After not playing as a freshman in 2024, Arizona State University baseball catcher Brody Briggs waited over a year for his moment.

Set to begin his on-field college career, Briggs said he stepped to the plate with so much adrenaline he couldn’t feel his hands. 

Yet the nerves didn't affect him, as Briggs ignited the crowd with a ground-rule double and two singles, helping ASU defeat Ohio State over the opening weekend of the 2025 season.

As Sun Devils’ fans roared in excitement throughout the game, Briggs said their energy fueled his performance. 

“I have always loved playing in front of a crowd and loved the energy that it brings,” Briggs said. “I get super jacked up, and I always play better.”

Yet Briggs’ unforgettable debut only materialized after a stretch of various unseen roles, he said.

Despite being Perfect Game’s No. 1 Oklahoma catching prospect in the class of 2023, Briggs’ journey as a Sun Devil began at the bottom of the depth chart. Yet he remained loyal to the process.

“I never had a doubt that I was going to be a player here,” Briggs said. “It was just a matter of when.”

Before cementing himself as ASU’s starting catcher in 2026, Briggs said he faced an uphill battle for playing time. After starting his college baseball career as the team’s bullpen catcher in 2024, Briggs redshirted as a freshman and took the time to develop behind the scenes. However, he said this newfound role and a “life-changing” summer in the Alaska Baseball League proved he belonged in the Sun Devils’ everyday lineup. 

Briggs said he never envisioned being a bullpen catcher back when he committed to ASU in April of 2022.

“You have that belief in yourself that you’re the best at your position even if it's not true,” Briggs said. “But then you go in there, and then you go, ‘man, I got to get a lot better.’”

Faced with a new role, Briggs said he saw two options for the 2024 season: give up or get better.

“It was either sit on my butt in the dugout or go down to the bullpen and learn our (pitching) staff,” Briggs said.

Choosing to improve, Briggs said he trotted the 345 feet from home plate to the Sun Devils' right-field bullpen, where he immediately visualized himself as the starting catcher. 

During games, Briggs said he looked at the count and the bases, then approached each bullpen pitch as if he were on the field.

Briggs said his thorough approach stemmed from lessons he learned from past coaches: be the best at your current job until you earn a bigger role, then repeat.

“I was either going to be the best bullpen catcher in the country, or I wasn’t going to do it,” Briggs said. “I treated every single day like I was going to play. My game was the bullpen.”

While learning the game from the bullpen, Briggs said he picked up bits and pieces from catchers he hoped to emulate, including Trey Newman, who is now a development coach with the Texas Rangers.

Newman started 18 games at ASU from 2023-24, providing the experience needed to teach the young catcher how to find his voice and not be afraid when talking to pitchers, Briggs said.

Following Newman’s guidance and Briggs' willingness to improve, the freshman received an award at ASU’s 2024 end-of-season banquet, which Briggs said caught him off guard.

“Sometimes those awards you kind of expect,” Briggs said, “but I had no idea. I was (at) the bottom of the barrel as far as any bat. I was the last guy that was going to see the field that year.”

To his surprise, the catcher received the Alvin Davis Leadership Award, presented to a player who exemplifies the highest form of leadership on the team.

Former Sun Devil Kole Calhoun, an outfielder who spent 12 seasons in MLB, won the award in 2010 while earning First Team All-Pac-10 honors.

Although Briggs didn’t have Calhoun’s on-field resume, ASU baseball head coach Willie Bloomquist believed the Tulsa, Oklahoma, native deserved the recognition for always stepping up behind the scenes and in the bullpen.

Although humbled to receive the recognition from his teammates, Briggs said he’d rather focus on helping the program win on the field.

“I wasn’t trying to get recognized,” Briggs said. “I was just trying to be my best for the team. I’m glad that people picked up on the fact that I was pouring my butt off.”

Following an honorable first year at ASU, Briggs said he still sought in-game experience. So, the catcher traveled north and spent his summer in the Alaska Baseball League (ABL) with the Anchorage Bucs.

Having never been to the Last Frontier, Briggs said the state made a wild first impression on him.

Alaska’s proximity to the Arctic Circle results in long summer days, which Briggs said he immediately noticed upon his arrival in Anchorage. 

When his flight landed just past midnight in June, Briggs said he expected to see the stars illuminating the sky. Instead, the catcher was greeted by sunlight across the horizon. 

With a lack of nighttime, Briggs said he couldn’t look above to find stars.

Instead, he glanced at the baseball field.

While competing alongside fellow Sun Devil pitchers Wyatt Halvorson and Cole Carlon, Briggs said the ABL experience was “special” for his development because he played against top competition every day.

Having not played in a live game since the previous summer, Briggs said he also craved to see the field.

“I was dying, ready to play some baseball,” Briggs said. “I was ready to compete against somebody else because that’s where I can stand out and show my value.”

As a Buc, Briggs posted a .259 batting average with six doubles and 12 RBI, all while helping Anchorage win 29 games and the ABL title. 

Although Briggs landed the big fish of the league title, that didn’t stop him from hunting for more at Mount Denali.

Originally, Briggs said his host family offered to take him and his teammates fishing on off days, which they initially declined.

Yet toward the end of the season, Briggs said they wanted to dive fully into Alaska. 

“All there was to do up there was to play baseball, fish and hang out with friends,” Briggs said. “It was really fun.”

Following a successful summer,  Briggs said he returned to Tempe for his redshirt-freshman year in 2025 and displayed improvement, this time on the field.   

After a special debut against the Buckeyes in February of 2025, Briggs said his performance in a series-deciding victory against TCU and a historic feat against BYU cemented him as a Sun Devil.

Against the Horned Frogs, Briggs hit his first two collegiate homers, which lifted ASU to its first Big 12 series victory in program history.

Just over a month later, Briggs and teammate Isaiah Jackson launched back-to-back home runs twice in the same inning against BYU, helping ASU sweep the series.

Flash forward to 2026, and Briggs’ redshirt-freshman season’s momentum has carried over. The catcher started 45 games and served as the backstop in ASU’s journey to a Regional Finals appearance in the NCAA Division I Tournament. 

With another year of experience behind him, Briggs reflected on his career and soaked in the reality of his journey from the bullpen to being a veteran leader in the clubhouse at ASU.

“It’s sometimes surreal,” Briggs said. “When I look back, I realize I’m a player that’s a part of this. It’s so much bigger than yourself, and it's sometimes hard for you to get your head around the fact that you play for Arizona State.”