Versatility serves Peyton and Hawkeyes

IOWA CITY - Within days of taking the Iowa baseball job two years ago, Rick Heller identified a player at Iowa Central Community College that could impact his program. Two years later, that impact has been immeasurable.

Tyler Peyton, a former all-state performer at Dallas Center-Grimes, ranks among the nation's most versatile players. As a first baseman, Peyton, a junior, is Iowa's leading hitter and ranks fourth in Big Ten batting average (.360). Peyton (6-4) also takes the hill in the opener of every Big Ten series.

'Peyton, he's just a freak athlete,” said Iowa pitcher Blake Hickman. 'He can do both. He's doing a great job at it.”

Peyton, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 180 pounds, is a semifinalist for the 2015 John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award. Among Big Ten players, Peyton is sixth in on-base percentage (.449) as a batter and 14th in ERA (3.32) as a pitcher. He's 15th in opponents' batting average (.260), 13th in strikeouts (62) and has 14 starts. He has 30 starts at first base and ranks second on the team in RBIs (28) and walks (28).

'He's a great all-around player, and he's a big reason for our success,” Heller said. 'But he's also a guy that we knew right away would be a big impact guy for our program if we could get him when I was hired two years. That's definitely proven to be true.”

Peyton was all-everything in high school in three sports, but he quickly realized baseball was his best sport. He accepted an offer to play at Iowa Central, and Coach Rick Pederson allowed Peyton to play both ways. Peyton posted an impressive freshman season on the mound and at the plate. Heller, who was hired in 2013, made Peyton a priority.

'I wanted to return (to Iowa Central) and that was the plan,” Peyton said. 'Then (Heller) takes the job, gives me a call and here I am.”

'I've always looked for dual players with the limited amount of scholarships you get in baseball,” Heller said. 'It's almost like getting two players for one. So I'm always out there looking for a guy who can do what Tyler does, and they're very rare to be able to do it all. But it's super rare to be able to do it as well as he does.”

In the Big Ten opener against Indiana, Peyton tossed a complete game in a 2-0 shutout of defending league champion Indiana. He drove in both runs and struck out five batters without giving up a walks. Two days later, Peyton had four hits to pace the Hawkeyes to a series sweep over the Hoosiers. That early performance vaulted the Hawkeyes to a 38-14 overall record and 19-5 in Big Ten play. Iowa's second-place regular-season finish was its best since 1990.

'It's just unreal when he does that because we all know that he's just that guy,” Hickman said. 'He's a grinder, and we all feed off of it.”

As a junior, Peyton is eligible for the draft this spring but said he hasn't given it much thought. He has a similar answer to whether he'd prefer shifting to pitcher or batter full time.

'Honestly right now I don't know,” Peyton said. 'I just love playing baseball and hitting and pitching. I can't decide which one is best right now.”

The best part for Peyton - and Iowa - is he doesn't have to make that choice today.

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