Arizona State baseball came into the 2020 season with its highest expectations in years. Unfortunately, COVID-19 caused the cancelation of the majority of the season and stalwarts Spencer Torkelson, Alika Williams, Trevor Hauver, Gage Workman, and R.J. Dabovich were selected in the MLB draft, all opting to sign.
While the losses were significant, the Sun Devils still have high expectations for 2021. NCAA.com writer Mike Rooney projected ASU as one of four Pac-12 teams, he sees qualifying for a regional in 2021. However, they will have to get the job done a little differently than the slugging teams of the past two seasons. ASU will have to rely more on pitching and small ball than power this year.
“This team’s different,” said ASU head coach Tracy Smith. “It’s not saying that we don’t have guys that have power. I think for us to compete and succeed at the level that we want, we can’t expect that we’re going to have one through seven or eight guys in a lineup that … are going to be hitting a bunch of home runs, so guys have to understand their role. They have to understand what their particular job is, and it may be working a walk, getting on base.”
Obviously, this season will be different than past years. COVID-19 is still raging, and the baseball season is only able to occur due to an extensive testing plan. Smith believes the season will be affected by the pandemic and sees the team managing the adversity the best this season going the furthest.
“We got a schedule set, but that doesn’t mean that’s what the schedule is going to be,” Smith stated. “My anticipation is there’s going to be last-minute cancelations and things, and you just got to be able to stay mentally strong and try to work through that, and we’ve talked about it as a group. The team that handles that stuff the best, the team that understands things are going to happen. Don’t make excuses. Just be ready for everything. A team that does that the best is going to be probably the teams that are playing the longest this year.”
ASU is a storied program with 22 College World Series appearances. After taking the Indiana Hoosiers to the College World Series in 2013, Smith came to ASU ahead of the 2015 season with expectations to bring the Sun Devils back to their winning ways.
While Smith’s ASU teams have had some success, none of the six ASU squads under the current head coach have advanced to the NCAA Super Regionals. The lack of success has seemingly split the fan base at times.
While Smith may have had a rocky tenure in Tempe, the university seems to be happy with what he is doing at the ASU baseball helm.
“We just felt it was in the best interest of our program,” Smith explained.” Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see the fruits of the labor last season with the things that we’ve been building. That taken away, but we wanted to keep on that path because, as you know, recruiting is important. And I think it’s important that people know that the staff or the people that are recruiting you that are going to be there when you arrive on campus. So we’re thankful for the opportunity to continue to do that.”
Two important positions for ASU this season will be closer and No. 1 starter. Smith said no decision has been made regarding the closer role this season. He was confident the Sun Devils have the ability to go with a closer by committee or a set closer this year.
Smith was relatively adamant on who his Friday night starter will be. As of now, he has penciled in redshirt-freshman lefty Cooper Benson as the ace this year.
Smith remembers neighbor and renowned baseball writer Pedro Gomez
Tragic news hit the sports world on Sunday when it was announced that Pedro Gomez, a longtime ESPN baseball reporter, passed away young at the age of 58.
Gomez resided in Arizona and was neighbors with Smith. The two became friends about seven years ago. Smith said he was “tremendously upset” and “devastated” at the news of Gomez’s passing.
This past Saturday, a day before Gomez’s passing, Smith actually visited the Gomez household and said it was his favorite memory with Gomez.
“I’ve known him for … seven years that we’ve been here,” Smith said. “But the conversation and the stuff Saturday night that we were talking about, I didn’t know … that it was the paper (The Arizona Republic), the print press, that actually brought him to the Phoenix area. And so we were talking about when he and his wife met and the progression of going across the country, back and all these things and how he ultimately ended up in this area. And I was thinking about that today. Like gosh, I’ve known him for that long, but I learned about 90 percent of what I know about him today in those last three and a half hours that we spent together on Saturday night.”
ASU opens its season at home against San Jose State on Feb. 19 at 6:35 p.m.
