Iowa Fall Baseball

[GolfHacker1]

I figured I’d start one thread for practices, the exhibition games and Black and Gold World Series.

First day of practice was today, and I really wanted to post this Tweet.



I’ll attend several practices, scout day and probably every exhibition game and Black and Gold series game. I’m no expert, but I’ll post my observations.

 

[Randy Marsh]

I figured I’d start one thread for practices, the exhibition games and Black and Gold World Series.

First day of practice was today, and I really wanted to post this Tweet.

View embedded media

I’ll attend several practices, scout day and probably every exhibition game and Black and Gold series game. I’m no expert, but I’ll post my observations.

How do I get one of them there gloves?

 

[GolfHacker1]

How do I get one of them there gloves?

Maybe we buy some and auction them off to raise fnds for baseball NIL? Not sure yet.

 

[GolfHacker1]

I’d post some photos, but looks like I need a URL, and no way to post photos from iPhone?

 

[GolfHacker1]

https://1drv.ms/i/s!AiJrpx_WnxQivBBhQet9VO53WEl_?e=WXC3vB

 

[GolfHacker1]

Zach and Brody are a week behind. Both threw bullpen. Scoreboard showed velo, ivb, hb and sr.

Brody went through 4 pitches and ended by throwing each pitch.

Last fast ball

96
-6
-8
Over 2600

I think the ivb and hb reached -10 to -11, and Brody told me he held back.

Timed runs I wanted to capture Coy Sarsfield and Blake Guerin's speed so I went and asked a MLB scout. Coy was 6.6, and Blake wasn't on the run sheet.

Cop was catching, did not see him play 1st base.

Batting proactive the scoreboard showed X velo, angle and distance.

Merrick Matthews was playing 1st base.

Andy Nelson makes base hits. I like his style.

Blake Guerin bats "smoothly" for lack of better description.

Joe Connolly bats both ways. Freshman.

Brennen Dorighi took batting practice in shorts with a wood bat.

6 inning scrimmage.

It looks like Merrick Matthews is in the early mix. He hit Chas, Chas didn’t cover 1st.

Chas Wheatley appears to have added movement on his pitches. Warmer weather, so very encouraging. Cooler weather games will make that movement exaggerated and tough to hit.

Brody Brecht stopped up in the stands to thank us for NIL. A nice gesture, and we visited until Coach McGrath took him away.

Another long time larger Iowa donor also stopped over and introduced himself. I believe @AuroraHawk knows this gentleman.

Very, very flattering, and also very rewarding to know the Iowa baseball players are appreciative and respectful.

I went up to the press box to recharge my phone, and visited with, and thanked the Iowa baseball managers. They are an incredibly important part of player development at Iowa. Smart group of young men.

Missed part of the game due to the visits, but Marcus and Cade pitched later innings. Marcus looks great, Cade I thought there was some development. Cade is working hard.

After the scrimmage I went on the field and took some photos for NIL. If I take photos, that avoids a lot of trade mark issues. Told the players Thursday I would be at their game and have the gentleman from the apparel company with me. This apparel company has NIL experience and does Cooper DeJean's logo apparel. One of the things we are trying to get done is in addition to individual player logo apparel is to do a team logo apparel. That way everyone on the team could reap some financial benefit.

There was a buffet for the scouts, but I headed home to relax and get ready for the football game. I had taken a lot more notes, but the above summarizes the highlights.

Very excited and encouraged by what I saw, especially pitching. Again was struck by how well behaved and respectful all the athletes are. It's not a show, it's been that way every time I've been around them. Coach Heller has built something really, really good in Iowa baseball.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

National Championship?

 

[GolfHacker1]

MISSISSAUGA 9/21

I had thought Marcus threw a change up yesterday. Kyle indicates it was either a slider or cutter. So this corrects that post. It's hard for me to tell what pitches are thrown sitting in the stands. I thought that pitch was 84, and I had thought Marcus was working on a change up, but I'm probably confusing another pitcher.

I've been running quite a bit lately and I've missed some things. I realized when I was leaving yesterday I probably need to slow down a bit, get some rest, and kick this allergy or cold, or whatever it is. Frankly, I probably shouldn't have gone yesterday. @KyleHuesmann probably thought he was speaking to a zombie.

