As the unquestioned leader of the Iowa baseball pitching staff in 2019, Cole McDonald put together a quality season in which he tossed 89.0 innings in 15 starts. He struck out 23 percent of the batters he faced but he also walked 8 percent of them. McDonald put up a dominating performance over the number one seed Indiana Hoosiers in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. The New Hampton, Iowa native tossed 8.0 innings and allowed just 1 earned run while striking out 9 batters.
He put together quite the resume that attracted Major League scouts, including the Houston Astros who selected McDonald with their 15th round pick.