Mizzou commit Daniel Wissler continues to follow MLB father’s footsteps
O’FALLON, Mo. (BVM) – The University of Missouri will have several local products coming in with its 2022 class, and one of those will be Daniel Wissler. Coming off a tremendous high school career at Fort Zumwalt West, Wissler is eager to shine with his home-state Tigers.
“I’m very excited to play there,” Wissler said. “My personal goal is to just get playing time my freshman year. That’s something I’ve been working on for a while now, just trying to get bigger and stronger and make sure I can compete for playing time. I know there’s a lot of talent going to Mizzou with me and within some of the classes below. I think we’ll be pretty solid.”
During the recruiting process, Wissler also strongly considered going to Old Dominion. But when it came down to it, staying close to home and near his family was just too good to pass up.
I’m excited to announce I’ve committed to continue my baseball and academic career at the University of Missouri. Thank you to everyone that has made this opportunity possible. @biesersr @EBA_MADE @MizzouBaseball @AdidasAsSTL @WisslerBill pic.twitter.com/NhMsurLb40
— Daniel (@Daniel_Wissler) July 29, 2021
“It really just came down to location,” Wissler said. “It would have been nice to go to both schools for different reasons, but I really wanted to stay close to home and Mizzou checked all the same boxes that Old Dominion did. That was really the deciding factor, I wanted to be close to home so my parents could come watch me play every weekend. I just love the campus and everything about it, it was really a pretty easy decision.”
There’s always something special about playing for your home state school, and for the Tigers, their 2022 class will feature several players who get to do so including Blue Springs South standout Jordan Austin, Metro pitcher Aidan Haynes, Valle Catholic outfielder Aiden Heberlie, and of course, Wissler.
“It’s definitely going to be nice,” Wissler added. “I know a lot of people that are going to Mizzou, a lot of my friends. It’s going to be nice to have my family close so they can watch. It really means a lot that I was able to stay in state. It means something a little bit extra once you’re going to go to your home-state school. I’ve been watching them since I’ve been growing up.”
Many within Missouri are plenty familiar with Wissler, who has been playing baseball in the state his entire life. They are also likely familiar with his dad, Bill, who is the one that introduced Daniel to the sport.
Bill is a former college pitcher at the University of Pennsylvania who spent time with the Minnesota Twins‘ organization in the 1990s. Originally drafted by the Houston Astros in 1988, Bill attended Penn where he had a successful career, and is now a member of the school’s baseball hall of fame.
At the same time, he was also putting up strong performances over the summer in the Cape Cod League, and has been inducted into that league’s hall of fame as well. Being selected in the 11th round of the 1991 MLB Draft, Bill got a taste of what the pros were like. Now, he has been able to pass his experience down to his son.
“My dad has always been a really big role model for me,” Daniel said. “He’s been my coach ever since I’ve played … I learned everything from him. He was a good pitcher back in his day and although he wasn’t much of a hitter, he’s definitely tried to help out there. I would not be where I am without him. He’s been such a great help and I really can’t put into words how much he’s given to me and how much he’s taught me about the game.”
Two of Daniel’s top attributes on the diamond are being a team player, as well as staying calm under pressure. Both are things that he has taken away from Bill, and they separate him apart from much of his competition.
The tutelage has not stopped, however. With Daniel soon heading off to college and potentially pursuing a pro career in the future, he will continue to take in any advice and knowledge his dad gives him from his past experience.
“I think he’s done a really good job of getting me ready,” Daniel said. “One thing he stressed this past offseason is that I wasn’t getting ready for high school ball, I was getting ready to compete for innings in college as soon as I get there. I really took that to heart and started training like I was already in college.”
The hard work Daniel has put in continues to pay off just as it has throughout the last several years. Growing up, the Fort Zumwalt West standout really just enjoyed playing the game for fun. But as he got into his high school years, he became more serious with the sport, realizing his high potential. Part of that is thanks to his time playing travel ball recently with the Adidas Athletics.
“I love playing for the Athletics, it’s a really good organization,” Daniel said. “They do a really good job getting kids placed in college and obviously they try to get the best players they can to put on the field. It’s always been really nice playing with a really good team.”
Meanwhile, Daniel has also been part of a strong Jaguars squad at Fort Zumwalt West. In his first year of high school ball, Daniel split time between the freshman and JV teams, developing skills that would continue to evolve later in his high school career.
However, it would have to wait until his junior season, as the pitcher and outfielder had his sophomore season canceled due to the pandemic.
“There were a lot of seniors that were pretty upset about their last high school season getting canceled,” Daniel said. “Going into junior year, we had a little bit of something to prove … It was a really exciting time for us to get back on the field.”
The Jaguars made up for lost time in the 2021 season, making a run all the way to the state championship game.
“The final four run was amazing, it’s probably the highlight of my high school career,” Daniel said. “It’s something that I’ll remember forever. It was a really talented group of guys, I’m really glad that I got to play with them.”
The deep postseason run was made possible in large part due to Daniel’s exceptional season. At the plate, the first team all-state performer set single-season program records with 53 hits and 43 RBIs. He also contributed 23 stolen bases and 39 runs as a key cog for the Jaguars’ offense.
As good as the season was, losing in the state championship game still stung for Daniel and his teammates, and they were prepared to do whatever it took to get back to that stage this spring.
“The loss in the state championship made me want to come out even harder senior year,” Daniel mentioned. “I really wanted it for myself and I really wanted it for the other seniors that had to experience the same thing that I did.”
While Daniel again put up another strong season at the plate and on the mound as well, Fort Zumwalt West did unfortunately fall short in the postseason. Still, it is hard to be anything but proud of what was a tremendous high school career for Daniel and his 2022 class as a whole.
“Overall, I’m pretty happy with the legacy I left for the younger guys at Zumwalt West,” Daniel said. “I had a pretty good career there. Hopefully some of the attitudes that I had and some of the lessons that I gave really affect the younger guys.”
Hitting .417 with 37 runs and 31 RBIs while also sporting a 1.62 ERA with 87 strikeouts on the mound, Daniel was recently named conference player of the year, further cementing his Fort Zumwalt West legacy.
Congratulations to Daniel Wissler (LHP/OF) for being named GAC South Player of the Year!#FZWBaseball pic.twitter.com/wF0WgIosFq
— FZW Baseball (@fzwbaseball) May 24, 2022
Now, Daniel looks toward the future as he aims to create a new legacy at Mizzou and perhaps even beyond. Most athletes grow up dreaming of playing professionally someday, but when you have someone who has made it to that level in your own household, it becomes even more of a goal.
Daniel knows it won’t necessarily be easy to get to the level that Bill was at, but playing professional baseball has long been his goal, and he is prepared to do whatever it takes to get there.
“That’s what every baseball player dreams about,” Daniel said. “You grow up watching Major League Baseball and you wish you were them. Obviously it takes a lot of work and you have to be willing to put in the work to reach it. I hope it works out. I’m definitely committed to it. It’d be very special for me to try and make it there someday.”
