Isaac Stevens | August 7, 2024
In the 2024 MLB Draft, the Colorado Rockies selected right-handed pitcher Brody Brecht out of the University of Iowa with the 38th selection. Rockies fans were ecstatic to see Brecht available, considering he was projected to be selected in the first round. Brecht’s career is full of fascination as a former two-sport athlete at a top power conference school and his future holds a lot of uncertainty though plenty of promise.
Brody Brecht Prospect Profile
High School Career
Born in Ankeny, Iowa, Brody Brecht attended Ankeny High School where he starred in both baseball and football. He was a four-time varsity starter for both sports. At the end of his senior year, Brecht was the 30th ranked baseball player in the nation per Perfect Game, and the 111th wide receiver in the nation per 247Sports.
Ninth Grade Year: In Brecht’s freshman year of High School baseball he was a position player, appearing in just three games on the mound that year. He was Ankeny’s leadoff batter and had a .316/.385/.526 slash line, with 7 stolen bases and 3 home runs. That season, the baseball team finished 22-16-1. As for football, he played wide receiver and had 361 receiving yards along with 4 touchdowns.
Tenth Grade Year: The now full-time pitcher, Brecht, started pitching regularly in his sophomore season. He had a 2.46 ERA in 42.2 innings pitched. In that time, struck out 70 batters and held opponents to just a .182 batting average against. This season was when Brecht started using his infamous slider, which was arguably the best pitch in the 2024 MLB draft. He improved each hitting stat as well: slashing .371/.522/.562. As for football, he had 513 receiving yards with 6 touchdowns.
Eleventh Grade Year: Brecht’s junior season saw him gain significant traction as a MLB prospect. On the mound, he was topping out at 96-98 MPH, and his statistics backed his cause. His ERA was similar to his the year prior at 2.45, but everything else improved. His strikeouts went up, and his walks went down, which is always a great sign for improvement. By the end of the season, batters were hitting just .132 against him. As for football, in his junior year Brecht picked up 796 receiving yards (which would be the highest in his high school career) and 7 touchdowns.
Twelfth Grade Year: Brecht’s Senior year was one of the most dominant showcases of dual-athletes in Iowa high school history. On the mound, Brecht started 10 games, and his team won each game giving him a 10-0 W-L, largely in part because of his 0.57 ERA (lowest in school history) and 0.77 WHIP.
His strikeout numbers remained insane with 126 Ks in just 61.1 IP. He allowed more runs in his freshman year (6 ER), than he did his senior Year (5 ER) in 56.2 less innings pitched. Brecht also threw a no-hitter his senior year, while punching out 17 batters (most in a single game in school history). Pure dominance. Then in football, Brecht had a remarkable 12 touchdowns with 599 receiving yards.
Brody Brecht finished his high school baseball career with three All-State honorees, being ranked the number three player in the state, one Iowa Gatorade Player of the Year, plus many other accolades. He was a two-time All-State player for football. He then committed to the University of Iowa to play both collegiate baseball and football.
High School Career Stats:
9th grade year: 3 G, 0-1 W-L, 4.2 IP, 5 K, 9.00 ERA, 2.36 WHIP, 1.25 BAA, 361 Receiving Yards, 4 TD
10th grade year: 11 G , 6-3 W-L, 42.2 IP, 70 K, 2.46 ERA, 1.66 WHIP, .182 BAA, 513 Receiving Yards, 6 TD
11th grade year: 7 G, 3-0 W/L, 34.1 IP, 69 K, 2.45 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, .132 BAA, 796 Receiving Yards, 7 TD
12th grade year: 10 G, 10-0 W/L, 61.1 IP, 126 K, 0.57 ERA, 0.77 WHIP, 0.99 BAA, 599 Receiving Yards, 12 TD
College Career
Looking to continue his excellence on the mound, Brecht joined Iowa’s pitching staff with as much anticipation as any freshman in college baseball at the time. His freshman year went well and made him one of the top pitching prospects in the NCAA ranks. Let’s break it down.
