Another homegrown Hawkeye is coming home! Right-hander Justin Hackett announced he was transferring from TCU to Iowa baseball.
The Iowa Hawkeyes‘ baseball program is welcoming a familiar face back home.
Like a trio of transfers before him, Justin Hackett is another Hawkeye State product that is making the move back to Iowa this offseason. The 6-foot-3, 215 pound right-hander is originally from Winterset High School in Iowa.
In his lone season at TCU, Hackett made six appearances. He compiled a 11.37 ERA in just 6 1/3 innings of work. Hackett surrendered 12 hits and eight earned runs in limited action.
Iowa fans will like these numbers, though: Hackett struck out nine and walked just one. Hawkeye pitching coach Sean McGrath will no doubt welcome that strikeout potential with open arms.
Hackett discussed his decision-making process and his ultimate choice to return home with Kyle Huesmann of Hawkeye Report.
“I was blessed to have a handful of offers upon entering the portal from all over the country. I really wanted to get back closer to home with my one transfer opportunity. This allowed me to narrow down my top choices to Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska.
“I knew Iowa was the place for me the minute I stepped on campus. I was able to make the quick trip over and talk with the staff face-to-face and we really hit it off,” Hackett said.
Though his pitching appearances were brief, Hackett brings plenty of freshman lessons with him and the experience of advancing to Omaha with TCU.
“My freshman year at TCU was an incredible learning experience. Being a part of a team that made it to Omaha was special, as well as learning what it takes from a physical and mental standpoint to achieve excellence in the college baseball scene. I had the opportunity to throw in a few incredible environments, as well as familiarize myself with the learning curve of throwing to college hitters,” Hackett said.
Hackett is now the fifth transfer portal addition for Iowa since the Hawkeyes’ historic 2023 season ended. Iowa also brought in Oklahoma State transfer Brant Hogue, Dallas Baptist transfer Reece Beuter, Creighton transfer Anthony Watts and Utah transfer Davis Cop.
Hogue made just three appearances last season with Oklahoma State before a partial UCL tear ended his season with the Cowboys.
Before that, Hogue tossed 59 1/3 innings with the Iowa Western Reivers, surrendering just 11 earned runs to post a 1.67 ERA across 13 starts and 14 overall appearances. Hogue ended the 2022 season with a perfect 6-0 record and he racked up 93 strikeouts against just 16 walks. His strikeouts per nine innings while at Iowa Western was 14.11. Hogue had one complete game performance as well.
Beuter made 15 appearances with the Patriots, compiling a 4.86 ERA across 16 2/3 innings of work. The 6-foot-1, 196 pound redshirt junior struck out 15 and walked six.
Watts made eight starts across 14 overall appearances in his lone season at Creighton. He compiled a 2-3 record with a 5.15 ERA with 26 strikeouts against 25 walks.
Lastly, the Hawkeyes added Cop who hit .300 with 11 doubles, 10 homers and 51 RBIs. Cop scored 35 runs. During his sophomore season in 2022, Cop earned Pac-12 All-Conference honorable mention status after registering a team-best .367 batting average in Pac-12 Conference play.
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