Cade Moss to miss "first few weeks" with a broken hamate bone
The Iowa Baseball team will be without their starting catcher for the the beginning of the 2024 campaign due to an injury. Kendall Rogers of D1Baseball reported that senior Cade Moss is expected to miss the “first few weeks” with a broken hamate bone. Moss started 46 games last season behind the plate, including the last 23 games of the season and was a Third Team All-Big Ten selection.
“He was a huge part of our success because Cade was able to handle those guys in a way that gave us a chance to not be giving up free bases all the time with steals and wild pitches,” said Rick Heller on the impact of Moss last season.
At the plate Cade slashed .261/.356/.321, including eight doubles and 22 RBI’s. Behind the plate, he made just one error on 519 chances and his .998 fielding percentage ranked first amongst all Big Ten catchers. Against base stealers, Moss nabbed runners on 12 of 33 (36.4%) steal attempts.
How does this injury impact the depth at catcher?
Had this happened at the tail end of last season, Rick Heller would have been hitting the emergency button. Ben Tallman and Gehrig Christensen were both suspended due to the gambling investigation, while freshman Reese Moore was redshirting. The coaching staff addressed the depth issue during the offseason and brought in Utah transfer Davis Cop. Behind him is rFr Reese Moore and true freshman Max Burt, while Ben Wilmes still has the emergency duties.
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Davis Cop comes to Iowa City after spending the last two seasons with the Utes in the PAC 12. He was an Honorable Mention All-PAC 12 selection in 2022 and batted above .330 in conference play in back-to-back seasons. Last year, Cop slashed .300/.376/.498, including 11 doubles, ten home runs and 51 RBI’s.
“Cop has come in and done everything that we had hoped he would do and more, as far as filling some of the void left by guys we lost in the middle of the lineup,” said Heller back in December. “A great fall, he’s carried that over and he is in a really good place right now, not only with his swing, but with his catching.”
With Davis Cop looking like the every day catcher for the first couple of weeks of the season, that opens up a spot in the lineup at DH. Look for College of San Mateo transfer Connor Hennings, senior Andy Nelson or junior Ben Wilmes to fill that hole while Moss is out. All three of those guys are currently battling for the starting spot in right field.
Iowa Baseball Schedule (First Three Weeks)
Feb 16-18 (Charleston, SC): vs Seton Hall, vs Ball State, vs Lehigh
Feb 23-25 (Jacksonville, FL): vs Auburn, vs #14 Virginia, vs Wichita State
Feb 27: vs Northern Illinois
March 1-3: at Ole Miss
