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The three-day span of June 6-8, 2011, will be etched in Jarred Hippen’s memory forever. June 7 and 8 were the days he saw his aspirations and expectations of playing professional baseball dashed for the first time.
Those days were also a turning point for the former Rock Falls standout and current University of Iowa senior pitcher.
“It really came as a big shock,” Hippen said. “I really thought that I would get drafted, and when it didn’t happen, I was stunned.
“But it also really opened my eyes that I had to go out and work a lot harder and be a better pitcher.”
While that can mean many things to many people, for Hippen it was all about getting back to his strengths.
Never a dominating power pitcher, Hippen led Rock Falls to a Class 3A runner-up finish at the 2008 state tournament by using his natural talent and baseball IQ in a potent combination. The left-hander did that so well, in fact, that he was named SVM’s baseball player of the year.
But when he got to Iowa, he tried to live up to expectations – his own, his family and friends’, his new college teammates and coaches’ – by becoming the hard-throwing strikeout machine he thought the college and pro scouts wanted to see.
“I’m not a guy who’s going to go out and overpower hitters,” Hippen said, “and that’s what I tried to do at the beginning of the year last year – and it didn’t work out so well.
“The big thing I tried to work on [in the offseason] was knowing who I am as a pitcher. I’m a decent-throwing left-hander with a fastball that can get on you at times, but I’m successful when I’m pitching to corners and mixing speeds and locations.”
Like a lot of folks, Hippen always assumed a pitcher had to touch the mid-90s with his fastball to get a chance. But putting in the work in the offseason, trying to figure out why he wasn’t taken on draft day last June, he came to the realization that maybe that wasn’t the case.
Using soft-throwing veteran Jamie Moyer as an example, Hippen started to understand that it wasn’t just how hard he threw that the MLB scouts looked for.
“It’s not all about velocity; you just have to get outs,” Hippen said. “I had to take a step back to realize that. I have to be the best I can be with the stuff I have, and I think it’s a big thing for me to know now who I am out there on the mound.”
The work has paid off so far this year. As a four-year member of the Hawkeyes’ starting rotation, Hippen is now entering his third year as Iowa’s Friday starter. Usually the ace who coaches put out there to pick up the ever-important first win of the weekly three-game Big 10 series, Hippen now feels comfortable and confident in that role.
And while it is rare for staff aces to stick around all four years, Hippen is seeing what an advantage all that past experience as the No. 1 starter is.
“It’s definitely easier now,” Hippen said. “The first two years, everything was just so sped up, going a lot quicker, and I didn’t know what was going on all the time. Now, I know what to expect.
“I’m noticing the little things that I never noticed before. I’ve learned how to pitch through a lineup, how to deal with specific hitters and specific situations, just paying attention to the type of hitter I’m facing and what he’s looking for and what he’s trying to do up there. That’s been a big plus for me this year.”
Hippen also understands that it’s not necessarily stats that truly determine whether he’s had a successful outing. With the NCAA placing new, more stringent restrictions on aluminum bats before the 2011 season, Hippen admits that pitching stats last year were “inflated, better than they should have been” while hitters adjusted to the new style of offense.
This year, as teams have learned how to mold their offense around the new bats, Hippen says he realizes that stats are going to go “back to normal” instead of favoring the pitchers as much.
It hasn’t really fazed the crafty lefty. Like last year, Hippen is tied for the team lead in wins (3) and starts (8), and leads the team in innings pitched (58 1/3). Opposing hitters are batting .275 against him, not far off the .268 average of 2011, and his ERA is just one point higher (4.17) so far in 2012 than it was last season, when he was second on the team at 3.14. He also leads the Hawkeyes in strikeouts (41) – he finished second on the team with 61 Ks a year ago – and has only 10 walks all spring.
“Over the last couple years, Jarred has been one of the premier pitchers in the Big Ten,” Iowa coach Jack Dahm said. “He gives us a great chance to win every Friday. I also believe that this year he has become a very good leader from the standpoint of it’s all about the team, and he’s doing an outstanding job with that.
“He’s being an unselfish player, taking a lot of the younger guys underneath his wing, talking to them and helping them with their transition from high school to college baseball.”
That’s a role Hippen, a two-time second-team All-Big Ten player, isn’t as comfortable with. Admittedly not a vocal leader, Hippen says he tries to lead by example every time he’s on the mound, whether it be in practice, a side session between starts, or under the lights on a Friday night.
“It’s nice to be the guy that everyone looks to on Friday to get a win and start the series out right,” Hippen said, “but I’m still trying to learn from the younger guys like they’re trying to learn from me. Everybody on our staff brings something different to the table, and I know I can be a better pitcher by listening to them as much as they might listen to me.”
Hippen hopes the epiphany about being himself on the mound and the rejuvenation it’s brought with it will be enough to prove to everyone that he’s got what it takes to join fellow former Rockets Seth Blair and Jake Junis in pro baseball come this year’s draft (June 4-6). He’s concentrating on staying healthy and taking care of his arm while trying to pick up a couple of miles per hour on all his pitches, and hopes that he’ll be ready to hit the ground running if and when he gets drafted in a month and a half.
“I want to make teams and scouts thing, ‘Dang, I wish I had taken him last year in the draft,’ really make them want me that much more after my senior season,” said Hippen, an interdepartmental studies major who doesn’t yet have any fixed plans after college should he not get drafted. “I’ll do what I have to do to show them that I’m ready to pitch at the next level, get an out where maybe I couldn’t have gotten one before, or pick up a teammate after an error with a big strikeout.
“I just want a shot in the minors. I feel like I deserve to get drafted, to get that chance this year; if I do, I’ll never ever think ‘what if’ when I get older.”
Dahm shares his veteran ace’s beliefs.
“I believe he has a bright future in professional baseball, from the standpoint that he knows how to pitch and he’ll get a chance to go out and play,” Iowa’s ninth-year head coach said. “In pro ball, they are always looking for guys who can go out and give some quality innings at the lower levels, and that’s the guy he’s going to be. What he does with that opportunity will be up to him.”
Hippen file
High school: Rock Falls (class of 2008)
College: Iowa
Sport: Baseball
Position: Left-handed starting pitcher
Ht./Wt. 6-foot-3, 205 pounds
FYI: Led Rock Falls to runner-up finish at Class 3A state tournament in 2008. … In his third year serving as Iowa’s No. 1 starter, pitching the opener of every Big Ten series each Friday night. … Second-team All-Big Ten selection in 2010 and 2011. … Leads Hawkeyes in starts, wins, innings and strikeouts in 2012. … Led team in wins (4-6), starts (14), complete games (4) and innings pitched (94 2/3) in 2011, and was second in ERA (3.14) and strikeouts (61).