Brody Brecht and his baseball potential
With a handful of MLB scouts and Coach Heller in attendance Wednesday evening, Brody Brecht was as advertised on the mound, dominating the Centennial Jaguars. The Ankeny Hawk and Iowa Baseball commit threw seven shutout innings en route to a 7-0 victory in game two of the doubleheader.
The final stat line for Brecht was pretty impressive, posting 7 innings, 2 H, 0 R, 13 SO, 1 BB. His fastball was working in the 94-96 mph range, but he did hit 97 a time or two. Brody has said his goal is to hit 100 at some point in the future. The curveball was working around 79-81mph, while his slider was mid 80s. For most batters, Brecht was able to overpower them with the fastball and both hits he surrendered were not hard-hit balls.
Six of his 13 strikeouts were looking and twice he struck out five straight batters.
At the plate Brecht was 1-4, with an RBI sacrifice fly, RBI single and two hit by pitches.
So that brings up the question that every Iowa fan is wondering now is, will he make it to the Iowa campus to play football and baseball? Blair Sanderson recently talked with Brody Brecht on some of the things that go along with the decision to forgo a college career and jump straight into professional baseball. Here is a portion of that interview…
Q: Looking at this summer, what is the plan right now? You will be playing baseball through the state tournament at the end of July and will have the MLB Draft to watch, but then would be moving down to Iowa City in early August if you continue on the football and baseball path for college?
BRECHT: Yeah. The draft is in mid-July so I kind of have to make a decision by then whether I’m going to the draft or going to Iowa. I’ve got to talk to my family and everything and figure out what’s best for me. If I were to go to Iowa, I’d just kind of bypass the draft and tell teams don’t waste your pick on me because I’m not planning on going professional yet. Then I would finish the state tournament in July hopefully if we make it there and then take a few days to pack and head down to Iowa City and move in.
Q: With the draft, that’s a deal where if you want to be 100% in, you would want to tell teams that you will go if it’s the right pick?
BRECHT: Yeah. I mean I can tell them that I’m thinking about it if the right number is there. They can also still pick me even if I tell them I’m leaning towards Iowa and still throw out a crazy number to try to get me, so it’s tough.
Q: What are you hearing right now as far as what round potentially?
BRECHT: Like top five rounds and depending on how I throw this year I could definitely move up. The biggest thing for me is I have a lot of leverage in the draft just because I’m going to play two sports, so for me to give up football, that’s going to bump the price up a bit.
Q: When you go to make that decision, what kind of weighs in your mind as you look ahead?
BRECHT: Kind of just what if it doesn’t work out? If it doesn’t work out, I kind of just gave up all of my football dreams. I don’t want to just throw away everything that I’ve worked for in football my whole life for something that may not work out. Then I kind of thing just missing out on the college experience, getting to know everybody, and playing in Kinnick, those are the biggest things that I don’t want to miss. Then again, it’s a great opportunity that God has presented me with, so I’ve got a decision to make.
It is not a matter of if Brody gets drafted, but where he gets drafted and how much money he is offered to give up football. The feeling I get is that Brody really wants to play football at Iowa, so he would need to be drafted pretty high and get a decent size signing bonus.
It will be very interesting to watch over the next month, as the MLB Draft approaches. If Brecht makes it to Iowa City, he will be an instant impact in the Iowa pitching rotation.
In the first game of the doubleheader, Centennial freshman pitcher and Iowa commit Joey Oakie threw 4 innings, allowing seven hits, while walking four and striking out three. Oakie brings a very lively fastball for a freshman, hitting 85-86mph and a solid breaking ball. With three years remaining in high school, he will have plenty of time to grow and become an even better pitcher. There is a lot to like with Oakie this early in this high school career.
Ankeny 1B and Iowa commit Weston Fulk pitched earlier in the week vs Fort Dodge, so I did not get to see him on the mound, but he went 4-4 in the first game, with two doubles and two singles. He could be a guy similar to Dylan Nedved or Keaton Anthony, where he can pitch, but also play the field and get some at bats.