Path to the Big Leagues: A deep dive into five Hawkeyes who recently began their professional baseball careers
This article was written by Scott Junck, Austin Marchesani, and Connor Curtiss
With the 2022 MLB First-Year Player Draft wrapping up last week, it’s a good time to highlight the four Hawkeyes that were drafted, as well as one undrafted free agent signee, and give some insight into their individual paths to professional baseball. Each of these players had their own unique journey to get them to where they are today. With the help of a fantastic coaching staff, players who are bought into our data-driven development philosophy, and a group of 20+ managers that are all invested in #MovingTheNeedle, the University of Iowa has emerged as one of the top programs in all of Division I when it comes to player development. Here’s a look into the specifics that went into helping each of these players develop into professionals.
Adam Mazur — San Diego Padres, Round 2 — Pick 53 Overall
A product of Woodbury, Minnesota, Adam Mazur became the University of Iowa’s highest MLB draft pick since 1990 and the first Big Ten player drafted this year when he heard his name called by the San Diego Padres on night one of the MLB Draft.
Mazur was a star in high school, but the success did not immediately translate to the college game at South Dakota State. His career statistics at SDSU (which include 2021 and the shortened 2020 season) were average at best. A 5.50 ERA, 1.53 WHIP, and 43 walks in 88.1 innings pitched is not what many (Mazur included) expected during his time at SDSU.
However, over the summer of 2021, Mazur pitched for the Wareham Gatemen in the Cape Cod League and showcased his potential. Mazur was a star and produced numbers reminiscent of his high school days against some of the best college bats in the nation. He went 3–0 in 6 appearances with a 1.55 ERA, striking out 34 batters while walking 6 and surrendering just 18 hits in 29 innings pitched — good for a 0.83 WHIP.
After his second year with the Jackrabbits, Mazur decided to enter the NCAA transfer portal to find a new home. The Iowa coaching staff was immediately interested following his success in the Cape. Near the end of July, Mazur committed to the University of Iowa. One of the main reasons for his commitment was the use of technology to aid in the development of pitchers, spearheaded by pitching coach Robin Lund. Mazur said, “I felt like if I really wanted to develop … Iowa was perfect. They have Robin, who is a really good pitching coach. But they also have endless technology, and you just don’t see that everywhere else. That was really nice” (Jeff Johnson). Mazur, as well as the coaching staff, knew there was immense potential for a bona fide Friday night ace, and the perfect combination of Lund’s biomechanics knowledge, data-driven insights, and Mazur’s incredible work ethic accomplished just that. When asked about his development at Iowa, Mazur stated, “The main things that I worked on were my fastball and getting more ride on it and also making sure my hips and lower half were more stacked and not flying open too early. The PVC drills with Robin’s help truly helped me elevate to a new level!”
One of the first things that Mazur adjusted during his time at Iowa was as simple as his position on the pitching rubber. Prior to joining the Hawkeyes, Mazur began his delivery from the 1st base side of the rubber. After the fall, he moved to the 3rd base side of the mound to create more deception for the hitter. Not only was Mazur able to hide the ball better from opposing batters from that side of the rubber, but those extra 8–10 inches also paired well with his pitch arsenal and made each of his pitches more effective.
Shown below is a comparison of Fall 2021 to Spring 2022. Mazur focused mainly on improving his movement patterns in his delivery, especially his hip hinge. In the video from the fall (left), his back hip started going towards third base as he moved down the mound like he was doing a pelvic thrust. In the video from the spring (right), he is able to hold the hinge much better which allows him to rotate more efficiently. He was also able to hold direction much better towards the plate without striding open like he was in the fall.
As a result, his glove height during his leg lift also changed. This was not a deliberate adjustment, but something that happened while getting comfortable with his new movement patterns. Mazur is a perfect example of how a pitcher can change drastically as a result of an earlier tweak in the delivery. Improving his hip hinge allowed many of his subsequent movements to be cleaned up without needing focused work.
Another area that Mazur worked on during his time at Iowa was developing consistency in his fastball movement profile along with adding a curveball to give him a true four pitch mix. With the use of Trackman data paired with Edgertronic video, Mazur was able to accomplish these goals over the winter development phase of the season. As you can see in the pitch movement plot below, Mazur’s fastball profile was very sporadic in the fall of 2021.
