I am not that frequent of a poster but I follow Iowa baseball very closely. I pretty much watch every game through BTN plus. To say I’m excited about the 2024 team would be an understatement. I truly believe this team can do something special and even end up in the college World Series. Yes I think we will be that good.
My question about the team. After Marcus and Brody who does everyone anticipate will be our number 3 weekend starter. The easy answer to this is Cade obermueller makes a huge jump like Marcus and Brody did last year and is our number 3 starter….but one thing concerns me. As we saw in terre haute against Indiana state (I was there) you still need the shut down guy at the end of the game to close it out. This is what cost Iowa against the sycamores and nearly cost us in the first game against UNC. I liked the progression of Jack Whitlock and Aaron savery last year towards the end and I think they’ll be good relievers for us this year too but neither are guys with elite stuff that you can almost count on late in the game to slam the door.
Would Rick consider maybe using Cade the way he used Zach Daniels in 2018 to slam the door in the late innings? Maybe bring in Cade on Friday nights for multiple innings and then bring him back for a couple innings on Sunday? Obviously that would mean Iowa would have to find a solid number 3 starter. whether it’s Voelker? Maybe even savery or Whitlock or one of the newcomers?
In my opinion that’s the only thing about this years team that worries me come postseason play and that’s what cost us last year. Losing dorighi and Keaton Anthony will hurt our offense but with essentially the whole rest of the lineup returning along with the transfer from Utah and Guerin providing a potential power source as a true sophomore I think overall our offense will be fine. Besides the above two mentioned the only other bat we lose is hojnar and while it would be nice to have him back I expect gable Mitchell to be an upgrade defensively and also have great bat to ball skills. He won’t hit for the power hojnar did but I think he’ll be a serviceable potential number 9 hitter to roll the lineup over. With guys like seegers back, raider tello getting comfortable in year 2 as a starter, Sam Petersen potentially breaking out big time into a star, wilmes as a good on base guy and huckstorf doing well as a senior I think we will score enough runs most games. Also if those closer to the program could let us know what newcomers to the program you expect to be big contributors besides Davis Cop from Utah it would be appreciated. I know we had a few pitchers transfer in and hopefully they can help us and one or more of them can help with my concerns about the bullpen in the late innings and allow us to use Cade as the number 3 starter.
On Iowa and go hawks! 2024 is our year!!!!
My question about the team. After Marcus and Brody who does everyone anticipate will be our number 3 weekend starter. The easy answer to this is Cade obermueller makes a huge jump like Marcus and Brody did last year and is our number 3 starter….but one thing concerns me. As we saw in terre haute against Indiana state (I was there) you still need the shut down guy at the end of the game to close it out. This is what cost Iowa against the sycamores and nearly cost us in the first game against UNC. I liked the progression of Jack Whitlock and Aaron savery last year towards the end and I think they’ll be good relievers for us this year too but neither are guys with elite stuff that you can almost count on late in the game to slam the door.
Would Rick consider maybe using Cade the way he used Zach Daniels in 2018 to slam the door in the late innings? Maybe bring in Cade on Friday nights for multiple innings and then bring him back for a couple innings on Sunday? Obviously that would mean Iowa would have to find a solid number 3 starter. whether it’s Voelker? Maybe even savery or Whitlock or one of the newcomers?
In my opinion that’s the only thing about this years team that worries me come postseason play and that’s what cost us last year. Losing dorighi and Keaton Anthony will hurt our offense but with essentially the whole rest of the lineup returning along with the transfer from Utah and Guerin providing a potential power source as a true sophomore I think overall our offense will be fine. Besides the above two mentioned the only other bat we lose is hojnar and while it would be nice to have him back I expect gable Mitchell to be an upgrade defensively and also have great bat to ball skills. He won’t hit for the power hojnar did but I think he’ll be a serviceable potential number 9 hitter to roll the lineup over. With guys like seegers back, raider tello getting comfortable in year 2 as a starter, Sam Petersen potentially breaking out big time into a star, wilmes as a good on base guy and huckstorf doing well as a senior I think we will score enough runs most games. Also if those closer to the program could let us know what newcomers to the program you expect to be big contributors besides Davis Cop from Utah it would be appreciated. I know we had a few pitchers transfer in and hopefully they can help us and one or more of them can help with my concerns about the bullpen in the late innings and allow us to use Cade as the number 3 starter.
On Iowa and go hawks! 2024 is our year!!!!