Cade Obermueller gives Iowa baseball ‘bona fide Friday night starter’ amid other challenges in 2025

IOWA CITY — When Sean Kenny arrived at Iowa as the Hawkeyes’ new pitching coach last month, his top priority was obvious.

Retain Cade Obermueller.

“As soon as Coach (Rick) Heller hired me, that’s the first guy we met with,” Kenny said Tuesday at Iowa baseball’s preseason media day. “Took him to lunch at St. Burch — which is outstanding, by the way — and had a chance to sit down with him.”

Several months later, Obermueller’s retention — and his continued progression — has sparked some optimism inside the program as the Hawkeyes approach the 2025 season with much lower outside expectations than a year ago.

D1Baseball.com picked the Hawkeyes to finish ninth in the 17-team Big Ten — a notable gap from the five teams in the conference that are projected to earn NCAA regional bids.

It’s also a stark contrast from 2024, when D1Baseball.com slotted Iowa at No. 20 in its preseason rankings. Iowa then underperformed those expectations — 31-23 overall, 14-10 in Big Ten play and a quick exit in the conference tournament — and several key players such as Brody Brecht, Marcus Morgan and Sam Petersen subsequently signed with MLB teams.

Heller said Obermueller’s return — “the one break that we caught this summer” — gives Iowa “a bona fide Friday night starter out there.”

“His stuff is as good as you’ll see, and especially from a guy his size,” Heller said of Obermueller, who was the Texas Rangers’ 19th-round selection in the 2024 MLB draft. “The arm slot is really nasty. … I feel really, really confident in Cade and believe he’s going to have a phenomenal year for us.”

The Iowa City native had a 3.92 ERA in 2024, which ranked ninth among pitchers in the Big Ten. His 11 strikeouts per nine innings ranked fourth in the conference, with two of the three players ahead of him being drafted in the first five rounds.

“There isn’t a team in the country that wouldn’t have him in their rotation,” Kenny said. “Not to mention, the makeup is off the charts. … Watching him throw a bullpen, which I will today, is an absolute treat. It’s that good of stuff.”

Obermueller’s breaking ball has been among the areas where the 5-foot-11 junior has continued to improve. Heller also noted his improved strength, maturity and leadership.

“He’s always had the crazy analytic slider, but those aren’t the easiest to throw strikes with when it’s moving 25 inches,” Heller said. “Coach (Sean) McGrath last year did a good job of getting Cade to adjust that slider where he could throw it for a strike more often. But then he could use the bigger sweeper when he was ahead in the count and needed it.”

Obermueller is the son of former Iowa and MLB pitcher Wes Obermueller. Iowa added the elder Obermueller on staff during the offseason as its director of player development.

“It’s pretty cool,” Cade Obermueller said. “I’ve always said he’s been like my private coach, so it’s really good. It’s an easy adjustment.”

If Obermueller’s production at Duane Banks Field matches his coaches’ high hopes for him in 2025, this year’s draft slot may be a little closer to his father’s second-round selection than last year’s 19th-round position.

“If I got an opportunity to go — like a good enough opportunity to go — I would have taken it, I guess,” Obermueller said. “But I was nowhere near afraid of coming back here. And I’ve always wanted to be a Hawkeye.”

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