Bring out the sunflower seeds and dust off the seats at Phoenix Muni; college baseball is back. As another spring on the diamond nears, a new era potentially dawns for College Baseball’s Greatest Tradition.
Having missed out on the NCAA Tournament in his first two seasons as skipper, Sun Devil legend Willie Bloomquist looks to break through to the field of 64 in his third season and looks to be the most well-equipped roster-wise to do that and more in 2024, despite major losses from 2023.
Despite making multiple appearances in the D1Baseball Top 25 a year ago, Arizona State dropped three of their last four three-game sets, two of which to Super Regional teams in Oregon and Stanford, to slide from a potential regional host all the way out of the 2023 NCAA Tournament. With the RPI rating playing a major factor in the Sun Devils snub, Bloomquist’s first goal for 2024 was to leave no doubt about ASU’s resumé and strength of schedule come Memorial Day Weekend. To start, he brought back much of what was an explosive offensive unit while replenishing a depleted pitching staff with a mix of veteran transfers and freshman newcomers, shaping up a roster that could feature this starting lineup:
LF Harris Williams
2B Kevin Karstetter
C Ryan Campos
1B Jacob Tobias
3B Nu’u Contrades
DH Brandon Compton
CF Isaiah Jackson
SS Jax Ryan
RF Kien Vu
Impact Bench
C: Trey Newman, Brody Briggs
INF: Mario Demera, Ethan Mendoza, Steven Ondina, Eamonn Lance, Ryan Kroepel
OF: Josiah Cromwick, Bennett Fryman
Starting Pitching
Friday Starter: Thomas Burns
Saturday Starter: Connor Markl
Sunday Starter: Tyler Meyer
Featured Relievers
Closer: Sean Fitzpatrick
Setup: Cole Carlon, Wyatt Halvorson
Mid Relief: Josh Butler, Hunter Omlid, Ryan Schiefer, Bradyn Barnes
Long Relief/Midweek Starters: Ben Jacobs, Matt Cornelius, Rohan Lettow, Jaden Alba
Undefined (can fill in anywhere): Jonah Giblin, Matt Tieding
Injured
OF Nick McLain, hand (exp. return mid-March)
As was their main strength last spring, the Sun Devils lineup is as dangerous as it is deep despite losing second-round draft pick Luke Keaschall and promising shortstop Luke Hill to the transfer portal. Names such as Ryan Campos, Jacob Tobias, Nu’u Contrades, and Nick McLain are familiar to Sun Devil fans, as this quartet offered everything a team could want as an offensive nucleus for a team that finished in the top half of the Pac-12 in nearly every major statistical category. Their contributions last spring had all four of the standout swingers, along with San Francisco transfer Harris Williams, on the Preseason All-Pac 12 list for position players, easily the most of any school.
At the head of the offensive attack will be Campos. For good reason, as before an oblique injury that cost Campos most of the second half of last season, the junior backstop was hitting well over .400 and had been named to the Golden Spikes Midseason Watchlist as one of the most outstanding players in the country. After an offseason focused on his own health and a couple of reinforcements at catcher to keep Campos fresh throughout the season, the left-hander will look to build upon a shortened 2023 season as the anchor of the Sun Devil lineup.
“Keeping Campy’s bat in the lineup is paramount,” Bloomquist added. “If we’re better with him in left field, we’ll do that.”
Another vital piece to the order will come in second-year Sun Devil Nick McLain. Although McLain will be on the shelf for about the first month of the season with a broken hamate bone, when healthy, McLain posted an OPS over 1,000 last year and is as reliable a hitter as any on this team. As a switch-hitter, McLain’s a set-and-forget piece in the middle of the order once he returns from injury. Having to start the season without him for the second year in a row, Bloomquist is again feeling the sting but feels this team is more prepared for it.
“That’s going to leave a little bit of a mark,” Bloomquist noted. “Those are big shoes to fill. Good news is we have depth where we can withstand it. Not that I enjoy having a guy get injured, but at least we have the depth to be able to account for it and not lose much ground.”
