Iowa Cubs pitcher Connor Noland’s dad, Frank Noland, has a series of pictures from a memorable trip the family took in the summer of 2016. Connor, who turned 17 that year, was on a two-week baseball and football recruiting trip to a bunch of schools when they decided to swing by iconic Wrigley Field for a couple of Chicago Cubs games.
“Wrigley is a baseball mecca and I grew up in Arkansas watching Harry Caray and the Cubs on WGN,” Frank said.
Among the memorable photos are shots of Connor decked out in a Cubs hat and t-shirt standing on one of the rooftops in right field. Another is a picture of the young quarterback and pitcher standout in the stands, still with his Cubs headwear on, with a packed crowd cheering the Cubs on during a game against the St. Louis Cardinals.
“They bring back so many memories,” Frank said of the photos.
It almost seems like fate that football and baseball brought Noland to the Cubs game that night. Noland, who very well could have had a career in football, ultimately passed on that sport to focus on baseball. The decision has paid off with the right-hander becoming one of the top pitching prospects in Chicago’s organization this season.
“He’s going to end up pitching in the big leagues,” said Iowa manager Marty Pevey. “Hopefully for us but for somebody.”
Noland’s path to greatness once seemed destined to be on the football field. The Arkansas native was a super standout in high school, ranked a four-star recruit by ESPN and listed as the 243rd overall player in the ESPN300. During his sophomore year, he completed 73 of 103 passes for 872 yards and nine touchdowns with 431 rushing yards and four touchdowns.
That was just the start of things. During his junior year, Noland threw for 2,095 yards and 18 touchdowns. He capped off his high school career with a strong senior season that saw him for 2,801 yards and 34 touchdowns while leading his team to a win in the state title game.
“He could have gone far,” said Noland’s old high school football coach Rick Jones.
His success and potential attracted the attention of college coaches throughout the nation. Some of the biggest heavy hitters in the nation were interested in him including Arkansas, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Missouri, Kentucky, Penn State, UCLA, North Carolina and Memphis.
And that was just for football.
Noland was also an up-and-coming star in baseball. During his senior season, Noland went 10-0 on the mound, allowing just four earned runs across 66.2 innings of work. He also struck out 123 batters and walked just 14 while also earning 2018 Preseason All-American honors by Perfect Game. Football, not baseball, was his preference early on.
“I liked football more,” Noland said. I didn’t like football practice, per se. Fall camp was kind of a grind. There’s a lot of stuff that goes into football. Watching film isn’t sexy or anything like that. But gamedays are unreal. And I think that was the biggest draw for me.”
Noland said that most of his interest from college coaches in high school were for football. He believes most baseball coaches, who were limited on scholarship offers in the first place, were scared off by the attention he was getting in football. Still, Noland was interested in doing both.
Arkansas offered him the opportunity. Noland, who signed his letter of intent to play at Arkansas inside The Coliseum during a family trip to Rome, was quickly put on the fast track in both sports. He saw playing time on the gridiron and the baseball field early on.
Noland appeared in four football games in 2018, earning one start. During a game against Tulsa, he completed 10 of 16 passes for 124 yards and one touchdown. It looked like a potentially promising start to Noland’s college football career. Which was good for Noland and the Razorbacks but worrisome to the school’s baseball staff, who worried they may lose him.
“It’s hard to walk away from that,” said Arkansas pitching coach Matt Hobbs.
But Noland did. After the season, Arkansas brought in a pair of transfer quarterbacks in Nick Starkel and Ben Hicks. Noland, who made 20 appearances for the baseball team and compiled a 4.02 ERA during his freshman season, figured he was the odd man in the quarterback room. He thought his greatest potential was in baseball. So, Noland walked away from football.
“I was like, ‘It’s probably not the best idea to sit there on the bench for another year, especially being a sophomore eligible draft,’” Noland said.
Jones said the timing was tough for Noland’s football career at Arkansas. The Razborbacks went 2-10 in 2018 and after a 2-8 start in 2019, fired second-year coach Chad Moris. The baseball team, meanwhile, was thriving.
So, Noland turned his attention to baseball. And his career took off. Noland went 14-11 with a 3.85 ERA with 202 strikeouts across 226.2 innings of work over the next three seasons. With more time to focus on baseball, Noland changed himself as a pitcher.
Hobbs said Noland, who arrived on campus as primarily a four-seam fastball hurler, started throwing a sinker. Things changed dramatically for Noland, whose breaking ball tightened up and was able to avoid barrels of bats even more. His off-speed stuff played off it better as well with Noland already being a strong strike thrower.
“He improved a lot because he just changed,” Hobbs said.
The Cubs liked Noland. A lot. So much so that they came calling around the fifth round of the 2022 draft. Noland, figuring he could get more money if he waited for better offers, turned down the Cubs. But a better offer never came. But the Cubs did again, this time in the ninth round with the same offer as before. Noland, who has the same agent as teammate Jordan Wicks, heard great things about the organization.
“I thought it was a great opportunity,” Noland said.
So, Noland accepted their offer this time around and signed. Noland has since flown through the system, making it to Triple-A in just his second season of pro ball in 2024. During 10 games with Iowa, he compiled a 5-2 mark. Noland began this season in Triple-A and has been one of the team’s steadiest starters.
In his first 27 outings, including 22 starts, he’s gone 9-6 with a 4.07 ERA with 115 strikeouts across 132.2 innings of work. Noland does it without overpowering stuff. He attacks the strike zone so well that Pevey even compared him to former Cubs standout Kyle Hendricks, who has made a career of locating perfectly placed pitches.
Others are taking notice too. Cubs right-hander Jameson Taillon raved about Noland while with Iowa on a rehab assignment. Taillon, a big-league veteran, was asked which players had jumped out to him while he was with Iowa. Noland was one of the few he brought up.
“He’s definitely got the mentality and the work ethic of a big leaguer,” Taillon said.
Noland’s dad said he isn’t surprised by the success. When he saw his son had a strong arm at 3-years-old, he always knew greatness could be in store for him. The question was, on the football or baseball field.
While Connor chose baseball, he hasn’t given up on football entirely. He still throws the football around at Principal Park most days. After all this time, he knows he made the right call since he’s ranked the 22nd-best prospect in the entire organization and is now one short step away from reaching the big leagues.
“It’s pretty cool to feel like you’re at that point where you could go up there and get big league outs that are meaningful,” Noland said.
Tommy Birch, the Register’s sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008. He’s the 2018, 2020 and 2023 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at tbirch@dmreg.com or 515-284-8468.