For the second straight season, Iowa baseball lays claim to the Big Ten’s best pitcher. Redshirt sophomore Adam Mazur was honored as the Big Ten Pitcher of the Year as league awards were announced.
The 6-foot-2, 180 pound righty picked up the award after posting a 7-2 record with a 3.05 ERA in 14 regular season starts. The Woodbury, Minn., native posted nine quality starts and struck out 90 batters in 88 2/3 innings of work.
Mazur arrived in Iowa City as a transfer from South Dakota State where he went 3-9 and posted a 5.50 ERA over 16 starts in two seasons as the Jackrabbits’ No. 1 arm.
Mazur joined The BIG Baseball Podcast with hosts Drew Charters and Kyle Charters to discuss this renaissance of a season.
“Yeah, kind of getting into it and working with Robin (Lund) right away really helped. Just tweaking minor mechanic things really kind of helped point me forward and then really just learning my arsenal and how to attack hitters with it and learning what works best for me and what are things that I can look forward to,” Mazur said.
Lund’s early work on Mazur’s fastball made all the difference this season.
“Definitely learning how to throw a fastball a little bit more effectively, getting more vertical break on it. It was really big for me and that really kind of helped me pitch up in the zone also while spotting up down in the zone. And then, adding the changeup, adding the curveball and just kind of getting the four-pitch mix into it and being able to throw all four,” Mazur said.
Mazur always knew the fastball was in his arsenal, but perfecting it allowed him to add in an effective changeup and curveball.
“I knew the fastball was in there. In high school, I had a pretty good fastball. And then, kind of as I got older and put more weight on, the velo started to come with it. So, I knew that the fastball was going to be there and changeup I really started to develop out this summer.
“I was basically forced to throw it with those guys out there. You had to have at least three pitches to get outs. The curveball was something we kind of started in winter and just kind of stuck with it. Then, one weekend it kind of just all clicked and we were able to run with that,” Mazur said.
When Mazur says it all clicked, just look at Big Ten play for the confirmation. Mazur went 5-1 with a 2.59 ERA in eight Big Ten starts where he led the league in ERA (2.59), wins (5) and innings (55 2/3).
In the process, Mazur joined Trenton Wallace from last season as the only Hawkeyes to have captured Big Ten Pitcher of the Year honors. Starting pitcher Brett Backlund was also a Big Ten Player of the Year in 1992.
Mazur and Wallace represent the fifth time in Big Ten history that a duo from the same school went back-to-back capturing the league’s highest pitching honor. Prior to Mazur and Wallace, Illinois most recently had consecutive honorees in 2015 and 2016.
Mazur is also the fourth starting pitcher to earn first-team All-Big Ten honors under Iowa head baseball coach Rick Heller.
The Hawkeyes open Big Ten Tournament play as the No. 3 seed and will play sixth-seeded Penn State at 9 a.m. from Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Omaha, Neb. Every game will be televised on the Big Ten Network, with each game also available on the FOX Sports App.
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