Kooper Schulte comes from an extremely athletics-oriented family. His father, Justin, pitched for the University of Iowa in the mid-90s and has been a collegiate baseball head coach since 1999, first with Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids and then with Southeastern Community College in West Burlington, Iowa since 2006. An uncle, Vance, played baseball at Vanderbilt, another, Vaughn, played baseball at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, another, Chad, played baseball at Waldoft University,
and an aunt, Shalae, played softball at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids.
Kooper attended New London High School, lettering five times with the Tigers and posting a cumulative .358 batting average with 21 doubles, 2 triples, 9 home runs, and 39 stolen bases. In his senior season in 2022, he hit .444 with 13 doubles, 1 triple, 6 home runs, and 9 stolen bases, helping lead New London to the 2022 State Championship. While he was considered one of the better players in the Hawkeye State, he was not as well-regarded nationally. He went unselected in the 2022 MLB Draft and attended Central Arizona Community College after graduating.
Schulte appeared in 33 games for the Vaqueros and batted .242/.343/.319 with 4 doubles, 1 home run, 8 stolen bases in as many attempts, and drew 10 walks to 32 strikeouts. That summer, he played for the Burlington Bees of the Prospect League, appearing in 19 games and hitting a more impressive .373/.440/.522. The infielder played at Central Arizona only for a single year, transferring closer to home to Southeastern Community College- the same school where his father was head coach.
With the Blackhawks, Schulte hit a much-improved .317/.467/.519 with 14 doubles, 2 triples, 8 home runs, 17 stolen bases in 19 attempts, and drew 33 walks to 38 strikeouts. He also showed off his ability to pitch halfway decently, appearing in 8 games and posting an 8.44 ERA in 5.1 innings with 9 hits allowed, 1 walk, and 5 strikeouts. The Blackhawks advanced to the NJCAA DII College World Series as the #7 seed but were eliminated, going 0-2 in the opening round, losing to the #10 seed South Arkansas Muleriders and the #3 seed (3) East Central Mississippi Warriors.
While playing for the Waterloo Bucks of the Northwoods League that summer, Schulte transferred to the University of Iowa. In his first taste of NCAA Division I baseball, the infielder appeared in 47 games and hit .268/.321/.390 with 6 doubles, 3 home runs, 2 stolen bases in 4 attempts, and 9 walks to 35 strikeouts, good for a 72 wRC+. His junior season, Schulte went unselected in the 2025 MLB Draft. He played for Burlington that summer and then returned to Hawkeyes for his senior season. Appearing in 56 games, he hit a respectable .274/.355/.484 with 18 doubles, 1 triple, 9 home runs, 11 stolen bases in 13 attempts, and drew 22 walks to 46 strikeouts, a 97 wRC+
The 6’1”, 200-pound infielder stands square at the plate, crouching and holding his hands high, angling his bat at 1:30. He swings with a moderate leg kick and can top 100 MPH exit velocities on balls that he barrels. With a 40.6% flyball rate, Schulte there is not too much more maximization that can be done to increase his flyballs, but with a 40.6% groundball rate and 18.8% line drive rate, there is room for the infielder to elevate more grounders into gap liners.
Schulte has primarily played shortstop over the course of his collegiate career, but can also play second and third base. On the dirt, he is quick-twitch athlete with a quick first step and good reaction times and good defensive instincts. He has a strong, accurate arm that can hit 90 MPH on throws to first.
