Denied Twice, Briggi's Resilience Pays Off

by Eric Todoroff

Your first love stays with you for your entire life. It’s a part of you. Even when your heart gets broken, you do whatever it takes to make it work—and when all signs point to seeing other people, you remain committed because you know you are good enough.

Senior pitcher Daniel Briggi has endured this back-and-forth relationship with Miami baseball. Despite two heartbreaking cuts and spending two seasons playing for the University’s club team, Briggi kept working, improving his velocity and breaking pitches to earn one final audition.

His freshman year, Briggi arrived at the walk on meetings but had sprained his UCL (ulnar collateral ligament) in his throwing elbow at the end of high school, preventing him from trying out.

He returned the following year.

“My sophomore year I tried out,” Briggi explained. “I wasn’t throwing hard enough, didn’t have the off-speed, so I didn’t get the call back.”

Briggi considered transferring after his sophomore year, but his mother wouldn’t allow it.

“My parents believed it before I did,” he explained. “My brothers believed it before I did. I thought about transferring, but my mom said no, just to stay here, stay in Miami and make the team.”

He returned the following year.

“Junior year I was throwing a little harder,” he said. “My off-speed was a little bit better and they gave me a call back.”

Briggi was invited to spend the fall with the team. But as he put it, he “just wasn’t good enough.” He was the 36th man on a roster of 35 players.

With two years of experience playing club baseball, Briggi considered giving in, calling it quits after two failed attempts. This time, it didn’t seem plausible; his class schedule conflicted with baseball. If he wanted to complete his math major, he couldn’t play.

Briggi dropped the class so he wouldn’t graduate, maintaining his eligibility—he did this without any guarantees of making the roster.

“He played for the club team and pitched well there,” head coach Jim Morris said. “He had to drop a class actually so he wouldn’t graduate so he would have a chance to make our team.”

“Briggi wanted to do it so badly so he made our team and the fact is that it was huge that he made our team, for him number one. He gets here and he gets a chance and he’s been getting people out.”

Getting people out is a modest description. Coming out of the bullpen, Briggi is fourth on the team in appearances, third in ERA (1.86) and first in opponent batting average (.117). In 29 innings of work he has amassed 25 strikeouts, surrendered only 11 hits and just six earned runs.

Outside of throwing well, Morris believes Briggi’s presence in the clubhouse has been a “great thing.” The guys know how hard he has worked to be able to be where he’s at and to overcome every obstacle he has faced. They respect him.

“Nobody appreciates being on this team more than Briggi,” Morris said.

For a kid who almost played lacrosse instead of baseball, Briggi has certainly come a long way. His fastball tops out at 92 mph and his breaking ball has improved vastly since his first 15-pitch bullpen try out at the Light. As his velocity increased, so did his confidence.

“Junior year of club I realized that this is something that should happen this year,” Briggi said. “This is something I have a real shot at.”

After his third and final try out, Daniel Briggi was good enough to be a Miami Hurricane.

“The rest isn’t still history,” Briggi said. “We’re still writing it.

This coming fall, Briggi’s relationship with baseball will be over. Rather than dissecting strike zones on the diamond, Briggi will be enrolling at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine.

Briggi received the news after a 10th-inning walk off victory over FAU, in which he pitched 2/3 of a scoreless inning and struck out one: “Three [Jim Morris] talked to us post game and right after that I looked at my phone and had an email saying ‘congratulations.’ I was very excited. I’m happy to stay at UM. I’m happy to be given a chance to attend medical school.”

As the ACC Tournament and Regionals approach, Briggi said he’s going to pitch as he has this entire season.

“I have nothing to lose when I go out there,” he said confidently. “I think I’m good. I want to show everyone that I’m good every time I step on the mound. Just the opportunity to be out there is special.”

After being told “no” so many times, when Morris calls for the righty out of the ’pen, Briggi is the one answering yes.