At times, he would be getting 20+ inches of induced vertical break while other fastballs would get half that with greater amounts of horizontal movement. There was much more consistency in the movement of his fastball in the spring, allowing him to fill up the zone and throw his fastball for more strikes. To go along with a strike rate of 66% on his fastball, he threw his slider for a strike 73% of the time. He only walked 2.9 batters per 9 innings in 2022 compared to his 4.1 BB/9 in 2021. The ability to fearlessly attack hitters allowed Mazur to keep his pitch count low, go deeper into games, and dominate his opponents.
All of those changes, paired with the fact that he gained 15–18 pounds while at Iowa, helped Mazur raise his velocity and consistently throw hard. At South Dakota State, he sat 89–91 with his fastball and only hit 95 twelve times. This spring, Mazur averaged 94 on the gun, topped out at 99, and threw 203 pitches of 95 MPH or higher — good for 36% of his fastballs.
Mazur’s spin rate also saw an increase from the fall to the spring, going from 2200 to 2300 RPMs on his fastball. Part of this is due to the jump in velocity he saw over that time frame, but even more can be explained due to his movement patterns. Because he moved to the third base side of the rubber, Mazur was able to pronate through his fastball more. As a result, his hand was on the ball slightly longer, which allowed him extra fractions of a second to apply more torque on the ball. Combining all of these factors increased the angular velocity of his hand through release and increased his spin rate naturally while adding more backspin and carry to his fastball.
Mazur rarely threw his curveball in the fall, and the ones that he did throw did not get much depth. During the winter, the knowledge of Coach Lund paired with the use of technology allowed him to develop his curveball into a pitch he was comfortable throwing. This pitch paired well with his mid-80s slider and gave Mazur a true four pitch mix, allowing him to keep opposing hitters off-balance. Mazur specifically showcased this pitch in his outing against a powerful Rutgers lineup in an April start. He threw 8 innings, striking out 11 batters while walking none and only allowing one earned run en route to a 4–1 win for the Hawkeyes.
Mazur’s Best Moment
After his grandpa passed away, in front of his entire family and a load of national cross checkers, Adam Mazur mowed down the Minnesota lineup for 8 innings while hitting 98 and sitting 95 in the 8th in what may have been his most impressive performance of the year. Being from Minnesota, Mazur had an extra chip on his shoulder facing the Gophers, and did not disappoint in a game that was televised nationally.
Peyton Williams — Toronto Blue Jays, Round 7 — Pick 218 Overall
Similar to Mazur, Peyton Williams had a very successful and highly decorated career with the Johnston High School baseball team. His accolades included Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association Player of the Year, Iowa Prep Baseball Report Player of the Year, and three time first-team all-state selection, just to name a few. Williams was also rated as the top recruit in the state of Iowa and chose to stay home and join the Hawkeye baseball team.
Looking at Williams’ career stat line can be a bit deceptive. It doesn’t show that he was battling injury on and off throughout his entire 2021 season. However, even with these setbacks, Williams was able to produce for the Hawkeyes.
Throughout the 2022 season, Williams was fully healthy and, with the help of hitting coach Marty Sutherland and volunteer assistant coach David Pearson, was able to develop into one of the most well-rounded hitters in all of collegiate baseball. In 2022, he was one of 5 hitters to have an average exit velocity over 90 mph while whiffing less than 20% of the time and chasing less than 25% of the time.
One of the main reasons for his increase in production was an increase in his contact rate and ability to handle elite stuff. His contact rate against fastballs with a Stuff+ over 100 was only 62% in 2021. That number rose to 82% during the 2022 season. Additionally, he showed his ability to hit any pitch, posting a wOBA over .400 against fastballs, changeups, and breaking balls. Below is Williams’ spray chart from last season.
Williams showed the ability to hit the ball to all parts of the field with authority and also hit one of the longest measured home runs in all of college baseball at 487 feet. Coach Sutherland spoke about Williams’ development, saying, “Peyton came to Iowa with a high aptitude as a hitter and the ability to hit the ball really hard. Where he really improved here was with consistency to elevate the ball, especially to the pull side,” which is evident from the spray chart. Sutherland continued, “This comes with moving better and being more efficient/cleaner to the ball. He worked hard on his body/fitness and his swing path on the pull side.”
Finally, Williams also cut down on his strikeout rate from 30% in 2021 to 17% in 2022. Putting the ball in play more and striking out less led to Williams’ best season as a Hawkeye, putting together a .335/.464/.622 slash line. After this impressive 2022 campaign, Williams was named as a member of the All-Big Ten First Team.