I think everyone on here realizes how much goes into posting play by play on this site. Yesterday Kyle was running between the press box and behind home plate to film, and that interview with Heller probably didn't happen before 10PM. Then Kyle has a 90 minute drive home. I think most on here realize the value Kyle brings to Iowa baseball, but I want to publicly acknowledge this and express my thanks. The same is true for @Johnny_Golfer.

I know factually Coach Heller considers the radio crew, managers and Kyle part of the team.

Yesterday's team was a high school, and I heard they are playing 20 games in the US. It's an academy, so probably almost a "recruited" team of high school all-stars. Near Toronto, so they certainly have a population base to get decent players. All this said, Brody or Zach haven't thrown live since summer ball. I'm not sure if Zach threw last night or not. The rest of the pitchers have me excited. So do some of the younger guys. I'm not sure who gets playing time this season, but I think the truest test and best read on this is going to be the Gold and Black series. At least one of those games should be entirely 1's and 2's.

Not much on this game as I wasn't feeling well and missed a lot.

 

[GolfHacker1]

9/29 From Rick D Heller:

Hi everyone,

Just a quick reminder that we are playing today vs. Madison College at 4:05 p.m. We will be playing 15 innings. Stop by if you’re in town early for the football game tomorrow! The pitchers who throw today will all throw one innings a piece.

Next Friday, October 6 we will play Indian Hills at 4:05 p.m. It will be a 14-inning game. With next weekend being homecoming, we hope to see a bunch of you at the field! We will take batting practice from 1:50-2:40 today and next Friday.

Our annual Black and Gold Series will begin on October 17th with pregame starting at 2:00. It will be a three-game series.

The fall is off to a good start and the guys are really coming together as a team. Tonight, we are little beat up on the position player side dealing with some minor injuries. All those guys will be back soon or will be playing through it. The pitching staff are all healthy right now and looking good!

Hope everyone is doing great and if you need anything, shoot me a note!!

GO HAWKS!!

 

[GolfHacker1]

9/29 Madison College

Madison made he JUCO World Series last season.

A lot of scouts in attendance. Stayed well after the usually suspects were done (pitchers). I don't know enough about MLB to know who they were staying to watch, and I didn't go over and speak with them.

Random observations from yesterday.

Impressed with Gable Mitchell, Davis Cop, Benjamin DeTaeye, Andy Nelson & Blake Guerin. Not to say others weren't impressive (or that I dind't miss a lot of stuff), but these guys stood out to me as I try to conceptualize who is going to step into some needed roles this upcoming season.

Reese Bueter looks very serviceable.

I had mentioned Ben Swails (soph) and Ty Plummer as potentially younger players that can develop. I'm pretty sure Ty red shirts this season after a conversation yesterday. These guys are fast. It's a crap shoot when the roster gets reduced to 40 as to who sticks around, but there is a solid solid core of freshmen in my view, and they are very tight.

After I had answered @WPHawk about Anthony Watts I was curious enough to go upstairs while he pitched. They didn't have the pitch tracking machine where I was, but I got to watch from a higher vantage point. To be honest I can't tell what pitches are being thrown at this point except by the pitch's velo, so I don't have any detailed analytics, and certainly don't have any expertise. My untrained eyes tell me he is going to be an important piece of pitching this upcoming season.

I'm forgetting a lot, and I'm not taking notes. I'm being more of a fan lately than a play by play / scout guy. Kyle has that part under control and does a better job than I could ever do anyway. Looking forward to not as much running around, and just being a fan going to games.

I never put together who had minor injures yesterday, and eventually just gave up. I suspect Cade Moss is playing through a minor injury, and Raider is also dinged. Raider didn't play at all yesterday. Cade came in late inning s a caught.

I would say this team is tight, and has good senior leadership. One of the senior captains has offered to help (go on donor visits / appointments, etc.) re: NIL and/or Swarm. He already has. I bring this up becuase his NIL is essentially already guaranteed, and as senior he doesn't stand to gain much from our early efforts. He offered to help anyway, and this speaks loudly to me about character and commitment. From what I've observed, that is team wide.

