Iowa loses a pitching coach to pro ball, hires one from pro ball

IOWA CITY — Lose a pitching coach to professional baseball, gain a pitching coach from professional baseball.

That’s how it has worked for the Iowa Hawkeyes, who begin their 2023 season this weekend in Florida. Iowa plays Friday against Indiana State and Saturday and Sunday against Quinnipiac.

Robin Lund left the program in November after four highly successful seasons tutoring Hawkeye hurlers, going straight to the big leagues, hired by the Detroit Tigers as an assistant pitching coach. Lund developed back-to-back Big Ten Conference Pitchers of the Year in Trenton Wallace and Adam Mazur, among many others.

Both were taken in the Major League Baseball Draft, Mazur in the second round last year to the San Diego Padres. Iowa had seven pitchers drafted the past two seasons, which is all you need to know about the job Lund did in Iowa City.

Head coach Rick Heller hired Sean McGrath to replace him. McGrath spent the previous two seasons as a pitching coach in the Seattle Mariners organization, including last season at Double-A Arkansas.

He also has college experience as a pitching coach at Elon, Massachusetts-Lowell and Iona.

“Quite honestly, it wasn’t that I wanted to go back to college ball, that I was done with pro ball,” McGrath said. “It was Iowa, the unique opportunity to work with Coach Heller and (associate head coach) Marty (Sutherland), in a program that has really established itself around its people and its process.”

McGrath was asked what it has been like to return to college coaching.

“Your eyes have to readjust a little bit,” he said. “It’s no longer 93.7 (miles per hour) being the average fastball velocity. It’s closer to 90. Guys do have really tremendous stuff here, stuff I’m really excited about. A lot of these guys, their stuff will translate to the next level. I spent last year at Double-A, and if you look around at this staff, a lot of our starters, key guys, can pitch in Double-A, in terms of stuff. Now it’s just getting them a little better pitch by pitch, trying to get them committed to one thing at a time.”

Iowa appears to have talent on the mound again this season, though a lot of it is less experienced. Junior Ty Langenberg will be the team’s top starter, with Long Beach State transfer Zach Voelker a probable weekend guy.

There are a number of good, young, raw arms in Marcus Morgan, Brody Brecht and Cade Obermueller, among others, that McGrath will try to move forward as the season goes on.

“I think it’s a really talented staff, although not as many of them are as battled tested as we’d like going into a season,” McGrath said. “I think we have a number of arms who have improved upon last year. With that being said, I think some of it is still up in the air. We know Ty is going to pitch on Friday night, and then we’re trying to see what we can do to get some of the Ferraris going: Brody, Marcus, Cade, guys like that. Trying to figure out where we can go to get them into the mix.”

McGrath pitched four years at Lafayette.

“I think it’s the level of commitment involved with each side. They’re different, they’re uniquely different,” he said. “The pro atmosphere is more predicated on day to day, being able to have a routine ... There aren’t as many variables. You get back to college, and these guys are managing class, study hall, trying to get a decent GPA, manage some social things. You don’t see those things in pro ball. You see them here, and you have to be understanding and empathetic with these guys a little bit.”

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