The 2024 season was a frustrating one for the Iowa baseball team, but their offense was certainly one of the year’s bright spots, as they hit for a .301 batting average as a team and averaged 6.1 runs per game.
But three of those top-five hitters from last season’s team have graduated or advanced to the professional level. One of those players is current Philadelphia Phillies prospect Raider Tello, who led the Hawkeyes in batting average, hits, runs batted in, and slugging percentage.
Though Iowa lost plenty of talent in the offseason, it does return some key pieces this season. One key returning member on this Hawkeye offense is fifth-year Andy Nelson, who is coming off the best season of his college career. Nelson hit for a .325 average and led Iowa with nine home runs in 2024.
Now with that previous success under his belt, Nelson has focused on his “clean slate” mentality heading into the 2025 season.
“For me, it’s never about trying to recreate something or be the person I was last year,” Nelson said. “You always have thoughts that go through your head on, ‘how do you maintain something’ or keep something going that’s working well. I think just putting my focus into the team, wanting to compete, having a ‘why’ and doing it for the right reasons, and putting my faith in God that everything will work out.”
Another standout hitter returning for Iowa this season is Gable Mitchell. The junior infielder started all 54 games for the Hawkeyes last year and posted a .293 batting average with 43 RBIs.
Mitchell, one of the leaders on the team, says that tough at-bats will be the key for Iowa to replicate its previous offensive success.
“We lost a lot of really good players last year,” Mitchell said. “We’ve got a lot of good guys that are coming in that people might not know a lot about. As a team, we’ll have some guys that have power, but it’s going to be about having gritty at-bats and making pitchers work, that’s going to be the biggest thing for us.”
Head coach Rick Heller is confident in his team’s abilities at the dish, but is wary of making judgements until Iowa sees live, in-game pitching.
“The question that is out there is ‘are we going to be able to find an identity and score runs’,” head coach Rick Heller said. “I don’t think we’re going to know that until the lights come on, as this is the first time for a lot of guys to get out there and see high-quality pitching day in and day out.”
Heller is confident in the potential of the new players, but as with any season, there could still be potential challenges.
“I think the potential is there,” Heller said. “It’s a little bit of a challenge from a coaching standpoint because some of the hitters you may want out there, aren’t the defenders you want out there.”
Heller also mentioned two catchers that will potentially split the workload with the catching and designated hitter duties – Reese Moore and Daniel Rogers.
“When one isn’t catching, the other one is probably going to DH because they’re two of our better hitters,” Heller said.
Moore, the redshirt second-year catcher, will likely be the day-one starter behind the dish, as he appeared in 51 games and posted a .287 average with 32 RBIs and 5 home runs last season.
Daniel Rogers is a new face on campus in Iowa City, having spent four years at Loras College before transferring to Iowa in the offseason. The fifth-year transfer posted a .404 career average along with 24 bombs in his four-year career with Loras. Nelson feels confident and excited about having Rogers join the team this season.
“I think it’s huge having Daniel Rogers on our team,” Nelson said. “He was a great Division-III hitter and he’s going to be an even better Division-I hitter this year with all the training that he’s done. I’m really looking forward to seeing him play, knowing that he really cares about getting the opportunity to play Division-I baseball.”
While the Hawkeyes have plenty of options, Heller has yet to figure out a starting lineup for the opening series against South Florida from Feb. 14-16 in Tampa.
“That one’s a little tough,” Heller said with a chuckle when asked how close he was to finding his starting lineup. “We’re still taking in as much data as we can, we just found out who their [South Florida] starters are going to be, so trying to prepare was a little tough.”