Mike Boddicker

Mike Boddicker was a homegrown talent in Iowa, born in Cedar Rapids on Aug. 23, 1957, and raised in Norway just 25 minutes from the city. He attended Norway High School and won two state titles. And after a dominant career on the mound for Iowa baseball, he remains the best.

At Iowa, Boddicker filled the Hawkeye record books. In his first season, he posted a single season record 0.79 ERA. The remainder of his Hawkeyes career was just as remarkable as his first year. In his second season, he struck out 84 batters in 65 innings. He then led the team with a .350 batting average while fanning 68 hitters during his third and final season.

Boddicker was selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the sixth round of the 1978 MLB Draft. It didn’t take the former Iowa star very long to make his way to the big leagues, making his debut on Oct. 4, 1980. There, he tossed 7.1 innings, allowing five runs on six hits in a loss to the Cleveland Indians.

Boddicker went on to have a 14-year MLB career, most of which was with the Baltimore Orioles. In 1983, he finished third in Rookie of the Year voting. In that 1983 season, Boddicker went 16-8 in 26 starts with a 2.77 ERA. Boddicker also led the league with five shutouts and struck out 120 batters in 179 innings pitched.

The very next season, Boddicker led the MLB in both wins and ERA. His 20-11 record helped him finish fourth in the Cy Young Award voting and be selected for his first and only All-Star Game.

Boddicker finished his career with a 134-116 record and a 3.80 ERA. He recorded over 1,300 strikeouts in just over 2,100 innings pitched in his career while also throwing 63 complete games with 16 shutouts.

Boddicker’s success at every level makes him the best pick for the greatest Iowa baseball player of all time. Historically, not many former Hawkeyes have seen as much success at the Major League level as he did.

Brody Brecht

The day was March 23, 2023. Iowa baseball played host to Big Ten rival Maryland on a windy day in Iowa City. This was the day I witnessed what I believe is the best player in program history take the mound for the Hawkeyes: Brody Brecht.

Brecht’s performance during the 2023 campaign helped the Hawkeyes to an impressive 44-16 mark and the program’s third NCAA tournament berth under head coach Rick Heller.

Brecht fired seven innings and struck out eight batters in his lone postseason appearance, but Indiana State rallied for a 7-4 victory.

While the final stat line wasn’t the cleanest — three earned runs on five innings pitched — witnessing Brecht strikeout 13 of the 24 batters faced on top of recording a 104 mile-per-hour fastball was enough to buy into the hype he was receiving.

Brecht finished his Iowa career putting up video game-type numbers.

In 2023, Brecht led the conference in opponent batting average at .143 and strikeouts per nine innings with 12.74. His 4.32 hits per nine innings also ranked first among all collegiate pitchers.

Brecht climbed the national rankings for strikeouts after the 2024 season, ranking seventh in total Ks and fourth with 14.71 strikeouts per nine innings. He again held batters at a low batting average of .165 while allowing 5.29 hits per game.

As a starter in his last two seasons, Brecht was a back-to-back First-Team All-Big Ten nominee and had a combined earned run average of 3.33.

Brecht forwent his senior season and immediately entered his name in the 2024 MLB Draft after becoming eligible. He is one of the highly touted prospects under Hawkeye head coach Rick Heller, selected as the 38th pick to the Colorado Rockies.

Brecht currently sits as the fifth-ranked prospect in the Rockies organization and was recently assigned to their Single-A affiliate team in Fresno. While his Major-League career is not yet underway, expect it to take off above and beyond Boddicker’s.