Iowa baseball adds commits

Coach Heller is off to an early start on the 2024 recruiting class, as he gained a commit from Ankeny Centennial freshman Joey Oakie. Oakie is primarily a pitcher, but can bat as well, which is not uncommon for players this early in their baseball careers.

While Oakie is just starting his high school baseball career, the rankings and scouting report by Perfect Game are very promising. PG rates him as the #1 right-handed pitching prospect in Iowa and the #49 right-handed pitching prospect in the country. On the mound, Oakie has a four-pitch arsenal, including a fastball, curveball, changeup and a cutter. PG breaks down the first two pitches, starting with the fastball saying he, “flashes late arm side action”. The fastball velocity sits at 87 and that is bringing the heat for a freshman. They call the curveball a sharp late breaker, with an 11/5 shape, rather than the common 12/6 shape. The report says the changeup has some fading action to it and doesn’t mention anything specific about the cutter.

With a Perfect Game grade of 9/10, that means they believe he has the potential of a Top 10 round pick in the MLB Draft or the highest-level college prospect. As I mentioned above, Oakie is just a freshman, so there is a lot of time for him to grow and change as a player, but as it stands now this is a massive commit for Coach Heller.

To go along with the Oakie commit, Iowa gained a commitment from 1B/3B Blake Guerin out of Shoreview, Minnesota. The junior attends Mounds View High School. Guerin is 6 foot 7 inches, so he seems like more of a first baseman rather than a third baseman.

Perfect Game rates Guerin as the #1 1B prospect and #4 overall prospect in Minnesota in the 2022 class. He also is rated as the #18 1B prospect in the country, so PG definitely sees the potential in him. The scouting report on him says, “Hits from even-based stance…intent is to hit the ball hard pull-side, strength stands out and can really impact the ball when on time.” The big thing that stands out is his 97 mph exit velocity.

Perfect Game grades him at an 8.5/10, which stands for potential draft pick or excellent college prospect. Guerin will arrive at Iowa when Peyton Williams is a junior, however I believe Williams could be drafted next season and be gone.

Both of these commits are very exciting lands for an Iowa baseball program that does not normally get the super high-level commitments. Coach Heller has done an excellent job of recruiting Iowa and the close Midwestern states. If Heller can begin to land commits like Blake Guerin and Joey Oakie consistently Iowa will continue to rise in the Big Ten ranks.