Iowa’s Dylan Nedved named National Baseball Congress All-American
Nedved was an essential part of the Hutchinson Monarchs’ semifinal run in the National Baseball Congress World Series.
Iowa infielder Dylan Nedved attempts to tag out an Ontario player sliding into second base during the seventh inning of a game against Ontario at Duane Banks Field on Friday, September 13, 2019. Ontario was called safe. The Hawkeyes defeated the Blue Jays 30-6 in 14 innings.
August 24, 2020
After a semifinal finish with the Hutchinson Monarchs in the 86th annual NBC World Series, the National Baseball Congress honored Iowa’s Dylan Nedved as an All-American at the shortstop position.
The Shawnee, Kansas native finished the tournament with a .318 batting average, four RBIs, one home run, and two stolen bases. Nedved managed to go the whole tournament with no errors in the field, despite playing the most innings (48) at shortstop out of anyone in the league.
“I did not really know that [the National Baseball Congress] was doing that, and I honestly did not know how I played,” Nedved said. “I mean I thought I played well, but it was definitely a shocker that I got the award.”
The NBC World Series brings together top collegiate and semi-professional teams from across the country to compete against each other in a double-elimination tournament. This year’s event included 13 teams from Texas, California, Colorado, Mississippi, and Kansas, and took place at Wichita State University’s Eck Field and Hutchinson’s Hobart-Detter Field.
Nedved was coming off a summer season in the Sunflower Collegiate League where he hit .355 with 4 home runs, 21 RBIs, and only nine strikeouts in 31 games. He would also receive MVP honors at the Evergy Sunflower Collegiate League All-Star Game after going 2-for-5 with 4 RBIs.
The Hawkeye infielder said he has approached every at-bat the same since the shortened spring season for Iowa where he had a .308 batting average, 11 RBIs, and 4 doubles before its cancelation in March.
“My approach has definitely not changed,” Nedved said. “I think this summer I was just feeling really good at the plate and feeling a little more confident in the box knowing that the pitcher is not going to beat me with anything.”
Nedved said that making adjustments to his swing helped him with his success. Removing the high leg kick in order to start his swing faster and focusing on his rotational acceleration to maintain power have been key adjustments.
“I used to have a pretty high leg kick, and that’s gone,” Nedved said. “We have these blast motion sensors that tell you your rotational acceleration, so I have been really working on rotating faster and getting my swing off faster.”
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Iowa head baseball coach Rick Heller said he was not surprised to see his junior shortstop playing at such a high level.
“He is a really good player, and we knew that when we recruited him,” Heller said. “We felt that he still had room to grow, and he came in with a really good attitude, works very hard, and loves to play.”
Nedved pitched for the Hawkeyes in the spring and had a 1-0 record with a 1.35 ERA in five appearances. In the NBC tournament, however, he didn’t make an appearance on the mound and played all of his innings at shortstop.
“I was really happy for Dylan because he was in a really good place when we had to shut down in March,” Heller said. “He didn’t pitch a whole lot this summer, and he was really able to focus on his hitting and defense at shortstop which paid off for him.”
After a 2-0 loss to the Liberal Bee Jays in their first game, the Monarchs won their next four elimination matchups before a 10-3 loss to the Cheney Diamond Dawgs ended their tournament run.
Nedved went 0-for-3 in the first game against the Bee Jays, but had a hit in all of the Monarchs’ elimination games.
“It makes you feel better about yourself, and you feel a little more confident when you are going into a season knowing that you had a good summer and you finished off strong,” Nedved said.