As he has in previous seasons, the consistency of Jacob Tobias at first base will also be important. Tobias was quietly one of the most productive performers in a destructive lineup last season, hitting over .300 while driving in nearly 60 runs playing first base every day.
On the other side of the diamond, Nu’u Contrades returns after a typical freshman season, but Contrades battled through the highs and lows to hit .309 in 53 starts, at one point working his way from the bottom of the order to the top. If the sophomore in the hot corner can limit the strikeouts and stay on a consistent path, this lineup is as steady as it is scary.
Aside from the familiar foursome, Isaiah Jackson will roam center field for another spring, where he’s shown the tremendous potential of an incredibly high ceiling. Having made countless highlight-reel plays with the glove last season, Jackson’s biggest focus for this year is his bat, as plate discipline and overall inexperience rendered him to the bottom of the lineup most games. Still, his sweet lefty swing has gobs of potential and a flair for the dramatic shown throughout conference play last spring. With his freshman year and the lessons from it now under his belt, a breakout could very well be in order for the former MLB draft pick.
“He’s understanding the mental grind and what it takes to be sharp every day,” Bloomquist observed. “Coming out with an edge, not getting complacent. Obviously, ‘Jacks’ is a tremendous center fielder, and he knows he can get better. Hopefully, he makes the quantum leap from last year to this year.”
“This summer, when I played up in the Northwoods, kind of got experience of where you’re playing every day,” Jackson recalled. “Something felt a little off, I’d go 0-for, and go ‘alright whatever, get back on the bus.’ I was able to play loose all the time, next day I come back and I go 4-4. Back and forth all the time is part of the game.”
Two newcomers on the position player front who have earned their stripes are second baseman Kevin Karstetter and outfielder Harris Williams. Karstetter, a transfer second baseman from JUCO State College of Florida, is a pure producer on the offensive side, hitting well over .400, including an SLG mark topping .700 last season while driving in 77 runs. Even though it was at the junior college level, that’s an absurd stat line. His versatility as an athlete combines with this track record to project him high in the lineup.
Joining the line of San Francisco transfers (Keaschall and Owen Stevenson last year), Harris Williams provides a plus bat from the left-handed side that profiles at the top of the order, which he won WCC Second Team Honors last season from leading the team with a .346 batting average, and 22 stolen bases.
In response to the loss of the dynamic bats of Keaschall and Hill, a significant hole has been left in the middle of the infield, but there’s certainly still talent to hold their own at those spots. Unlike the defined roles of the corners and most of the outfield, shortstop is still a question mark, with a position battle likely ongoing into the season. Each competitor features their own skillset to bring something different: FIU transfer Steven Ondina has a slick glove at the six spots on the scorecard, freshman Jax Ryan provides a reliable bat there, as well as fellow first-year player Ethan Mendoza, who brings a little bit of everything.
On the designated hitter front, a platoon power option is available with Santa Clara transfer Eamonn Lance from the right and redshirt freshman Brandon Compton from the left. Both hit the ball hard and far and should often find themselves in the lineup.
With so many options and only nine spots to fill, there will be a figurative fight at the bat rack this spring, and how Bloomqist manages it will be centered around one notion: the best combination of victory.
“This is the best lineup personally I’ve ever been on 1-9,” infielder Kevin Karstetter said. “I think there are six- and seven-hole hitters that could be hitting three holes on many big programs.”
“Biggest challenge is to keep these guys fresh,” Bloomquist commented. “At the same time, you can only put nine of them out there. That’s a challenge I have: which nine is going to go out there, which nine gives us the best opportunity to win every day?”
The ultimate downfall of ASU’s 2023 season came from their pitching staff. While talented, as shown clearly by the six Sun Devils who heard their name called in the 2023 MLB Draft, few of that group truly tapped into their full potential, and ASU fell victim in plenty of slugfests last spring. With plenty of turnover in that department, much of the incoming talent is freshmen arms, who will be thrown into the fire from first pitch, which ASU will have to brave early on.