I though Madison was a very motivated and talented team. I think it was a good experience for Iowa to get behind late, stay composed and come back. Madison made some outstanding fielding plays yesterday, and beat out several close plays at 1st. I mostly watch and understand pitchers, and I didn't see a lot of frustration. There was some, but they got right back to work. All this is intangible and cliché stuff, but from my perspective often overlooked and not unimportant.

 

[GolfHacker1]

To add some context about Anthony Watts pitching, I was asked if he was developing a new pitch, and the response (direct quote) was:

"Not a new pitch w Watts, just throwing it harder and more intent on the slider. The velo has really jumped.
They had him throwing sinkers when he had a lot of ride on his FB so we are now using that ride."

I went to the press box hoping to watch on the pitch tracker.

I'm not a very good reporter because I forgot velo, but suffice it to say, he is going to be an integral part of Iowa's pitching next season.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

So National Championship?

 

[GolfHacker1]

Friday's game looks like it was changed to Monday the 9th @ 4PM.

I'm going down tomorrow prior to practice starting, and plan to stick around to watch at least some practice. Depending on what the team is doing I might stay longer.

 

[GolfHacker1]

Met with the team briefly prior to practice yesterday, and after that spent more time at practice than I probably should have. The meeting was necessary, and another gentleman will post about that when he has time. Essentially I introduced the team to a business that is interested in a NIL deal. Spending the additional time with the team was really a generous act by the coaches, and something I try to stay away from. They get a lot done in the fall, and I don't want to get in their way any more than necessary.

I'm having some connectivity issues so some brief observations.

Preliminary 2024 season schedule is shaping up. They'll release that when they release it, but I have my head around the schedule.

Potentially one away game a preliminary plan for a social event, possible press box seats, a get together, etc. for parents, traveling fans and fans and live in the area. This should be good for Iowa fans that don't live close enough to Iowa City to make travel to IC feasible.

Blake Guerin in my view is a team leader. There is a nice chemistry between 1st base and home plate, and they push each other. I asked Blake about not being on the run sheet at scout day, and really appreciated his honest answer. In retrospect it makes common sense about why scouts wouldn't be interested in his speed, and I hadn't thought that through. My thinking has been with some of the batting we need to replace, base running will be more necessary this season, so had been focused on that. I'm not an expert in baseball, but I am a homer.

Chas Wheatley has added movement to his pitches. It's hard not to notice.

Reece Beuter is going to have a role pitching.

I'm impressed with how the freshmen carry themselves. A lot of these guys will red shirt, but something to look forward to in the future.

Benjamin DeTaeye has really impressed me, and it's nice to see him come back from surgery.

I believe another freshmen is going through Tommy John surgery. I made it a point to ask, and not surprisingly, the team is behind him. Last game his parents sat close to me, and everything sounds encouraging. Injury recovery is a pretty lonely journey, so nice to see the support.

As always, I missed a lot, and these are just some things that stood out to me. The team is aware of their fanbase, and to some extent, the support on this message board.

I'll be going to Monday's game. Yesterday I had some things to get done and some people that I needed to speak to. This said, yesterday was probably the first time down there this fall that I really got to watch without a lot of running around, and it was pleasant. I suspect Monday I can actually enjoy the game, and I'm looking forward to it.

 

[Hawkbiz]

Any chance Monday's fall game with Indian Hills is steamed?

 

[GolfHacker1]

Any chance Monday's fall game with Indian Hills is steamed?

Probably not.

 

[GolfHacker1]

I guess the schedule was made public today. Georgia is new news, a couple of other additions.

 

[AuroraHawk]

I guess the schedule was made public today. Georgia is new news, a couple of other additions.

Love the addition of Georgia.
Not thrilled about the absence of Indiana and Maryland in the regular season. There's definitely a yin/yang to the B1G regular schedule but we all know the importance of playing good teams with the selection committee's fascination with RPI. Fortunately, Heller has done a nice job with non-conference scheduling to boost RPI numbers.

 

[GolfHacker1]

No updates on the last game against Indian Hills CC. I actually went down and just watched and relaxed. If I don't take notes I don't remember a lot of stuff. I'll try to do an update after the Gold and Black Series. It was chilly, so I pulled my "I'm important" card and watched from the press box. Reality is I'm not that important, and I doubt I'll be up there is the regualr season. Although for the chilly and rainly games I'm going to explore if I might be able to get that done.

