Iowa Baseball lands Dallas Baptist transfer Reece Beuter
Coach Rick Heller and Co. continue to work hard in the transfer portal and have added another piece to the pitching staff. The Hawkeyes received a comittment from former Kirkwood and Dallas Baptist right-handed pitcher Reece Beuter. Out of Cedar Falls, IA and Dike-New Hartford High School, Beuter was a two-time First Team All-State selection. He was rated as the #4 right-handed pitcher and #7 overall prospect in Iowa for the class of 2020.
As a true freshman at Kirkwood CC in 2021, Beuter started 13 games and posted a 4.26 ERA over 61.1 innings. He racked up 79 strikeouts to 28 walks and held opponents to just 0.83 hits per inning. He was an Second Team All-Region selection for a team that made the NJCAA DII World Series.
Beuter received Tommy John surgery at the end of his true freshman season and missed his entire sophomore year at Kirkwood. He rehabbed from surgery during 2022 and opted to transfer to Dallas Baptist for his redshirt sophomore season this past year.
Reece appeared in 15 games for the Patriots this season with a 4.86 ERA over 16.2 innings. He struck out 15 and walked six, but allowed 1.45 hits per inning. Per D1Baseball advanced stats, 61.1% of balls in play against Beuter went for groundballs. Just 18.5% of balls in play against him were fly balls. Despite the hit numbers, his pitch arsenal is pretty intruiging and he will get the entire offseason to work with pitching coach Sean McGrath.
“I would say my best pitch is my slider. It really helps me get strikeouts and to leverage counts,” said Beuter.
He throws a 4-seam fastball 92-95 mph, but has topped out at 96 mph. He also has a sinker (91-93) and a slider (81-84). During his visit to Iowa, Coach McGrath and Reece discussed adding another pitch to his repertoire.
“Coach McGrath and I talked about adding a changeup or another pitch with more depth, so that will be one of my main focuses this summer,” said Beuter. “I will not be playing summer ball, but I will be doing workouts back home, along with individual training.”
As soon as Reece entered the portal, the Iowa coaching staff was interested in getting the Iowa native back to the midwest. He says that he spoke with several schools and had an offer from Nebraska, but ultimately, Iowa was the place for him.
“The first day I entered the portal Coach Sutherland reached out to me and we talked about getting a visit set up. I visited a couple days later and loved it, Coach McGrath showed me around and took me on my visit. Everything went well throughout the whole process the coaches are great guys and couldn’t be more excited.”
As for where Reece will fit into the Iowa pitching staff, with the expected departure of Ty Langenberg, the starting rotation will have a spot open. In the bullpen, there will be spots to fill as well, with Will Christophersen and Jared Simpson departing.
“We have talked through that a couple times they mentioned that a starting rotation spot is open and I may have an opportunity to compete for that but then there is also lots of innings to fill in the bullpen as well, which is where I was at this past season (at DBU).”
The Hawkeyes have now added four arms to the pitching staff through the transfer portal, including RHP Sam Hart (Indian Hills), RHP Ganon Archer (Kirkwood), LHP Brant Hogue (Oklahoma State) and RHP Reece Beuter (Dallas Baptist).
