Keaton Anthony ready to take on the two-way player workload
THE DECISION TO RETURN
Keaton Anthony didn’t have to come back to Iowa for another season. After winning Big Ten Freshman of the Year, as a redshirt freshman, he had the chance to go through the MLB Draft process as a draft eligible sophomore. He talked with several teams and even got offers for them to select him during the draft inside the first ten rounds. However, the numbers they were offering did not match up with what Keaton wanted to hear, so he is back in Iowa City with something to prove during his redshirt sophomore season.
“I had a lot of teams that were telling me, we’re not going to go higher than this set amount and I was like ‘okay, I’m just going to go back to school,'” said Anthony. “Obviously, I have a chip on my shoulder. I don’t think I’ve proved enough. I think I have a lot more to prove…growing up, I’ve always kind of bet on myself throughout high school and even here my first few years.”
The MLB Draft wasn’t the only thing that could have kept Keaton from returning to Iowa for another season. In the age of the transfer portal, coaches are always looking for good players to add and as a native of Georgia, some wondered if he would look to go back that way for what will likely be his last year in college.
“This place is home for me. I love it here. I would never want to restart anywhere else,” said Anthony. “It never went through my mind that I wanted to leave and go anywhere else.”
“The thing that made me the most happy was that you know the program is strong and he feels like he’s going to improve or he wouldn’t have come back, so that makes you feel great,” said Coach Rick Heller. “The other thing is his maturity in that if he didn’t get the money that he wanted, he knew he could come back and bet on himself and hopefully get that next year.”
CONTRIBUTING AT THE PLATE AND ON THE MOUND
Keaton Anthony was a force at the plate last season, leading the team in batting average (.361), home runs (14), hits (73), doubles (22), RBI’s (55) and slugging percentage (.678). He played in 53 games, reaching base in 50 of them and logging a hit in 44 games. His 22 doubles were the second most in a season in school history, while his 14 home runs were the most by an Iowa freshman since 1999. He also ranked in the top 10 in the Big Ten in five categories en route to his Big Ten Freshman of the Year award. Anthony was also named a NCBWA Freshman All-American and a D1Baseball.com First Team Freshman All-American.
Despite his impressive numbers at the plate, Keaton will add another role with the team this season. There is a chance that he lands in the weekend starting rotation, but even if he doesn’t, there will be a large role for him in some capacity. Last season, he appeared in just one game on the mound, but behind the scenes he was doing everything he needed to do to make sure he was ready to go.
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“He wasn’t able to do much because he was going to have to play right field and the way our pitching was going pretty good, it just felt like let’s just let him roll with the offense,” said Heller. “He kept throwing bullpens in case we needed him…there’s a chance for him to be one of our best guys.”
The move to be both a hitter and a pitcher is one that comes with a known increase in workload. Former Air Force and current LSU Tiger Paul Skenes is the nations best two-way player and he was expressed interest in cutting down some of his at bats this coming season.
“There’s no debate with Keaton. He wants to do it. He wants to be out there and he wants to hit,” said Heller.
“I’ve been doing it since high school and I feel like I can do it at this level,” said Anthony. “I’m confident in my abilities at this level and I want to help the team anyway I can. I feel confident if I’m on the mound to help us and obviously in the box.”
Iowa Baseball fans can get their first look at Keaton Anthony and the Hawkeyes next weekend, as they open the season in Port Charlotte, Florida for the Snowbird Classic. The Hawkeyes face Indiana State on Friday February 17th, before facing Quinnipiac on Saturday and Sunday to wrap up the weekend. All three games will be streamed on FloBaseball.