That didn’t take long at all. And, really, it shouldn’t have. Budding superstar righty Brody Brecht picked up a massive national honor from one of college baseball’s biggest media entities after just one start.
Following his debut appearance of the season against Quinnipiac, Brecht has been named D1Baseball’s Pitcher of the Week.
The 6-foot-4, 205 pound sophomore from Ankeny, Iowa, regularly tops the triple-digits mark on the radar gun and he had Bobcats fooled left and right all day long last Saturday.
In fact, Brecht was perfect in his season debut and second career start, striking out 10 of the 15 batters he faced in five innings of work. Both the strikeouts and innings pitched were career highs for Brecht.
𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙂𝙖𝙨, 𝙉𝙤 𝘽𝙧𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 ⛽️@brody_brecht is @d1baseball's Pitcher of The Week!
📝: https://t.co/4TJTEUmdqF#Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/G7ixe5lulj
— Iowa Baseball (@UIBaseball) February 20, 2023
It’s the latest honor for Brecht and a sign that the end-of-season hype from 2022 and the preseason hype for 2023 were right on the money. Brecht was named a freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball and Perfect Game a season ago after posting a 3.18 ERA in 17 appearances.
The flamethrower allowed just 13 hits and 16 runs (eight earned) over 22 2/3 innings with 44 strikeouts last season. Of those 13 hits, just one was an extra base knock. He also limited batters to a .155 average.
As a result, he was a popular preseason choice for a breakout season. Baseball America tabbed Brecht as a preseason third-team All-American heading into 2023.
Perfect Game also listed Brecht as the Big Ten’s top draft prospect in 2024.
Iowa (3-0) won in walk-off fashion in its season opener over Indiana State. Incredibly, it was a grand slam from Kyle Huckstorf. Then, the Hawkeyes won convincingly twice over Quinnipiac, 7-1 and 10-0.
Iowa returns to play on Friday evening from the Lone Star State in the Karbach Round Rock Classic versus Sam Houston State at 6 p.m. Then, the Hawkeyes could make some serious waves in the event on Saturday.
Iowa plays No. 1 LSU at noon on Saturday before closing with Kansas State at noon on Sunday. Fittingly enough given this national honor, it should be Brecht on the bump against the Tigers on Saturday.
If he’s similarly great, D1Baseball might be tossing the same recognition Brecht’s way next week.
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