There are a number of metrics that will tell you how much better the 2023 Arizona State baseball team is compared to the 2022 version. The team ERA has improved vastly. The depth on the mound and in the starting lineup is leaps and bounds better. The biggest indicator, however, might be the way Willie Bloomquist and his players hold themselves after wins like the one ASU picked up on Tuesday night at Phoenix Muni. The Sun Devils (20-9) took care of visiting Seattle 11-6, but the postgame press conference wasn’t very cheery.
“Today kind of had that low intensity midweek game, but that’s an excuse,” Bloomquist said. “Bottom line, we have to be better than that. We did enough to scratch it out and get it done, but i think we all agree we gotta get better on a few things.”
ASU walked eight Redhawk batters on the mound and struck out ten times at the dish themselves. “If you’re facing 95-97 with a nasty off-speed, fine, you’ll strike out sometimes; I’ve been there,” Bloomquist continued. “But these pitchers, we can’t do that if we want to be the team we think we are.”
Some of the lineup has been inconsistent and could fairly be critiqued, but the trio of Ryan Campos, Nu’u Contrades, and Luke Keaschall have been the cornerstones. Wyatt Crenshaw has cooled a bit, but he certainly belongs closer to those aforementioned three than the field.
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Is it possible to be hitting .425 through 30 games and be flying under the radar? Ryan Campos is doing just that. He collected four more hits on Tuesday night, continuing his incredible sophomore campaign that has seen him reach base in 28 of Arizona State’s 29 games. Tonight it was death by singles, as all four of Campos’ knocks were just a single bag. He scored three times despite not driving in any of ASU’s 11 runs. He’s batting .430 now.
“My goal is always just to get it to the next guy,” Campos said shortly before pivoting to his team’s goals. “We got a win, so that’s not the worst thing, but if we want to get where we want to be, that other team over there might be a little different.”
Campos’s efforts headlined a strong offensive barrage that was enough to pull away late and coast to another victory. It’s ASU’s 14th in 16 games, and elevated the squad to 20-9. Last season, Arizona State won its 20th game on April 24. Now it comes on April 4, a testament to the progress made in just one year.
“It’s nice if you’re comparing the two seasons, but I’m just focused on everything we need to get better at still,” Bloomquist said. “You could say maybe we lose this game last year with all these factors, so that’s nice.”
ASU scored in the first, third, fourth, fifth, and eighth innings en route to its 11 runs. Luke Hill and Jacob Tobias each drove in three, while Kien Vu and Willie Cano added RBIs of their own as well. It was never truly comfortable, but ASU was clearly the better team from first pitch to last.
It looks like Bloomquist is content with knitting a patchwork quilt of pitchers for ASU’s midweek games as well as many of its Sunday contests. He can do this, something he absolutely could not do last year because his stable of starters and bullpen boasts robust depth. The staff is missing a truly dominant arm in both phases, but the number of capable pitchers Bloomquist can go to at any given time is almost double that of last season. It’s a refreshing gasp of air for him and for the fans. As his mood dictated after this one, however, Bloomquist was more eager to discuss where the arms need to get better. This team is taking on a never satisfied attitude that can come off as pessimistic, but it ensures that there will be no apathy, especially important in midweek games against pesky opponents like this one.
“Today, we had way too many guys come out of the pen and walk guys. That’s gotta be better, and they know that, and we know that. We need them to throw more strikes than they did today,” he said. It was almost like Willie caught himself being slightly too negative when assessing his pitching staff’s performance. “Bottom line we gotta get better than that. Positive side, we competed to do enough, but the arms that threw today have to be better.”
In terms of bullpen management, things are progressing nicely. Bloomquist and pitching coach Sam Peraza have been able to get a better grip on the usage of relief arms, and it’s allowed ASU to protect late leads much better than the team did last season.
“” We have better feel of that than we did early on,” Bloomquist admitted. “We know more about our arms now, who we can pitch where, and how long their recovery process is. Who we need to get in the game if we get them hot.”
Game Notes:
Isaiah Jackson didn’t start on Tuesday, but he made his mark on this ballgame just as much as any of his teammates did. He got two at-bats after entering in the sixth. Jackson roped a single to right field in the sixth before clobbering a 400-foot two-run blast. His tools are undeniable, but he’s struggled throughout the first half of this season to consistently put together the types of at-bats he’s capable of. His pinch-hit appearance on Tuesday was a big step in the right direction.
“He had to sit by me tonight, just to kind of show him that some things need to change,” Bloomquist said. “You don’t just get to trot out there every day if you’re not producing because we have guys who will. I wanted him to see that and he responded very well.”
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