Freshman Year: Brecht appeared in 17 games for the Hawkeyes in his first collegiate, season mostly out of the bullpen (only one game started). That tallied to 22.2 IP, and in those outings, we saw the insane potential he had. Brecht struck out 17.5 batters per nine and only allowed 13 hits. However, his control wasn’t there, walking 25 batters (9.9 BB/9).
His 3.18 ERA that season showed how difficult it was to do damage against Brecht’s high octane stuff even with run producing opportunities abundant. Nonetheless, it was a good taste of collegiate talent. He redshirted for the football team his freshman year.
Sophomore Year: This was Brecht’s first season as a member of the rotation, and the results were great. He threw 77.0 innings, pitched in 17 games, finishing with a 3.74 ERA. He missed fewer bats but still struck out 12.7 per nine. His command improved, but he continued issuing walks at an alarming rate (7.1 BB/9).
Brecht manufactured plenty of weak contact and took strides towards becoming a professional pitcher. This was Brecht’s first year appearing in football games. He played in 11, starting 5. In total, Brecht had 87 receiving yards, though he didn’t find the end zone. This was his last season playing football to exclusively focus on baseball going forward to prevent injuries.
Junior Year: Everything that Brody Brecht did well in his sophomore year of college, he improved considerably his junior year. The same trend we saw in high school of Brecht increasing strikeouts while decreasing walks occured. In 15 games started, his ERA went down to 3.33. In 78.1 innings pitched, Brecht struck out 128 batters (14.7 K/9), and minimed his walk total to 49 (5.6 BB/9). This was good enough to be MLB Pipeline’s number 21 draft prospect, and eventually led him to be selected 38th overall by the Rockies.
Brody Brecht ended his College career by becoming the strikeout king for the Hawkeyes. He became the all-time strikeout leader and the single-season strikeout leader, forever cementing himself as one of the best pitchers in Iowa history.
Collegiate Career Stats:
49 G, 178.0 IP, 281 SO, 135 BB, 3.49 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 14.2 K/9, 6,8 BB/9
What Brecht Brings to the Rockies
Brecht was one of the best-case scenario options for the Rockies. His stuff has been compared to Paul Skenes (in terms of fastball velocity and slider shape/spin), and while he is far from being polished like Skenes, the comparison is exciting itself.
Having a fastball that tops out at 101 MPH, Brody Brecht has dominated collegiate competition. The shape of his fastball is sub-par for a first-round pitcher, as in it doesn’t spin much and the movement is below average. However, with high 90s velocity, he will still produce plenty of swings and misses with his fastball. Also, in theory, a fastball that doesn’t have much spin on it shouldn’t be affected by the high altitude of Coors Field as much.
When looking at individual pitches, Brecht’s slider is far and away his best pitch. Many consider it one of the best pitches out of any player in the 2024 Draft. It’s a high 80’s slider that gets up to 90-91 MPH and generates plenty of swing and misses. It generated a 56.5 Whiff% which is one of the better marks you’ll see for a pitch. For a pitch type that generally does well in Colorado, Brecht shouldn’t have to do anything to his slider to climb the organizational ladder.
For Brecht’s third pitch, he is developing a splitter–a pitch vital for his success. He threw the splitter more in his junior year than ever before, and it still has some tweaking to be done. There is inconsistent movement, and the ability to throw it for strikes consistently isn’t there yet. It has the potential to be a solid swing-and-miss pitch, and something that could play off of Brecht’s fastball/slider combo beautifully.
The idea with Brody Brecht is that if the Rockies can fix his command, he could be a top-10 pitching prospect in all of baseball. He has as much arm talent as anyone, but it will take the Rockies handling his development accordingly to see those strides of success.
We have seen immense success come from recent pitcher draftees such as Chase Dollander, Sean Sullivan, and Carson Palmquist. That makes the thought of Brody Brecht all the more exciting. We can see him make an end-of-season pro debut, but it’s realistic that he won’t debut until the beginning of next season.
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