Williams’ Best Moment
Although Williams hit the 8th longest home run in all of college baseball last season, Peyton’s best moment as a Hawkeye comes from the 2021 season against Minnesota. In a close game in the 5th inning, Williams turned on a slider left up in the zone to break the game open for the Hawkeyes with a grand slam.
Dylan Nedved — San Diego Padres, Round 9 — Pick 270 Overall
Nedved joined the Iowa program in 2020 after two years at Hutchinson Community College as a two-way player. After his 2021 season, he focused solely on pitching, while remaining an emergency option to fill in as a position player if needed. During his time as a pitcher for the Hawkeyes, he filled a variety of roles. In his first year, he was mainly a high leverage bullpen arm. In 2022, he began the season as the closer before transitioning into a starting role. After several weeks of successful starts for the Hawkeyes, he transitioned back to the bullpen. Nedved was able to thrive in each of these roles, showing his versatility and his ability to get the job done in various situations.
When asked about the manager program, Nedved said, “The Iowa managers allow for us to not just succeed but excel and have the upper hand on our competition.” Throughout his time at Iowa, that’s exactly what Dylan did: excel. His fastball took a big jump throughout the time he was in Iowa City. In 2020, the Stuff+ on his fastball was 99. That number jumped to 165 in 2022. Going from a two-way player to a pitcher-only was the biggest factor in that increase. Focusing solely on pitching allowed him to add 3 MPH on his fastball due to staying on a consistent throwing program and going more in depth in the pitch design process. His fastball and changeup had inconsistent movement and often ran together, without much separation. His slider was short and even got some arm-side run at times. The plot below shows one of Nedved’s outings from 2022 side-by-side with his 2021 profile.
In 2022, the fastball was much more consistent and had clear separation from his changeup, which helped fool hitters. The chase rate on his changeup increased by 7% from 2021 to 2022. The slider sweep was lethal and consistent. The -5.7 horizontal approach angle (HAA) on his slider ranked 7th in the nation. The deception he created being a sidearm pitcher who threw across his body was attractive for many organizations. With how polished Nedved’s arsenal became, it’s not a surprise he was taken in the 9th round of the MLB Draft.
Nedved’s Best Moment
Nedved’s best moment came in a Sunday matchup with Texas Tech in which he struck out the side to slam the door on the Red Raiders, finishing a 6–3 Hawkeye win. Here are each of the strikeouts from the 9th inning.
Duncan Davitt — Tampa Bay Rays, Round 18 — Pick 554 Overall
Out of Indianola High School, Duncan Davitt led class 4A with 133 strikeouts in his senior year and committed to play at the University of Iowa. Davitt found his way into the starting rotation during his sophomore year but struggled throughout the season, posting a 5.55 ERA and giving up 8 home runs. But by the end of the 2022 season, he had completely reshaped himself as a pitcher and turned his career around.
“By working with the coaches at Iowa, I was able to improve my mechanics to throw in a safer manner as well as improve metrics such as extension and vertical approach angle,” Davitt said about his development at Iowa. “Not only that, but I was able to build every one of my pitches into quality offerings that could get outs with the help of the managers and Robin.”
Vertical approach angle (VAA) and extension do make Davitt quite a unique pitcher. His fastball VAA averaged -5.06 in 2019, and in 2021 it was -4.94. After working to improve his pitch shapes, his VAA was -4.34 by the spring of 2022. As a result, his fastball whiff rate skyrocketed from 17.3% in 2021 to 29.4% in 2022. Jumps of that magnitude are rare, but Iowa is the place to make it happen. Additionally, his 6’10” extension helped add to his deception and improve his arsenal. In 2022, he had the fifth flattest VAA in the nation to go along with the 14th longest extension among qualified pitchers. It’s easy to see why he caught teams’ eyes like the Rays, who have a reputation for identifying pitchers who are undervalued.
Davitt put in a lot of work in the weight room during the offseason, as well. He added muscle and increased his power numbers, but it did not translate to the mound right away. Thanks to the help of Coach Lund, he realized some of the medicine ball throws he had been doing were keeping him from rotating as fast as he desired. Instead of med ball rotational drills, Davitt transitioned to using a velocity stick (similar to a PVC pipe). This sped up his rotation and allowed him to feel the speed he should be moving when throwing off the mound. He began to see the velocity gains he was hoping for. The line graph below is pretty telling of how his individualized training plan generated results.
