Iowa baseball has thrived on finding players in the transfer portal who can make immediate impacts on their roster. This time, it’s Davis Cop.
Two years ago, South Dakota State transfer Adam Mazur took the country by storm after winning Big Ten Pitcher of the Year and becoming a Collegiate Baseball Second-Team All-American.
Last season, it was Wofford transfer Brennen Dorighi who made his presence felt for the Hawkeyes, earning Second-Team All-Big Ten honors while leading the team in home runs and RBIs.
Head coach Rick Heller and his coaching staff have utilized this new tool as an extension of recruiting, bringing in people to replace lost talent to the MLB Draft.
“It is really hard to replace guys because you don’t know who is going into the draft,” Heller said. “Based on performance and how the year went, you can give a pretty good guess on what you think. That’s when you are looking for replacements you don’t have in your recruiting class.”
This season, Utah graduate transfer Davis Cop has been able to slide right into the Hawkeye lineup and make a positive impact.
With the Utes last season, the catcher and infielder was one of the more valuable bats in all the Pac-12. While earning Pac-12 All-Conference Honorable Mention, Cop posted a .367 batting average and .478 slugging percentage in conference play, leading the team in both categories.
Cop entered his name into the transfer portal at the end of last season while the NCAA Tournament was still taking place. With many programs still competing for a chance to get to Omaha, teams weren’t sure which positions they needed to go after in the portal.
“Getting into the portal was a little hectic,” Cop said. “A lot of guys were still playing and didn’t know what they needed. I was kind of filtering through the schools that were reaching out and figuring out where was going to be a good fit.”
Out of all the schools that reached out to him, the Hawkeyes found themselves at the forefront of Cop’s choices. What made Cop fall in love with the program was the idea of being competitive this season. After taking his first visit to the state of Iowa on a recruiting trip, Cop knew he wanted to be a Hawkeye.
“I have never been to the state of Iowa, and I knew nothing about the state until I got here, which was awesome,” Cop said. “I came out here for a visit, and [the coaching staff] got to talk about the pitchers and that we were going to be a really competitive team this year, which was exciting to me.”
After a slow start, Cop has settled in nicely with the Hawkeye lineup. After going on an 11-game hitting streak, Cop is now batting .317 and leading the team in RBIs with 38.
“It’s just been sticking with my plan,” Cop said. “Even when things statistically may not have been going as great, we talk a lot about a ‘rolling average’ and rolling through the season. If the numbers on paper are not exactly how we want them to be, it’s sticking to the process and not trying to get away from what I do well.”