With MLB Draft at hand, no one overlooks Missouri State's Caden Bogenpohl anymore
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- Assistant coach Joey Hawkins noticed Caden Bogenpohl’s 6'5", 240 lb frame in the fall.
- Hawkins recruited Bogenpohl for his size and expected him to start as a freshman.
- Bogenpohl hit a 110 mph pitch during a fall 2023 scrimmage, impressing coaches.
On a cool evening in the fall of 2023, the Missouri State baseball team was scrimmaging in preparation for another season.
Assistant coach Joey Hawkins turned his head toward the plate, and what he saw before him was a behemoth of a freshman.
Awaiting a pitch was infielder Caden Bogenpohl and all of his 6-foot-5, 240-pound frame. Hawkins had recruited him for those big arms, the shoulders, the tree trunks for legs ... and the skill-set that accompanied that stature.
The coach figured Bogenpohl — who finished his prep career as the 17th-ranked player in Missouri at Jackson High School — had a chance to be an everyday starter for the Bears in his first season in Springfield.
What he saw next blew that projection out of the water.
“He took one of our older pitchers, who’s a really good weekend pitcher for us, on top of the indoor facility in right field,” Hawkins said, “and he hit a ball 110 miles an hour.
“It was kind of just like, ‘Whoa, all right, that’s … that’s real.’”
Hawkins isn’t easy to impress. As a player at Missouri State, he etched his name throughout the record books, capping his career with defensive player of the year honors in 2015. After two years in the minor leagues, he transitioned to coaching.
Eight players have signed professional contracts under his tutelage. In short, Hawkins knows what it looks like.
“After seeing something like that, you start getting those thoughts of this guy’s got a chance to be really, really, good one day,” Hawkins said. “Maybe major-league good.”
That day has come.
After a stellar run at Missouri State, Bogenpohl is widely expected to be selected in the first four rounds of this weekend’s MLB Draft. When he hears his name called, it will be the culmination of a dream that started almost as soon as he could walk.
Becoming Bogenphol the ballplayer
Bogenpohl first picked up a baseball at age 5.
Neither of his parents had played sports at a high level, but that hardly mattered. As far back as he can remember, baseball has been the one constant in his life.
“I think as long as I can remember, I was all about baseball,” Bogenpohl said. “I love to do it every single day. I remember being a kid and always begging my dad to hit in the cages after school. It feels like I was born to play this game.”
The game itself wasn’t the only thing that captivated him — it was the competition. During the long Missouri winters, he’d briefly played basketball to satisfy that itch, but baseball always called him back.
Bogenpohl spent much of his childhood playing alongside the same teammates he’d known since he was 7 in the small town of Jackson, located near Cape Girardeau. With these friends, he built dreams of playing Division I baseball and seeing a world much larger than his hometown of 16,000 could provide.
By his sophomore season, his dreams began to come to fruition. He led Jackson High in home runs, doubles and RBIs while batting .364 with 32 hits and 21 runs scored.
But dominating his hometown wasn’t enough.
The following summer, Bogenpohl joined the Athletics travel program in St. Louis. Almost immediately, he realized just how much farther he still had to go if he wanted to play Division I baseball.
The game was faster. The pitching was better. Everyone was as talented as he was, if not more so.
Through the first three weekends of the summer, Bogenpohl struggled, batting just .150. For the first time, he wasn’t sure if he was good enough.
“That was the first time I was around other Division I-caliber players consistently,” he said. “Playing with them was really eye-opening. That was a pivotal point for my career, just because I was around those dudes who had the same drive as me and had the same goals.
“They pushed me to be a better player and it made me be on top of my game every day.”
Instead of letting the experience discourage him, Bogenpohl used it as fuel. The higher level of competition forced him to reevaluate how he prepared and practiced — even the way he approached the game. By the time the following spring rolled around, the player who had questioned himself a few months earlier looked like an entirely different hitter.
And as a junior, Bogenpohl put together one of the best two-way seasons in Missouri. He batted .405 with seven home runs and 29 RBIs while posting a perfect 9-0 record on the mound — he had a 0.77 ERA and 50 strikeouts as a pitcher.
Suddenly, the conversation shifted from whether he could play Division I baseball to whether he was good enough to skip college altogether.
“I was getting some interest from MLB teams for the ‘23 draft,” Bogenpohl said. “That’s when reality really set in. It was like, dang, this can actually happen for you as early as this year.”