Heller had a really good interview after last game. Kyle Huessmann's Twittter:



Suffice it to say I don't have many concerns about the pitching. Scouts were watching other pitchers outside of the usual suspects. I think Watts is one they're taking a closer look at. Probably some other pitchers and some position players, but I couldn't tell you who that is. I just don't know enough about what MLB teams and their minor league systems are looking for.

The offense remains my concern, and I think it will potentially be a different offense as compared to last season. The team gets a lot of work done in the fall, and I know they work all through the winter, so I remain cautiously optimistic about the offense. But some guys need to step up, no doubt about that.

 

[funnyfletcher]

Appreciate all the updates!

 

[ICWestfan]

Love the addition of Georgia.
Not thrilled about the absence of Indiana and Maryland in the regular season. There's definitely a yin/yang to the B1G regular schedule but we all know the importance of playing good teams with the selection committee's fascination with RPI. Fortunately, Heller has done a nice job with non-conference scheduling to boost RPI numbers.

There ya go! Iowa could meet Indiana in Peoria a couple of times for mid week games. I'm sure Bradley would be accommodating.

 

[GolfHacker1]

This is going to be disjointed and jerky as I'm cutting and pasting from another place I post. There are some ongoing conversations on that board, some questions asked, etc., so parts of this might not flow easily.

I made it to the Black and Gold Series. Yesterday they had scrimmage and I didn't make it. Very disappointed as those who didn't get to pitch in Black and Gold Series were going to pitch, and I just didn't know they had a scrimmage yesterday.

Game # 1:

Who is in the mix is starting to clear up some based on today. Not entirely, but some. My perspective obviously.

Some names keep popping up that make me wonder.

Joe Connolly, Merrick Matthews, Connor Hennings, Caleb Strack & Kellen Strohmeyer. I'm forgetting a couple.

I'm not sure if this means the staff wants to see more, or what it means, but these guys have played a fair amount all fall. Some could be role players this spring, some could be more. Some of this might even be for 2025. I'll wait until after the series when we should get an email update from the coach. After the series there should be more opportunity for me to ask some questions. Recruiting, building depth and building for the the future never ends, so I pay attention to this stuff.

I have my head around who red shirts. One young pitcher for sure. He's still growing. I sometimes forget how young these guys are. It is striking at how small one freshman pitcher is. It puts things in perspective for me as a fan, and guides my posting on here. I'm never critical of players and coaches in any sport.

I think this could be a fairly decent defensive team, but there is still work that needs done. Nothing alarming, and nothing time and practice can't improve. Blake has improved at 1st every week. I've been watching this. He has kind of a magnetic personality that I think benefits the team as a whole.

Not a lot of shifts. Leads me to batting. A couple of guys really placed their hits well. One pull to left field away from the defense was noticeable. Very encouraging to me.

Petey was obviously in the zone. He had a day.

I saw some really, really good curve balls today. Batters weren't really ahead or behind, they just stared. I'm not sure if curve balls were on the agenda today, but they stood out to me. One time a curve got thrown back to back That's pretty ballsy. This is an example of a question I'd ask, and something most don't really care about.

Flashy isn't a word I'd use to describe Andy Nelson's style of play. He just stays within himself, quietly if that makes sense, and is constantly quietly getting base hits. I always conceptually knew he'd be a huge contributor, but to see it in person since scout day, and all through the fall has made him one of my favorite players to watch.

I'm usually watching for different things, and to some extent can tell what the staff is doing, so I go off in some different directions with my observations and thoughts. A couple of pitchers got hit. What I look for is how they react to giving up a hit, or in today's game, how they handle having a homer ripped.

Pretty soon a lot of the real work, boring and lonely, is going to start. This is really where leadership starts to become important. Leading and making sure everyone is working, even when no one is watching. I really think there is going to be a noticeable jump between fall and spring, more so than usual with this team. Last season it was Florida when I first saw it. So far this fall I think I've already seen it. One of the games this fall guys in the press box were speculating. I heard several comments such as we should be undefeated at this point, and we'll have the B1G tournament locked up at this point. The excitement is understandable, and I'm not being critical, but I'm not there yet. I want to see the work put in this winter. You know, Cal kept working and he ended up with a pretty good career. I got bored and stopped working, and now I post on a message board. Life takes you where life takes you, and I don't have any regrets. I never had Cal's talent in any event. Not even close. What I'm saying is I know how it works, and for it to work, it takes work.