“We had a lot of our arms get picked by the draft last year,” Bloomquist noted. “So the one thing you do have to realize with freshmen is some weeks they’re going to come out and look really good, other weeks they’re going to come out and not look so good. You can’t give up on them. Can’t get too high and too low early on with these guys. Hopefully, steadiness over the course of the year wins the race. That will be a fluid thing throughout the year, who our best arms are and who we use on any given weekend.”
As it stands, Freshman Thomas Burns and GCU transfer Connor Markl look like the Friday and Saturday starters. Burns, a right-handed fireballer from Wisconsin, tops out in the mid-90s with his fastball and carries the demeanor of a seasoned and competitive arm. Markl, who throws from the left side, is a simple innings-eater who can force weak contact and limit damage.
“There’s gonna be ups and downs,” Peraza reiterated. “They’re going to struggle, especially early. But I’m hoping that if we give them enough experience as we get into the meat of the season, by the time conference comes around, they’ll no longer be freshmen.”
Right-handed pitcher Tyler Meyer is a part of the new and old simultaneously with ASU. After missing all of last season with a shoulder injury, Meyer is healthy for the start of the 2024 season, where the Sun Devils will need him to perform in the capacity he did as a freshman in 2022, showing flashes in 56 innings of work that included ten starts. In a Sunday role that was very undefined last season, Meyer’s starting experience seems to slide in nicely behind Burns and Markl as a Sunday starter.
“His health is back to where it should be,” Bloomquist said. “That part of things is not a concern anymore at this point, which obviously is music to all of our ears. Health-wise, his arm strength is back to where it was pre-injury and continuing to get sharper. Tyler, when he was at the top of his game, he was very good locating his pitches. He’s getting closer and closer every day with that. Not quite to where we’ve seen him at his best, but he’s getting pretty close. Just a matter of building up that endurance, and hopefully, he’ll be in the rotation at some point this year.”
“I’m so happy for that kid,” Peraza added. “We’ve been through ups and downs coming back from the labrum. The last two weeks, he’s getting me optimistic. He’s looking closer to the old Tyler Meyer. In the last two weeks, he’s looked really close to the old Tyler Meyer as we knew two years ago.
While each arm offers its own different look, the depth of talent Bloomquist believes he has in the bullpen creates for a less clear outlook on who will get the ball later in games, and will let that decide itself as the season progresses. Cole Carlon brings heat from the left-handed side (as well as the potential to take some at-bats). Sean Fitzpatrick is another stingy Southpaw with plus-breaking stuff. Wyatt Halvorson joins Matt Tieding and Jonah Giblin as hard-throwing righties, while Josh Butler and Hunter Omlid are solid breakout candidates.
“You could use a couple of older guys in a variety of roles,” Bloomquist described. “Jonah Giblin, Matt Tieding, Hunter Omlid, Sean FitzPatrick, all guys we can mix and match late if we have to. Wyatt Halvorson…has shown promise back there. We have some options. It won’t be one of those things where, like we went into last year, pretty defined 7-8-9. I don’t think we’re there right now, to be honest. Those roles haven’t been firmly established yet.”
What has been established is the test ASU will be put to this season, as the Sun Devils non-conference schedule is loaded with tournament-caliber teams, with the usual gauntlet of the Pac-12 waiting after that. After missing out on the NCAA Tournament last year due to a softer early lineup, Bloomquist made it a priority to face the best of the best, as ASU brings maybe its best roster in his tenure into a pivotal 2024 season.
“When you look at our schedule, there are no cupcakes. From opening weekend to our first midweek, Kansas State is top 25, Ohio State is going to be very tough, A&M and TCU don’t need any introduction. I’m not going to get burned by RPI and strength of schedule. Once was enough for me.”
Join your fellow Sun Devil fans on our premium message board, the Devils’ Huddle, run by the longest-tenured Sun Devil sports beat writer, to discuss this article and other ASU football, basketball, and recruiting topics. Not a member yet? Sign up today and get your daily fix of Sun Devil news!
