Following the pro model that Arizona State instituted with head coaching hires in football and basketball in recent years, the Sun Devils followed suit with that approach in baseball as well. Devils Digest reported yesterday that former ASU player and current Arizona Diamondbacks executive Willie Bloomquist was the leading candidate to replace Tracy Smith as Arizona State’s head baseball coach. On Wednesday morning, we can confirm an earlier report that Bloomquist has been hired for that position.
Bloomquist was a three-year starter for the Sun Devils from 1997-99, and the only player in ASU Baseball history to record 100 hits in consecutive seasons (1998-99). He finished his ASU career with a .394 batting average, including 256 hits, 42 doubles, 22 triples, 15 home runs, and 176 RBI’s. He ranks third in school history with a career .394 batting average, as well as fourth with 216 runs scored, third with 22 triples, tied for fourth with 72 stolen bases, and tied for 10th with 176 RBI. He was the proverbial iron man in Tempe, starting in all of his 175 career games played. In 2013, he was inducted into the ASU Sports Hall of Fame.
Bloomquist was named First-Team All-Pac-10 in 1998 and 1999, including being named Pac-10 Player of the Year in 1999. Off the field, he earned Academic All-America honors in 1999 and received his degree from Arizona State in 2001. On the national scale, he earned an honorable mention freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball in 1997, second-team All-America honors from the NCBWA and ABCA in 1998, and third-team honors from Baseball America and The Sporting News. He was also a First-Team All-American selection at shortstop in 1999 by Baseball America, ABCA, and College Baseball Insider, and earned second-team honors from NCBWA and third-team honors by Collegiate Baseball.
Prior to Bloomquist's hire, Devils Digest talked to Milwaukee Brewers bench coach, Pat Murphy, who was ASU's head baseball coach during Bloomquist's Tempe tenure. Murphy was effusive with his praise when describing what kind of head coach his former player could be and didn't feel that his lack of coaching experience would affect his potential for success with the Sun Devils.
"He's going to have a great impact on the young men he will coach," Murphy said. "He's uncommonly competitive. If anyone can do it, walking straight from the field to the coaching ranks, it's Willie, and I should know because I'm working with (Milwaukee Brewers' head coach) Craig Counsell and as you can see in what he (Counsell) is doing here - he's killing it. And I would say Wilie is in the same mode. He could be incredible in leading young men. He would be a great choice.
"I've known Willie as a high school player when I recruited him and followed his major league career. I'm the Godfather of his daughter, Layla, he and his wife Lisa are like family to me."
Senior Arizona State Associate Athletic Director Graham Rossini, who was recently hired in Tempe was significantly involved in the hiring process of Bloomquist, and is another individual Murphy is quite familiar with. Rossini spent six years as the Director of Baseball Operations at ASU and was involved in two College World Series teams (2005, 2007) during that period.
“Graham behind the scenes did as much for ASU baseball as anyone on the staff,” Murphy remarked. “And anybody who was around the program knows that. Graham was a special addition to the staff at the time and is another person who is like family to me. He’s a great person and I think ASU is on the right track. It (head coaching change) will be a transition like anything else, but I know Graham and ASU will handle it well.”
Following his Tempe tenure, he was drafted in the third round of the 1999 MLB Amateur Draft by the Seattle Mariners and made his major league debut with the Mariners on Sept. 1, 2002, as a pinch-runner at Safeco Field, and hit .455 (15-for-33) with four doubles during his first month with the Mariners. A year later, he made the opening day roster with the Mariners as a utility player.
He remained with his hometown Seattle Mariners for six years through the 2008 season, and proceeded to play for the Kansas City Royals (2009–2010), Cincinnati Reds (2010), Arizona Diamondbacks (2011–2013), and back with Mariners (2014–2015).
During his 14-year Major League career, which included time with the Mariners (2002-08, ’14-15), Royals (2009-10) and Reds (2010), Bloomquist hit .269 with 778 hits, 110 doubles, 23 triples, 18 home runs, 225 RBI and 133 stolen bases in 1,055 career games. He compiled a .977 fielding percentage playing outfield (339 games), shortstop (305 games), third base (142), second base (141), and first base (47).
Bloomquist became the first Arizona State Sun Devil to play for the D-backs serving a key role on the 2011 National League West Championship team. Coming into this year, he entered his sixth season as a Special Assistant to D-backs President & CEO Derrick Hall after joining the front office in May 2016. In this role, Bloomquist assists Hall and other departments throughout the baseball and business side of the organization, including working on-field with Minor League players, attending community events, meeting with corporate partners, interacting with season ticket holders and visiting D-backs Minor League affiliates.
A fan favorite in both Seattle and Arizona, Bloomquist has long been involved in the communities in which he played and was the D-backs’ 2012 Roberto Clemente nominee for his efforts with Phoenix Children’s Hospital. In 2018, the team dedicated Willie Bloomquist Field in Tempe as part of the Diamonds Back Field Building program, in conjunction with APS.
Bloomquist and his wife, Lisa, have 4 daughters, Natalie, Ava, Layla, and Sydney.
