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Iowa Baseball #18 in the ProspectsLive Top 25. Other B1G Teams Ranked: #10 Maryland

JANUARY 20, 2023

LANGENBERG NAMED PERFECT GAME PRESEASON BIG TEN PITCHER OF THE YEAR


IOWA CITY, Iowa – University of Iowa junior starting pitcher Ty Langenberg was named the preseason Big Ten Pitcher of the Year by Perfect Game, it was announced Friday. Langenberg and redshirt sophomore two-way player Keaton Anthony were named to the preseason All-Big Ten team. Sophomore Brody Brecht is rated as the Big Ten’s top draft prospect in 2024.

Langenberg went 7-2 with a 3.71 ERA last season with 74 strikeouts as Iowa’s Sunday starter. The Urbandale, Iowa, native has thrown 73 1/3 innings and started 12 games with 22 appearances in his career.

Anthony, the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and a freshman All-American a season ago, hit .361 with 22 doubles, 14 home runs, 55 RBIs and 46 runs scored. The Hoschton, Georgia, native hit safely in 44 games, reached safely in 50 contests and had a team-best 22 multi-hit games. Anthony threw two hitless innings against Cornell College, striking out four in his only pitching appearance as a freshman.

Brecht posted a 3.18 ERA in 17 appearances in his freshman All-America campaign. The Ankeny, Iowa, native allowed just 13 hits and 16 runs (eight earned) over 22 2/3 innings where he had 44 strikeouts. Brecht surrendered just one extra base hit in his 17 appearances and limited hitters to a .155 average.

The Hawkeyes open official team practice on January 27. Iowa will open the 2023 season with a trip to Port Charlotte, Florida, for the Snowbird NCAA Baseball Classic from Feb. 17-19. The team will face Indiana State in its season opener.

 
Does Brecht project as a starter or a reliever? I'm also wondering if he'll give up football.
 
Does Brecht project as a starter or a reliever? I'm also wondering if he'll give up footbal
I don't think he'd give up football. He's on scholarship. Baseball only gets 11.7 total. No idea where he projects. If he doesn't gain more control then it won't matter. I'd rather a guy throw 92 and pound the zone than 100 and be erratic.
 
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I don't think he'd give up football. He's on scholarship. Baseball only gets 11.7 total. No idea where he projects. If he doesn't gain more control then it won't matter. I'd rather a guy throw 92 and pound the zone than 100 and be erratic.
Reliever as of now. Things could change before mid Feb & early in the season but rotation now is pretty set.
 
I don't think he'd give up football. He's on scholarship. Baseball only gets 11.7 total. No idea where he projects. If he doesn't gain more control then it won't matter. I'd rather a guy throw 92 and pound the zone than 100 and be erratic.

There's a reason why Heller didn't use Brecht in many high leverage situations last year. You simply couldn't trust him to throw strikes.

EDIT: The Iowa baseball official site does not list "walks issued" (nor does it list strike outs) as part of the pitching statistics.

However, I can reverse engineer the number.

Brecht pitched in 22.67 innings last year over 17 appearances. He gave up a paltry 13 hits in his outings - which is outstanding. However, he finished with a 1.71 WHIP. Running the math, Brecht would have walked 26 batters in those 22.67 innings - which is awful.

Allowing, on average, nearly 2 baserunners per IP is not going to cut it. Walking batters puts defenders to sleep. Walking batters runs up pitch counts. Walking batters leads to pitching in higher leverage situations.

The other "touted" Freshman hurler coming into '22 - Michael Morgan - was even worse. 2.52 WHIP. 17 hits in 15.33 innings . . . which means that he walked 22 batters in those 15.33 innings. Freaking brutal.

I'm confident that Brecht's "stuff" could be dominant against any single team on Iowa's schedule; hell, it could be dominant against any team in the country so long as he can harness it. And, thus far, he's nothing more than Nuke LaLoosh. Thinking about what Iowa's team could become if Brecht could develop into either a dominant starter or a closer (one or two innings) is incredibly exciting. But . . . put me in the "I'll believe it when I see it" camp. Hell . . . @KyleHuesmann's pre-season article listed Brecht as nothing more than an after thought.

As for Morgan, I was skeptical that he had anything close to dominant B1G "stuff" coming into last season and he only solidified my take on him. Not only did he struggle with control in high school, I though that he relied too heavily on his breaking pitches. That's not a good combination for success when facing B1G quality hitting, let alone other high level competition.

I'm cautiously hopeful for Brecht . . . I'm really skeptical on Morgan.
 
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I’m cautiously optimistic. Hopefully the new pitching coach picks up where Lund left off. We need a couple of the transfer pitchers to step in and be consistent
 
We have a new voice of Iowa baseball (see below)

Game #1 is in just 10 days....

Fri Feb 17 vs Indiana State, 2 pm
Sat Feb 18 vs Quinnipiac, 10 am
Sun Feb 19 vs Indiana State, 9 am

All 3 games are in Port Charlotte, Florida


Full Schedule:




 
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D1Baseball's predicted order of finish in the Big Ten:

1. Maryland
2. Rutgers
3. Iowa
4. Illinois
5. Nebraska
6. Indiana
7. Ohio State
8. Michigan
9. Purdue
10. Penn State
11. Michigan State
12. Minnesota
13. Northwestern
 
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I’m excited to see Brecht pitch this season. He’s practically unhittable when he’s throwing strikes, hopefully his control issues have improved.

Also don’t sleep on Morgan, he started off as the 3rd starter last season but also had control issues. He’s got legit stuff if he can harness it.
 
There’s more to life than just money, I think Brecht will be just fine either path he chooses. If I were Brechts dad I’d be telling him to pursue his dreams and let him make his own choices.
 
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