Instead of signing a professional contract, Bogenpohl doubled down on a commitment he’d already made.
Loyalty over loot
Missouri State was the first school to believe in him. Hawkins was the first coach to offer him a scholarship.
He wasn’t about to forget that.
“The reputation they had built for a baseball program as a mid-major was really appealing to me,” Bogenpohl said. “The recruiting process for me wasn’t all that difficult.
“I had about 10 other schools reaching out to me. I wasn’t a highly talented prospect to recruit out of high school. I had a couple of Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC offers, but most of them were from mid-majors.
“Hawk was the first person to really believe in me. He gave me my first offer. Committing to Missouri State ended up being one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”
It wouldn’t be the last time Bogenpohl chose loyalty over loot.
As a freshman, he had a season for the ages — batting .293 with 20 home runs and 45 RBIs while breaking the Missouri State freshman home run mark previously held by MSU Hall of Famer and Philadelphia Phillies legend Ryan Howard.
Bogenpohl not only validated the belief that he could be an everyday starter, he proved to be one of the best hitters in the country.
“It was a very surreal season for me,” he said. “I had all the confidence in the world in myself. I didn’t know what to expect in my first year of Division I baseball. I didn’t know how it was going to play out, but I stayed true to myself and allowed all the work I put in to go out there and show it.”
As a result, bigger programs came calling.
So did their NIL money.
But Bogenpohl stayed put, and the decision surprised few of the people who knew him best.
“Finding a loyal player in today’s world is rare,” Hawkins said. “It’s extremely hard to keep a player of his skill set and ability at a school like ours for all three years. He did that. It speaks to his loyalty and how much care he has for our program.”
Those who know him best describe “Bogi” as steady.
Laid back. Even-keeled. Consistent.
But those qualities didn’t come naturally. Bogenpohl said his competitive fire often got the better of him when he was a kid. He hated losing and wasn’t shy about showing it.
“I wanted nothing more than to win,” Bogenpohl said.
Over time, pitching helped change that mindset. Standing alone on the mound taught him how to manage failure, control his emotions and move on to the next pitch. Eventually, those lessons followed him into the batter’s box and when he made the switch to the outfield.
And those fundamentals became especially important after his freshman season.
Enduring some growing pains
For all the damage he did at the plate in 2023, Bogenpohl knew there was another level he could reach.
His 20 home runs came alongside a 28% strikeout rate. He admits now that much of his success came from raw athleticism and natural power rather than a polished approach.
So, like he always had, he went back to work.
During the offseason, Bogenpohl focused on leveling his swing to better match the plane of incoming pitches and keeping the barrel in the strike zone longer.
The adjustment paid off. Over the next two seasons, his strikeout rate dropped from 28% to 18%, transforming him into a more disciplined hitter capable of consistently winning at-bats.
But every adjustment comes with tradeoffs.
As his contact rate improved, his home run totals declined. After hitting 20 as a freshman, he hit 13 as a sophomore and just six as a junior. His ground-ball rate climbed from 32% during his freshman season to 53% by the end of his career.
To some, the drop in power production raised questions.
Bogenpohl saw growth.
“When I look at those past two seasons, where the production dip is really just a ground-ball rate there,” he said. “But I became much more of a complete player all over the field, and a lot has to do with that in center field.
“I took a lot of pride in being a center fielder and being the best one I could be. So those two years of development were the shining piece of my career.”
By the time he left Springfield, Bogenpohl had rewritten plenty of the program’s record book. He finished as Missouri State’s all-time leader in walks while ranking seventh in career runs scored, ninth in on-base percentage and 12th in home runs.
The power that made him one of college baseball’s most intriguing freshmen, however, never disappeared.
He reminded everyone of that at the MLB Draft Combine in June.
Bogenpohl recorded five exit velocities of at least 114 mph off the bat, including a 119.4 MPH home run that stood as the hardest-hit ball of the event’s opening day.
The display highlighted what makes Bogenpohl a promising prospect: If he can pair the refined approach at the plate and defensive growth he developed over three years at Missouri State with the raw power that’s always been there, his ceiling is extraordinarily high.
Hawkins hasn’t wavered on that belief since the afternoon he watched a freshman smack a pitch over 100 miles per hour before he’d ever played a collegiate game.
Three years later, the coach feels exactly the same.
“I truly do believe that he’s a guy that could be a major-league All-Star one day,” Hawkins said.
“Now it’s just his time to go do it.”
