NEW LONDON — Kooper Schulte, like a lot of young boys, grew up loving the game of baseball.<\/p>\n
Whether it is playing a pickup game with his friends, playing Little League or playing catch with his father, Schulte loves to play America’s pastime.<\/p>\n
Unlike most kids, baseball became a passion for Schulte. He is driven to be the best. He literally eats, sleeps and breathes baseball.<\/p>\n
Not a day goes by when Schulte isn’t working to make himself a better baseball player.<\/p>\n
Schulte’s tireless effort and unmatched work ethic paid off when he was selected with the 600th pick in the 20th round of the Major League Baseball Draft by the New York Mets on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The fact that Schulte now is pursuing his passion for baseball at the highest level comes as no surprise to those who know him.<\/p>\n
“It’s a pretty neat experience,” said Southeastern Community College baseball coach Justin Schulte, Kooper’s father. “It’s a proud moment for the whole family. He’s put in a lot of hard work and dedication through the years and it all came to fruition.”<\/p>\n
“His work ethic is the No. 1 thing. He is one of the hardest workers I have ever coached,” said Burlington Bees manager Owen Oreskovich, who coached Kooper Schulte for two summers in the Prospect League. “He had tremendous focus in everything he does. Growing up with his Dad, he learned to do things the right way. I thought he was going to make it to the pros the first time I saw him play when he was young. He has so much talent and such a great work ethic.”<\/p>\n
Iowa coach Rick Heller saw Schulte take his game to another lever this past spring with the Hawkeyes. He knew Schulte had all the qualities it takes to play professional baseball.<\/p>\n
“Kooper had an excellent year for the Hawks last spring,” Heller said. “He has a tremendous work ethic, and he works to improve every day. Kooper is a great teammate and plays the game for the right reasons. I couldn\u2019t be happier that he was drafted by the Mets and now has the opportunity to fight his way to the big leagues. Koop being drafted was well deserved.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Schulte plays mostly shortstop, but also can play third base and second base.<\/p>\n
Schulte was a two-time all-state player for New London High School. In five years with the Tigers, he had a cumulative .358 batting average with 21 doubles, two triples and nine home runs. He scored 121 runs, drove in 93 runs and stole 39 bases.<\/p>\n
Schulte, who also pitched in high school, helped New London to a Class 1A state tournament appearance his junior year in 2021. The Tigers won the Class 1A state championship his senior season when he hit .444 with 13 doubles, one triple and six home runs, stole nine bases, scored 50 runs and drove in 44 runs.<\/p>\n
After spending one season for Central Arizona College, he transferred to Southeastern Community College, where he played one season for his father.<\/p>\n
Schulte spent the last two seasons at Iowa. As a junior he hit .268 with six doubles, three home runs, scored 21 runs and drove in 25 runs.<\/p>\n
Schulte had a big senior season for the Hawkeyes, hitting .274 with 18 doubles, one triple an nine home runs, scoring 50 runs and and driving in 39 runs.<\/p>\n
Schulte played two seasons with the Burlington Bees in the Prospect League.<\/p>\n
Justin Schulte coached his son all the way up through high school. Kooper spent one year at Central Arizona College before reuniting with his father at SCC.<\/p>\n
“It was fun getting to coach his 12U travel team and then the high school situation worked out pretty good where I was able to help coach him there,” Justin Schulte said. “Winning state together is one of my fondest memories. Then getting to go to the Junior College World Series with my son … it just doesn’t get any better than that.”<\/p>\n
Justin Schulte saw a work ethic in his son that he only sees in a select few players. He has watched his son chase his dream all the way to the professional level.<\/p>\n
“I know how much this means to him,” Coach Schulte said. “I told him, ‘It doesn’t matter if you hit .150, .350 or .450. I’m not going to love you any less.’ I’ve had my time. I’m not living my life through his career. I want Kooper to be the best that he can be.”<\/p>\n
Oreskovich, like Justin Schulte, has seen numerous former players go on to the professional level. He thinks Kooper Schulte is a good example for the current Bees and the community of how far hard work and dedication can carry a person.<\/p>\n
“This means a lot to out organization and the Burlington community, as well,” Oreskovich said. “This shows our guys that if they work hard and put in the time and effort, they can go a long way in baseball.”<\/p>\n
Coach Schulte is excited to see his son continue to pursue his love for a game that he helped develop at a young age,<\/p>\n
“I hope he takes advantage of the opportunity he has and puts his best foot forward,” Justin Schulte said. “Kooper is a relentless worker. He has a different mentality when it comes to work. This is a 12-month passion for him. He puts everything he has into what he is doing. That’s what life is all about.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW LONDON — Kooper Schulte, like a lot of young boys, grew up loving the game of baseball.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":753454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2289],"tags":[5,648,53,6223,19,2308,1694,2341,185],"class_list":["post-753453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-college-baseball","tag-baseball","tag-college-baseball","tag-detroit-tigers","tag-iowa-hawkeyes","tag-major-league-baseball","tag-major-league-baseball-teams","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-baseball","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116930646030308231","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=753453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/753454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=753453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=753453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=753453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}