Tracy Smith is the first to admit it. Arizona State hasn’t done much yet.

Sure the Sun Devils have raced out to a 22-1 record, but that’s merely a solid start against a majority of teams who have a losing record. It doesn’t guarantee Smith and Co. a spot in the NCAA Tournament, it doesn’t yet mean that he’s turned things around.

There’s still time for things to go awry.

That’s the pessimistic approach, the cautious viewpoint to an unforeseen transformation. After two-straight 23-win seasons and a depleted roster, No. 9 ASU responded with a power-heavy offense and an attacking pitching staff that has stifled opposing teams.

But can they keep it up?

“I don’t know,” Smith admitted.

It’s an honest opinion. ASU’s nine offensive starters have a median.350 batting average and, behind center fielder Hunter Bishop’s NCAA-leader 14 home runs, have 38 dingers and 211 RBIs. That’s incredible production that may be impossible to replicate against the Pac-12’s elite.

On the pitching side, the Sun Devils have seven full-time, healthy pitchers who boast under a 3.00 ERA, nine with a WHIP below two and a combined 206 strikeouts. For reference, no Sun Devil had a sub-3.00 ERA last year.

Perhaps it’s natural to expect things to regress. Perhaps they will. But an utter collapse, an ebb back to the faults of last season, seems incredibly unlikely. In part because the confusion has lessened.

“What I feel more comfortable about is the bullpen, is guys are in roles now that allow them to be more successful,” Smith said. “Last year, we had guys out of roles. Guys were overexposed, guys were doing things that they probably weren’t meant to do at this level.”

Like any head coach of any team, Smith can fret all day about numerical uncertainties.

Will Bishop continue his home-run tear? Will Friday starter Alec Marsh continue to go deep in games and limit his earned runs? Will reliever Erik Tolman sustain a sub-1.00 ERA in high leverage situations?

Maybe. Maybe. And maybe.

What Smith expects to stay constant is his pitcher’s understanding of their role, that they’ll stick to the game plan and attack hitters. Whether slumps come or not, he seems confident that the ASU offense will compete in every at-bat without pressing.

With those guarantees, he says, ASU is set up pretty well.

“Ultimately they’re going to have to go out and do it,” Smith said. “But I’ll take our chances with the crew that we have right now.”

Mike Cather agrees.

The Sun Devils’ pitching coach has been behind the scenes with ASU’s pictures all year. In a relaxed environment ushered in by leaders like Marsh and sophomore Boyd Vander Kooi, ASU’s small pitching staff has flourished, unafraid of big-game jitters.

The offense, too, has helped.

But, unlike last year’s roller coaster, Cather knows what he’s getting every time he makes the call to the pen.

“Everything with the bullpen is bullpen management,” Who do you have available, what can he give you, how does he match up? When you stick a guy in the game like a Sam Romero or a Chaz Montoya, you don’t expect the results but you think confidently it’s a good matchup in your favor. And that’s really all you can ask.”

ASU now has options and flexibility. Its roles aren’t defined as an eighth-inning guy but rather high-leverage guys and long relievers and arm savers. It allows them to mix-and-match their limited arms with the situation, preserving their bullpen for long weekends.

Freshman Erik Tolman is one of the more flexible guys on ASU’s pitching staff, able to start midweek games, throw four innings in relief or come in a tie game in the ninth. He approaches it all the same.

But some, like Marsh, are much more comfortable knowing exactly what they’re doing and when they’re doing it. Last year, he started off in the bullpen and then because of injuries, and multiple bad outings, he was moved to the starting rotation, never quite sure if it was a permanent move.

For the last three months, however, he’s been aware that the Friday night starting role was likely all his.

“That makes it a lot easier,” Marsh said. “I’ve been on both ends of the stick where you don’t know when you’re pitching. You’re hot every game and then having six or seven days in between starts.”

The defined roles have helped Smith manage his team. Last year, pitching changes were like coin flips. His lineups may have well been written in pencil. With a young team in an early season, he’s starting to see a definition with his lineup and bullpen.

He compared the successes of this season to playing basketball with his sons. When they were little, Smith could just swat their shot away and dunk on them. “There’s not a lot of fun in winning that,” he admitted.

“As they get older and they’re more athletic and now I’m beating them when I’m older, there’s a little struggle there and I win. You take pride in that. The same is to be said of here.”