By Megan Sprengeler
Across the nation, Iowa turned heads this season, winning its first Big Ten Tournament championship and receiving an automatic bid to the NCAA regionals in Houston.
Upon completion of his first full season since he was 16, lefty pitcher Kyle Shimp hopes for an even brighter future for the Hawkeyes, something he knows doesn’t come easily.
In his first year at Iowa, Shimp redshirted, using the year to reclaim himself after coming off of Tommy John surgery late in his high-school career.
“If I had to sum it up in one word, I’d say it was frustrating,” he said. “I wasn’t ready mentally or physically, I didn’t trust myself or have much confidence, and that affected the way I played. I had to really focus on the goal of getting back on the mound and returning to my old form.”
Tommy John surgery is a surgical graft in which a ligament in the elbow is replaced with a tendon from elsewhere in one’s body, a setback for anyone in the game of baseball.
The reliever from Yorkville, Illinois, ended the season 5-1 with a 3.18 ERA in 18 appearances. With an impressive 26 strike outs in 28.1 innings, Shimp held opposing batters to a .186 average.
“I look at [the surgery] as the worst thing and the best thing to happen to me and my baseball career,” Shimp said. “It was a mental and physical journey; it was frustrating. I feel like I’m a better player now than I would’ve been without the surgery. I developed a work ethic that gets stronger every time I see success. I was able to learn a lot of things about the game and about myself through the battle coming back. It turned out to be extremely positive in my eyes.”
Though the team’s run didn’t end the way the Hawkeyes wanted it to, Shimp maintained his composure throughout the postseason. He didn’t allow a single run in 10 of his 18 appearances and no more than 3 hits in any outing during the season.
Shimp ended the postseason with a 2.25 ERA.
“The loss at the regional will be fresh in my mind the rest of my career at Iowa,” he said. “It’s motivating. I think our goal should be a 40-plus win season. We were a couple shy this year.”
Wrapping up the season, Shimp was named to Collegiate Baseball’s Freshman All-America team alongside teammate Ben Norman. The two are the first Hawkeye freshmen to earn this honor since 2012 and are the 18th and 19th in school history.
The success comes as a reward, something he sought for so long.
Shimp gained priceless experience under the wing of redshirt junior Josh Martsching. After struggling through the first half of the season, Shimp took time to linger in the shadow of the right-handed pitcher, who underwent Tommy John surgery in 2014.
He took what he could from Martsching and incorporated that into his game.
“You have to continually remind yourself of the end goal, because there are going to be bad days,” Shimp said. “There are going to be days where the rehab work is boring and frustrating; you won’t feel like doing it. But you just have to remember why you’re doing it in the first place, and you have to push through those days. There will be better days ahead.”
The Hawkeyes ended the season with 39 wins, just shy of Shimp’s goal of 40. This was the fifth-most in a single season in program history.
The potential for greatness is alive and thriving.