Major takeaways from ASU baseball “media day”

TEMPE, Ariz. — With the baseball season right around the corner, on Friday we got a chance to talk with ASU baseball coaches and players about the upcoming season. Head coach Willie Bloomquist is now in his third season as ASU’s skipper, and the expectations around this team are high.

Young talent is evident for ASU baseball

We’ll start with the young talent ASU possesses on its roster. The Sun Devils have 16 freshmen, many of whom are expected to have big roles this season.

LHP Cole Carlon, RHP Thomas Burns, LHP Bradyn Barnes, RHP Wyatt Halvorson, and RHP Adam Behrens were all names talked about by the coaching staff that could have big impacts on the mound this season.

“The biggest thing for them is getting experience, so they’ll be thrown into the fire,” Bloomquist said. “They realize that this isn’t high school anymore. They can’t make mistakes over the plate and blow it by guys. They’re going to get punished if they don’t make good pitches. So, I think that’s been good they’re able to understand what quality pitches are.”

The young pitchers have been able to face a talented and deep ASU lineup throughout the Spring to be able to learn the ways they need to pitch to hitters at the collegiate level.

“I think it’s the best preparation you can get for those guys,” pitching coach Sam Peraza said. “I’m hoping if we’re able to go through the ups and downs early on that they’ll be ready go by then.”

Infielders Ethan Mendoza and Jax Ryan were names mentioned by the coaching staff battling for spots along the infield.

There’s plenty of youth on this Sun Devils’ team, but veteran players and coaches seem very confident in the talent and maturity of this group.

Big depth improvement from last season

ASU has a good mix of young freshmen and sophomores coupled with veteran guys to create much-needed depth ahead of its 2024 season. Multiple position players and pitchers acquired through the transfer portal will help with the depth of this roster.

Bloomquist explained there are a few guys that are going be out there every day, but in many positions, there are multiple guys that will get shared playing time.

“There are a lot of guys who are going to play,” Bloomquist said. “That’s encouraging you know, the challenge for me will be to try to keep all those guys sharp and mix them in and out of the lineup where we can give them opportunities to play and stay sharp because things happen throughout the year.”

On the mound, depth in the middle innings and having multiple guys the coaching staff can rely on will be extremely important.

“We have the luxury of not leaving guys out there when things aren’t going well because we don’t have anybody that’s (not) capable behind,” Peraza said. “Last year when we started Dunn and Manning, we had one lefty out of the bullpen, and we got seven or eight this year. We’re going to make sure they have early success, more success than failures, so there’ll be guys ready to go.”

The depth will be important in case any injuries happen, but Bloomquist wants to have his main guys that will carry the bulk of the workload.

“We’re going to try to hone it down to our top 12 or 13 arms, and those will be the guys that get the lion’s share of innings,” Bloomquist said. “Position players wise the same way, with guys hopefully ready to perform in case someone stumbles or god forbid gets hurt.”

Leadership and experience of the veterans will make an impact for ASU baseball

The leadership for ASU will come from many of its returning position players and veteran pitchers. Some of the leaders on the mound are expected to be middle-inning guys, that can come in and calm everyone down whether it be from excitement or a rough first few innings.

Senior LHP Connor Markl, redshirt senior RHP Matt Tieding, and redshirt junior RHP Jonah Giblin are guys who will be relied on to bring stability and experience to the pitching staff.

“I talked to those guys earlier … you need to help these guys grow and talk about your experience and they’ve been unbelievable. They’ve been selfless,” Peraza said. “Their leadership has been I think the key to our pitching staff having success in the fall and hopefully carrying over into the spring.”

Around the diamond, the Sun Devils have a few returners who were just freshmen last year, that will turn into leaders this season. But they’ll rely on junior INF Jacob Tobias and junior catcher Ryan Campos to be guys in the lineup that the rest of the guys can rally around through their experience.

“A lot of times in college baseball, the experience plays well,” Bloomquist said. “So, I expect that for our position group.”

Two-way players update

ASU has a couple of two-way players, redshirt freshman LHP Brandon Compton and freshman LHP/INF Cole Carlon, who will look to make multiple impacts this season.

Carlon is expected to be a threat both on the mound and in the box. He has impressed coaches on the mound throughout the spring, earning a pivotal role whether it be as a starter or in the bullpen.

“Carlon is closer to helping us on the mound this year and he’s going to be a two-way star for us moving forward,” Peraza said. “He’ll get his at-bats this year, I’m sure Coach will do a good job of that.”

Compton is recovering from Tommy John surgery, so he won’t be ready to pitch by opening weekend but is expected to be a force in the box to begin the season. However, Peraza said he’s been throwing bullpen sessions and is reaching 95 and 96 mph.

“He’s going to pitch eventually in this program,” Peraza said. “We’ll kind of see how they’re able to handle the two-way deal moving forward.”

Opening weekend roles for ASU baseball

The coaches gave us a glimpse of what to expect on opening weekend, but don’t have anything set in stone yet. However one thing was clear, Markl will be the Saturday starter and likely will hold that role throughout the season.

“I told Connor (Markl), I hate to say this, but it doesn’t matter how good you really pitch, you’re going to go (on) Saturdays. I need you to be that calming guy depending on what happens Friday and kind of swing that three-game series,” Peraza said. “We win Friday, I think Connor has a really good chance to match it up against any Saturday guy out there in the country and get us the win, and if we happen to stumble on a Friday night, he’s the guy I want with the ball in hand to make sure we even that series up.”

Roles still up for grabs

As of now, Burns is the leader for the Friday night start, but he still has to win that battle. Carlon is also battling for the Friday night start. But if Burns were to win it, Carlon has shown the ability to reliably close out games.

“(Burns) is definitely the leading candidate. He’s got unbelievable stuff, unbelievable make-up, hockey kid, tough kid, and very coachable,” Peraza said. “Both games that we closed out against USD and GCU, fall games, (Carlon) proved that he could attack the strikes zone and for two innings, you know, one or two innings at a time, he can be really electric. I mean, for lack of better terms, he was overwhelming the other hitters. So, we’re hoping that if he does not win that Friday spot he goes into a closing type of role and he could handle that as a freshman.”

The Sunday starter role is still up in the air. Peraza said several guys could end up winning it. One name he threw out was Behrens who he said, “has come in kind of out of nowhere, throwing a lot of strikes, and doesn’t really get rattled.”

First look at the non-conference schedule and opening weekend

The Sun Devils’ non-conference schedule is loaded this season. Bloomquist made it a priority to go out and find good, quality non-conference opponents to beef up ASU’s schedule.

“I’m not going to get burned by RPI and strength of schedule again, once was enough for me,” Bloomquist said. “So, maybe I bit off a little more than I can chew, we got to win games too, but every game we play is going to be a difficult one.”

ASU plays Kansas State, Ohio State, Texas A&M, and TCU all before conference play begins. The Sun Devils open the season against Santa Clara, who are a regional final team from a year ago that knocked out Arizona. Santa Clara has experienced arms and very experienced veteran position players.

“We got our work cut out for us opening weekend,” Bloomquist said. “We got our hands full and we’re going to have to play really good baseball to beat them.”

There is still a lot to be decided heading into the 2024 season with opening weekend less than a month away. But there’s a lot of excitement around the Sun Devils this season.

“They’re going to show us a lot, and a lot of roles are going to won within the next three weeks,” Peraza said.

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