It wasn’t just the fastball. His curveball Stuff+ saw a jump from 97 to 149 from 2021 to 2022, he also added a sinker that graded out at 161 on our internal Stuff scale. To go along with those three pitches, he also adjusted the shape on his changeup to give it more contrast with his fastball and featured a nasty slider at 129 Stuff+ with consistent positive induced vertical break. The plots below make it easy to see how much work Davitt accomplished to shape his arsenal and transform into the unique and complete pitcher that he is today.
All of that work translated into positive results on the field. After a 2021 season in which he had a 2.5 K:BB ratio and allowed 8 HR, he pitched to the tune of a 4.1 K:BB ratio and only gave up 1 home run in 2022 while posting a 3.38 ERA and 1.13 WHIP. Batters also whiffed over 30% of the time and chased 32% of pitches outside the zone, which helped limit Davitt’s batting average against to .207.
Davitt’s Best Moment
Davitt was always the type to let his emotions fly. This strikeout against Michigan in the Big Ten Semifinal may have featured his most electric celebration.
Ben Beutel — Chicago White Sox, UDFA
Although he went undrafted, Ben Beutel may have one of the best stories in all of college baseball. A graduate of Davenport Assumption, Beutel’s path to Iowa wasn’t as direct as some of the other players. After one season at Bowling Green, he transferred to Allen Community College in Kansas before finally transferring back to his home state with the Hawkeyes in 2020. Beutel struggled immensely in 2021 with an ugly 10.61 ERA. However, he didn’t let his struggles hold him back.
In 2022 he struck out 37% of batters while walking just 5%, helping him to an astounding 1.47 ERA and 0.93 WHIP. He also picked off nine runners, which assisted him to win the ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove award for pitchers. Beutel was also an ABCA/Rawlings Second-Team All-Midwest Region honoree and was Second-Team All-Big Ten Reliever. But what led him to that turnaround?
With a fastball averaging only 87 MPH, Coach Heller knew that Beutel had to do something drastic to create a unique angle in order to be competitive on the mound. Over the fall of 2021, Beutel worked hard to change his slot, and by the end of the first semester he was looking like a new pitcher.
The change in arm slot completely transformed Beutel’s pitching career. His CSW% went from 27.5% to 34.5% and his strike rate increased 10 points, from 57% to 67%. His slot created new movement on all of his pitches. Most of the fall was spent perfecting the movement on his new sweeping slider. By moving his arm slot, Beutel’s stuff scores increased immensely, with his slider Stuff+ rising 16 points from 2021 to 2022.
Going into the winter, the focus for Beutel was clear: He needed to be able to locate his new arsenal (especially the slider) if he was going to be an effective pitcher. Throughout the winter, he showcased a feel for commanding the slider, and turned into the top relief option coming out of the Hawkeye bullpen in 2022.
You can see from the movement plot above how much his arm slot changed his movement and deception. Rather than showing hitters a typical lefty arsenal with low velocity, Beutel gave them a tough look and a nasty slider that helped propel his season. Beutel says it best: “The development at Iowa is unmatched. With the help of Robin, Iowa Managers, and technology, I was able to lower my arm slot to become a better pitcher. They have all played an important part in getting me to where I am today!”
Beutel’s Best Moment
If you’ve even seen Ben Beutel pitch, you probably know he has the best pickoff move in the country. Throughout the 2022 season, he picked off nine runners with his signature move. That’s too many to pick just one, so why not highlight them all?
Conclusion
Take a look at the paths of the five players you just read about. Three of them were transfers and two committed to Iowa out of high school. They all had their ups and downs and struggled at times. In the end, each of them can say they accomplished their dream of becoming professional baseball players.
Through a combination of work ethic and Iowa’s ability to use technology to individualize player development and tailor training to players’ needs, all five of these players overcame obstacles to become the best player they could be, and they will continue to do just that at the next level. While the resources and technology that Iowa Baseball has to offer are outstanding, it means nothing without a coaching staff that is able to interpret and utilize these tools. At Iowa, our coaching staff has the ability to do just that. They understand the insights gained from those resources and get the most out of each player on the roster, leading to success on the field, both personally and as a team.
Source:
Jeff Johnson: https://www.thegazette.com/iowa-hawkeyes/a-transfer-to-university-of-iowa-turns-adam-mazur-into-a-major-pitching-force/
