Brody Brecht Preparing for Baseball Season

Iowa Two-Sport Athlete Back on the Hill for the Spring

Iowa pitcher Brody Brecht warms up in the bullpen before game against Purdue on May 6, 2022 at Banks Field in Iowa City, Iowa. (Rob Howe/HawkeyeNation.com)

His final start of the 2022 baseball season bothered Brody Brecht.

Brecht got the ball when Iowa faced Michigan in a Big Ten Tournament elimination game last May. It was a pivotal moment in the season for the Hawkeyes, and just as pivotal for Brecht, the then-freshman pitcher who had impressed with a 98 mph fastball but was still looking for that command that had eluded him at times during the season.

Brecht lasted four batters, got just one out, and was charged with two earned runs in the 9-1 loss that ended Iowa’s season.

“After that start, I realized I didn’t want to feel that feeling again, feeling like I let my team down,” Brecht said at Wednesday’s baseball media day at Duane Banks Field.

It’s a new season, and a new approach, for Brecht, a two-sport athlete with the Hawkeyes who has juggled playing football and baseball while also battling injuries that have impacted him in both sports.

“I feel like last year I was trying to live up to the hype, meet everyone’s expectations,” Brecht said. “I kind of lost track for how I want to do things. This year, I’m trying to be the best ‘me,’ not worrying about what everyone else thinks. Just trying what I can do to help the team win.”

Brecht went 1-4 in 17 appearances with the Hawkeyes last season. He had a 3.18 earned run average in 22 ⅔ innings, allowing 13 hits and 25 walks while striking out 44.

This season, Brecht said, feels different.

“Just mentally, I’m a lot more prepared, just knowing what it takes and knowing what it’s like out there,” he said. “I kind of have a whole new mindset this year.”

Brecht has been plagued with various injuries since arriving on campus. He missed almost all of the 2021 football season with a thumb injury, although he was able to get in more practice work late in the season.

Not being able to contribute in the football season, Iowa baseball coach Rick Heller felt, played a role in his inconsistency in baseball.

“The thing that I have seen on the positive side, really super-positive, is a guy who is in way more control of himself (this season),” Heller said. “Last year, not being able to play football, and then, ‘boom,’ he’s finally getting on the field in baseball, I think he felt like he really needed to be better than what he needed to be. He made it a big deal, and I think he would tell you that.

“Whereas now, after getting his feet wet, going through a (baseball) season, I think he’s really more mature. He’s way more composed. I think he’s in a really good place considering all he’s went through with the injuries.”

Heller was hoping Brecht could get in some quality work when he played for the Clinton LumberKings in the Prospect League. Brecht made four starts, striking out 19 in 6 ⅔ innings, before an injury ended his summer.

“He’s been dinged up so much,” Heller said. “He didn’t get a chance to pitch in the summer. It was obviously the hope that he could go out and work through some things, be able to get 6-7 starts in the summer.

The nagging injuries continued during the 2022 football season. Brecht, a wide receiver with the Hawkeyes, played in 11 games, with nine catches for 87 yards.

Brecht, though, says he is healthy now.

“I’m excited to be injury-free for baseball,” he said. “My goal is to stay healthy.

“You take it for granted when you’re healthy. You don’t think about it unless you have a lot of setbacks, a lot of injuries. I’m very grateful for being healthy right now, and I’m trying to keep it that way for as long as I can.”

“The great thing with Brody is, even though he’s now with us (for the spring), he’s constantly doing things, he’s coming in the office. He’s really been a sponge that way,” Heller said. “He’s worked hard on his own — holding runners, fielding his position, doing things like that that you don’t really think about until you get out there. It’s like, ‘Whoa, game’s going fast, there are runners on base, it’s the ninth inning, here we are in a one-run game.’ He’s been through that now, and I think he’s going to handle that a lot better.”