 

[GolfHacker1]

To add some context to the next cut and paste, there was some discussion of the starting lineup in February, and below is my response:

Above is what I posted in late July. (Posted above was my potential starters. Very similar to how @AuroraHawk saw it at that time for reference)

At this point I have no idea who the third starter is. Both Watts and DeTaeye have been impressive. I'm not sure one can make that decision right now. It's a really good problem to have. This pitching staff is deep. So deep I don't know where to begin. There has to be a conversation going on right now about starters, and I think it will be ongoing. That conversation includes more arms than I had originally posted in July.

1st base I think is Blake's to lose, but wouldn't be too surprised to see Merrick get playing time somewhere. I've seen Merrick a lot this fall. This might also mean the staff is looking to the future. I'm not sure, but to me as much as he has been playing, I can't imagine we don't see him. How and when I'm not sure. Blake brings some intangibles, and I think Blake is clearly ahead. Blake is the guy here, and I look for Blake to perform well. He's a very confident guy in a good sort of way.

I don't think Gable is a starter, but I can see trying to get his glove in situationally. He missed one fairly tough play yesterday, but one play doesn't discount him being valuable.

Andy Nelson has to play, and has to play a lot in my view. Again, I don't know where, when or how. I think @CliveHawk probably has this correct, and I'd defer to him. It's impossible for me to overstate what I've seen from Andy and how he keeps working and improving quietly week to week.

I'm very excited about some pitchers, Blake and Andy. This isn't to say I'm not excited about others, but these are the guys that jumped right out and it was impossible to not notice the growth. Excluding some starters because I already have expectations there, so none of the starters are new news.

To answer your question honestly, I just don't know. I keep seeing things that I hadn't expected to see, or maybe I hadn't noticed, and possible new scenarios keep emerging.

Last year's team was very good defensively. This year's team has the potential to be the same, or even better defensively. Last year's team was close. This year's team could be closer, and I didn't expect that. I think some guys know they are going to be role players, and without crawling into the weeds, they've accepted their role. And the role might not be what they first envisioned. That's important going forward as it's more than the first 10.

All this said its fall baseball, and the staff is probably trying things that aren't evident or obvious. A couple of times this fall some pitchers went a bit longer as one example. There is a reason for that. I think I know what reason is, but I can't factually state that at this point.

 

[GolfHacker1]

Game 2:

Before the game I went down to the Gold dugout for a little bit. I picked the Gold team yesterday becuase I liked what I was seeing. Kind of a strange deal Hawks -v- Hawks, but I was asked to pick a side, so I did.

I saw Kyle scooting down to presumably speak w/ Rick after the game, so I'll let him add the details that matter.

Missed @CliveHawk, but it looks like he's in agreement with me about Connor Hennings. I'll be interested to hear his input. I think Connor's HR had to be over 400 ft.

Long story, 12 new iPhones and devices, and the transfer hasn't gone well. I have 2 iPhones now, neither one fully operational. A nightmare I didn't need. All I do is pay the carrier, never ask for much, never shop them out, and now this.

I thought today's game was the most "game like" all fall. A really good scrimmage for the team.

Spoke to Blake a bit after the game. I'm going to say it again, the team benefits from Blake's presence. His confidence is contagious, he's likable and his teammates respond. In my view he's a leader even though he isn't a captain. There is a lot of that on this team.

Spoke to one of the "speedster" freshmen after the game. I suspect he redshirts, but he told me no matter what happens he is going to grind it out. I know everyone wants to know about who starts, etc., but I've grown to really like this freshmen class, and I do hope they grind it out and stay at Iowa.

Ty Plummer got a base hit today. Happy for him. He's a freshman also. I think Ty is a switch hitter, and I'm wondering if some effort has been made recruiting switch hitters. Another questions I'll ask if I remember, and another question probably no one cares about but me.

I had mentioned Reece Beuter in some other posts this fall. When he is on, he is on. I mean really on. Where he fits in I'm not sure, but he is going to fit in somewhere.

