By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – With the 2024 Major League Baseball Draft having concluded on Tuesday, Iowa baseball coach Rick Heller is in full scramble mode.

Heller and his assistant coaches barely have one month to fill out the 2024-25 Iowa roster.

Heller knew that his roster could be hit hard by the draft and that was certainly the case.

He expected pitchers Brody Brecht and Marcus Morgan and outfielder Sam Petersen to be selected high enough in the draft to where each would pursue a professional career, and that is now the case with all three.

But Heller was hoping that Iowa could keep All-Big Ten third baseman Raider Tello and incoming pitchers Joey Oakie and Jacob Kisting from turning pro.

Unfortunately, for Heller, all three have decided to launch their professional careers, as has relief pitcher Jack Young.

“We knew we would lose Brecht, Morgan and Petersen, but the rest were 50/50,” Heller said Wednesday. “The two big ones were Oakie and Kisting. Losing your top two pitching recruits a month before school starts is tough.

“Throw in Jack Young and Raider Tello and it hit us hard.”

Brecht was the first Hawkeye selected in the draft as the Colorado Rockies took the hard-throwing right hander from Ankeny with the 38^th pick overall.

Brecht came on strong about midway through the 2024 season and finished the season with 128 strikeouts in 78.1 innings of work for the Hawkeyes. His fastball has been clocked as high as 104 miles per hour.

Oakie, who is also from Ankeny, and a 2024 graduate of Ankeny Centennial, was selected in the third round by the Cleveland Guardians, while Petersen was picked in the eighth round by the Washington Nationals.

Oakie’s fast ball has been clocked in the high 90s and he entered the draft as the 46th-best prospect in the draft, according to MLB.com.

Young and Morgan were both selected in the ninth round by the Chicago White Sox and Philadelphia Phillies, respectively.

Kisting was picked in the 14th round by the Minnesota Twins. He had planned to transfer to Iowa for his senior season after having been a standout pitcher for the Bradley Braves. He led the Braves in strikeouts and innings pitched during the 2023 season.

Sophomore pitcher Cade Obermueller was taken in the 19^th round by the Texas Rangers. However, Heller seems optimistic that Obermueller will return to Iowa for his third season.

“Obermueller will likely be back,” Heller said. “The Rangers drafted him as an insurance policy. In case a guy doesn’t pass a physical or something crazy happens and they end up with a big chunk of money to throw at Cade before school starts.”

Tello wasn’t selected in the draft, but the California native has since signed as a free agent with the Phillies. He made first-team All-Big Ten this past season.

“Now we really have to scramble,” Heller said.

Heller has made it known that he disagrees strongly with having the Major League Draft in mid-July because it leaves little time for college coaches to build a roster.

The Major League Baseball Draft used to be held in early June.

“It’s almost criminal that the MLB draft is this late in the summer,” Heller said. “It needs to go back to the first week in June.”

Iowa finished 31-23 this past season, including 14-10 in Big Ten play.