Biography
Honors
• Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week (April 25, 2022)
• MVC Player of the Week (April 25, 2022)
• Preseason All-MVC (2020)
• Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-America (2019)
• First-Team All-MVC (2019)
• MSU Danny Cook Rookie of the Year Award (2019)
• MVC Freshman of the Year (2019)
• Athletic Director’s Honor Roll (Spring 2020)
• MVC Honor Roll (2019-20)
Senior (2022)/Career Summary
Had a breakout senior season in which he led the MVC and ranked 11th nationally with 24 home runs...Total ranked fifth at MSU for a season and seventh on the career list with 44...Ninth individual in MSU history with 20 home runs in a season and 40 in a career, and just the third to do so whose career started after 2000...Named Collegiate Baseball National and MVC Player of the Week on April 25 after a four-homer, nine-RBI week...Hit 10th home run of 2022 in his 18th game, the second-quickest to double figures in school history behind Jason Hart, who hit his 10th homer in his 16th game of the 1998 season...Signed a free agent contract with the Philadelphia Phillies after the season.
2021 (Junior)
MSU’s starting right fielder in 42 of 44 games, leading the team with eight doubles and ranking second on the club with five homers and 23 RBI...Had a trio of three-hit games on the season, doing so against Central Arkansas (Feb. 28), at Evansville (April 18) and at Southern Illinois (May 1)...Swatted the 20th home run of his career against Valpo (May 20)...Drove in a season-high four runs in a win at Evansville (April 18)...Doubled twice against Valpo (May 21).
2020 (Sophomore)
Started all 17 games and batted in the heart of the order for the Bears throughout the year, manning right field for all but one contest ... Led the team in home runs (3), RBIs (16), extra base hits (8) and slugging percentage (.500) while ranking second with a .266 average ... Ranked third in the MVC in RBIs ... Had multiple hits in four contests ... Homered and drove in a season-high four runs in the win at Oklahoma State (March 3) ... Added a three-run homer in the next game against Maine (March 6) ... Tied a school record when he was hit by three pitches versus Maine on March 8 ... Hit .313 with 12 RBIs in the final nine games of the season.
2019 (Freshman)
Kotowski burst onto the scene with a memorable rookie season for the Bears, clubbing 12 home runs en route to earning Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-America, MVC Freshman of the Year and first-team All-MVC honors ... Also voted MSU’s Danny Cook Rookie of the Year by his teammates ... Hit seven home runs, slugged .644 and batted .301 during Valley play ... Batted a team-best .326 with runners in scoring position ... Ranked second in the Valley in home runs and third in slugging (.576) ... Will bring an active conference reached-base streak of 14-straight games (since April 13) into the 2020 MVC season ... Recorded a base hit in his first collegiate at-bat vs. Central Arkansas (Feb. 27) ... Belted a two-run homer at Arkansas State (March 10) for his first round-tripper as a Bear ... Hit another home run March 22 at UC Santa Barbara as part of a four-game hit streak (March 16-23) ... Went 3-for-4 against No. 8 Arkansas (March 26), before kicking off a seven-game hit streak with a 2-for-4 effort against Indiana State; logged two separate multi-homer games during the streak (March 29-April 9), over which he batted .379 (11-for-29) ... Turned in two-hit games against Indiana State (twice), Southeast Missouri (April 2) and Southern Illinois (April 5), going deep twice in each of the latter two contests; also matched a season high for runs scored (3) at SIU ... Delivered a 12-game hit streak, April 23-May 16, hitting .341 (15-for-44) with four home runs and 15 RBIs ... Produced three-consecutive multi-RBI games vs. Bradley (April 26-28), driving in a season-best three runs in the middle contest, while homering, scoring twice and plating two more runs in each of the other two outings ... Registered the go-ahead run in the Bears’ series-clinching win over DBU (May 4) with a first-inning home run ... Drove in two runs against Wichita State (May 7), then sparked the Bears’ comeback from a seven-run deficit at Evansville (May 11) with a 2-for-3 afternoon in which he reached base safely in four of his five trips to the plate ... Extended his MVC hit streak to 10 games — the longest of the season by a Bear — May 16 vs. Valparaiso ... Matched season-best totals for walks (3) and runs scored (3) in a win over Valpo (May 17), then added two hits as part of the Bears’ MVC Tournament-opening victory over the Crusaders (May 21) ... Hit his 12th home run of the season in MSU’s final game vs. Southern Illinois (May 23), finishing the year third on the Bears’ freshman home run chart ... Became the program’s ninth MVC Freshman of the Year and its 42nd All-American with his selection to Collegiate Baseball’s top rookie squad at the conclusion of the season ... Played for the Kalamazoo Growlers of the Northwoods League over the summer.
Background
Two-sport standout helped the Providence Catholic Celtics to a pair of Illinois 4A state titles his first two prep seasons and ranked as the No. 14 overall prep prospect in the state, as well as the No. 3 Illinois outfielder according to Prep Baseball Report...Competed as a wide receiver on the gridiron...Earned all-tournament honors in July 2017 at Perfect Game’s WWBA 17U National Championship after hitting .429 with a pair of steals for the tournament.
Personal
Dakota Kotowski is the son of Adam and Erin Kotowski...Born March 26, 2000, in Morris, Ill....Father played baseball and basketball at Lewis University...Majoring in criminology and criminal justice at MSU.
