeyes will play three games this fall vs Mississauga Baseball Academy, Iowa Western CC and Kirkwood, as well as a handful of intersquad scrimmages. All of the games are open to the public. With that said, it is time to take a look at some of the storylines that follow Coach Heller’s squad into fall practice.
1) Who will take over in the outfield?
With Ben Norman, Zeb Adreon and Trenton Wallace all gone, there are spots open in the outfield going into fall practice. Brayden Frazier figures to be penciled in at one of the corner outfield spots after starting 19 games last season. The most obvious hole is the hole left in CF, with the departure of Ben Norman, who tied the Iowa Baseball record for starts in a career. After talking to Coach Marty Sutherland earlier this offseason, the first thought would Iowa Western transfer Kyle Huckstorf for the spot.
“I think he is a really good defender, probably high level plus defender in center… I think he is top of the order type guy. Really good runner…He is definitely going to be a factor out there (in the outfield rotation).”
With the other true centerfielder on the roster, freshman Coy Sarsfield, out due a leg injury this fall, we will likely see some other guys get chances to play the middle outfield position when Huckstorf is not.
The other corner outfield spot, opposite of Frazier, is really up for grabs at this point. Zeb Adreon started 42 games in right field last season, so no one else on the roster has starting experience. Keaton Anthony is coming off an injury that kept him out for the season, but was successful in summer ball. Coach Heller mentioned that he would have been a 50-70 at bat guy had he been healthy, so he may be the leading candidate for the final outfield spot.
Connor McCaffery is almost a forgotten name on the Iowa Baseball team, as a Covid season cancellation and a hip injury next kept Connor off the field for the last two seasons. Coach Sutherland says there is a chance that we see Connor with the team this fall and if so, he will be one to watch in the outfield.
Sam Link, DJ Heck, Alec Nigut and Anthony Mangano will all be looking to have a good showing in the fall to push their name into the conversation as well.
2) What freshman will stand out?
Brody Brecht will not be participating in fall camp, so that opens up the door a bit for what freshman will be the most talked about coming out of the fall. Marcus Morgan and Chas Wheatley have intrigue on the mound, while Gehrig Christensen has gotten solid praise from both Heller and Sutherland. 1B Weston Fulk will be a good one to watch at the plate, since he led the state in home runs as a senior at Ankeny, but Sam Petersen, Ben Wilmes and Mitch Woods will also be looking to impress as other true freshman infielders.
“This class is really athletic on the position player side, so that is exciting. I think that’s one thing that maybe we weren’t especially great at the last couple years,” said Coach Sutherland on this year’s freshman class.
If I had to choose a player I am most interested in, it would be the left-hander Chas Wheatley out of Canada. Coach Sutherland told me that they were told his velocity was up to 90-92 mph and the fact that he throws from a bit of a side slot is really intriguing. With that said, it will be really compelling to watch how all of the incoming freshman perform and who looks the part in their first college scrimmages.
3) How will the starting pitching staff shake out?
You look at the roster going into next season and there are potentially seven or eight guys that could be starters. Looking back at the last full season with non-conference games in 2019, Coach Heller went with a four-man rotation, while three other guys got between 2-4 starts mixed in.
That means you are looking at basically cutting that list of potential starters in half and the other half will end up moving to the bullpen. Transfers Connor Schultz and Adam Mazur figure to be almost locks into that rotation to start. Schultz was a three-year starting pitcher with Butler and Mazur was a weekend starter for South Dakota State for two seasons, while also becoming one of the more outstanding performers in the Cape Cod League this summer.
From there, you look at Brody Brecht as a probable to fit into that rotation, considering he was a top five round draft prospect and all the sudden one spot remains. Cam Baumann and Duncan Davitt both have good experience as starters, but Marcus Morgan and Ty Langenberg are younger options if the coaching staff wanted to go that route. The other underrated option is Missouri transfer Jared Simpson. He struggled last year out of the bullpen for the Tigers, but Coach Sutherland said that they regarded him as a weekend starter when he was transferring out of Iowa Western a couple years back.
Whether or not Baumann and/or Davitt get moved to the bullpen could very much depend on how Morgan, Langenberg and Simpson throw this fall and during winter workouts. It is never a bad thing to have plenty of starting pitching depth and the Hawkeyes seem to have plenty of options.
4) Development in the bullpen
When I talked with Coach Heller after the season, he stressed the struggles of not having non-conference games and midweek games and how it affected their ability to use the bullpen effectively saying, “Not being able to get guys innings. Not just in midweek games, but the first four weeks of non-conference. You can throw a lot of different guys…Basically, you are getting guys out there a number of times and getting their confidence built up before you have to throw them into the fire of a Big Ten game.”
Young guys like Tyson James, Ty Langenberg and Jackson Payne would routinely go a couple weeks without throwing, which is not a recipe for success. Now this season the bullpen loses two of its top three arms from a year ago.
Dylan Nedved figures to be a late inning guy and Will Christophersen is a proven Big Ten bullpen arm coming in from Michigan State, but past that, things get a little murky.
Luckily, they will get some help from the overflowing list of guys that are trying to get a spot as a starter, but guys like James, Langenberg, Payne, as well as transfers Luke Llewellyn, Casey Day and returner Jacob Henderson will try to use this fall as a time to carve themselves a spot as a reliable arm in the bullpen heading into next season.
With the return to a full slate of 56 games next season, including midweek games, you will likely see each and every one of these guys get valuable mound reps throughout the season
5) What does Dylan Nedved’s role look like?
From everything that I have gathered this offseason from the coaching staff, it sounds like Dylan Nedved will be moving to a more pitching focused role for the Hawkeyes. He appeared in 20 games last year out of the bullpen and will likely be one of the first arms to come in again next season. His role is expected to be similar to that of Trenton Wallace, where he will be predominately pitching, but will see some starts in the field (Wallace started 17 games). While his role does not have to be clearly defined this fall, he started 38 games last season, so if that gets cut down to 15-20 there will need to be someone stepping into that starting spot. Nedved will really be a swiss army knife for the Hawkeyes next season with his ability to play LF, 2B, SS and P.
6) Is this the team that can get the ball rolling on consistent NCAA Tournament appearances?
There is no doubt that Coach Heller has the Iowa Baseball program in the best shape its been in since Duane Banks led the team at coach. However, the Hawkeyes have not made the NCAA Tournament since 2017, despite being right there at the end of the season in 2018, 2019 and 2021. It really feels like the program is right on the edge of becoming a perennial NCAA Tournament participant and all eyes are on this year’s team to start the run.
This question is not something that will be answered this fall, but it is definitely a question that will follow this team from now until the tournament rolls around next May.