I'm pretty excited and encouraged after today. There is some work to be done, but it's October, so assuming the team has a good winter, we should be in decent shape next February. There are some players emerging. They all faced very good pitching, and even the younger guys looked decent. I think there is some depth, and some depth from some names that aren't commonly known yet.

eta, I did ask Mitch about the curve balls yesterday. For as much as I miss and as little as I know about baseball (except how to throw strikes) I had that curve ball stuff correct yesterday. Back in the day a pitcher just needed to pitch, and that's all they needed to understand. I think that's changed some, but pitchers will always be pitchers. Sometimes I still think they should have to hit like I had to. I hit a triple one time, and after that inning the next time I batted I got beaned in the knee intentionally. You used to be able to do that also. Ha ha, now I can hardly bend over to tie my shoes.

 

[GolfHacker1]

Yesterday was final scrimmage after Gold won the series. It was a lot of pitchers that didn't get to pitch Tuesday or Wednesday. I'm really, really sorry I didn't know they were having another scrimmage as I wanted to watch some freshmen who will probably red shirt.

I mentioned above, and probably in a couple of other posts, I've really grown to like the freshmen class, and they appear to be tight.

This said, I made it to every game and a couple of practices. I really like the potential this team has. Based not only on what I saw in terms of performance, but also based on leadership and closeness of the team.

They have to keep working. A big jump usually happens between now (weight program goes to 4X weekly) and February. A lot of expectations, and part of their success will be blocking out that noise. So unlike some of the media in the press box speculation, I do think they are undefeated at X point of the season. But that point is now, and their record is 0-0. I do think they qualify for the B1G Tournament, but not unless they keep working this winter.

Again, based largely on what I've seen, my instinct and the team's leadership, I have no doubt they keep working all winter long, when no one is watching them.

 

[Randy Marsh]

Great insight, keep up the great work and keep bringing the info. This will be another fun group.

 

[AuroraHawk]

@GolfHacker1
You mentioned that the "third" starter may (and I stress may) be undetermined. I would have guessed that one of Brecht, Morgan or Obermueller would have to fail miserably not to be the weekend rotation. Your post has me thinking otherwise. Do they have another role in mind for Obermueller?

Didn't make it for any of the games but some of the videos posted on line make it look like some of the pitchers other than those three have some nasty stuff. Personally, I felt like Voelker's season last year didn't match what he showed in Cape Cod League in '22. It's "in there" somewhere and if he can find it, he could be a really valuable arm. Velocity this Fall seemed to be up from this past Spring.

 

[GolfHacker1]

@GolfHacker1
You mentioned that the "third" starter may (and I stress may) be undetermined. I would have guessed that one of Brecht, Morgan or Obermueller would have to fail miserably not to be the weekend rotation. Your post has me thinking otherwise. Do they have another role in mind for Obermueller?

Didn't make it for any of the games but some of the videos posted on line make it look like some of the pitchers other than those three have some nasty stuff. Personally, I felt like Voelker's season last year didn't match what he showed in Cape Cod League in '22. It's "in there" somewhere and if he can find it, he could be a really valuable arm. Velocity this Fall seemed to be up from this past Spring.

They have pitchers all over the place it seems. I think Brody and Marcus are locked in as starters. Cade is in the mix. But it's hard to not wonder if Ben DeTaeye, Anthony Watts and Cade are all in in the mix as the third starter. Or even third starters, plural. I can see multiple Sunday starters.

Coach McGrath says right now it would be Marcus on Friday, and Brody on Saturday.

My view is after Marcus and Brody it gets cloudy in a good way.

Zach is a captain for a reason, so he'll be in somewhere. Reece Beuter is another name.

I'm forgetting a lot of names though, and any omission on my part shouldn't be read in a derogatory manner about the other pitchers.

Iowa pitching staff has the potential to be one of the best in the nation, and I'd be disappointed if it doesn't turn out that way.

eta Velo has definitely picked up for some of the guys.

 

[GolfHacker1]

Iowa Pitcher, 2024 MLB Draft Prospect Brody Brecht Joins The Schoch Factor Podcast • D1Baseball

On this episode of The Schoch Factor Podcast, Stephen Schoch is joined by none other than Iowa pitcher and 2024 MLB Draft prospect Brody Brecht.

d1baseball.com

 

[GolfHacker1]

A bunch of guys signed, including Joey Oakey. I'm trying to get an update on Myles Davis.