The ASU baseball program should have no fear, despite the loss of pitcher Mike Esposito to the Colorado Rockies.
The Sun Devils picked up a fine arm during the off-season in right-hander All-American Ben Thurmond. The 5-foot-11, 185-pound pitcher transferred from Winthrop to play in one of the nation's premier conferences.
Thurmond throws his fastball in the high 80s to low 90s and has a big-league changeup to go along with a solid curveball. He compiled a 22-9 record in three years at Winthrop, striking out 287 batters in 303.2 innings pitched. As a sophomore, Thurmond led the Big South Conference in victories with 14 and threw a remarkable 12 complete games.
The oddity behind Thurmond's arrival stems from his story about how he chose ASU as his new home. Thurmond played for the USA Baseball National Team with Esposito in the summer of 2001. As roommates, Esposito hinted at the idea of Thurmond transferring to ASU. But Thurmond was not ready to move.
"Winthrop was a good program," Thurmond said. "We just came off a 48-16 record (in 2001) and were losing only a couple guys, so I expected us to be the same, if not better. So I decided to go back."
After another year at Winthrop that didn't fulfill his expectations, Thurmond gave Esposito a call to see if ASU was still interested. When he heard the Sun Devils were, he got his release and contacted head coach Pat Murphy.
"I had heard a lot about ASU baseball, and it was a hard-working program," Thurmond said. "I figured it would be a good fit for me."
The irony comes from the fact that the man who brought Thurmond aboard will no longer pitch for ASU after signing with the Rockies. It still does not take away Thurmond's praise to Esposito.
"I'm happy for him," Thurmond said. "I'm glad he got what he got. He deserved it, he worked hard."
However, when asked if he can step in for the ace, Thurmond is not so sure because he hasn't been here long enough.
"Those are tough shoes to fill, but I'm going to do what I can and try my hardest to help the team win," he said.
In his junior year with the Eagles, Thurmond had his season cut short because of a sore arm suffered in a 120-pitch outing against Georgia Tech. He finished 4-3 with a 3.52 ERA in 64 innings pitched.
After missing eight weeks last spring, Thurmond still pitched three games at the end of the season. He has since fully recovered from the injury.
The prolonged outing points to the fact that Thurmond is a workhorse on the mound. But Thurmond doesn't consider that to be his pitching style.
"I just go out there and try to hit my spots, make pitches and let defense help me out," he said. "But I'm definitely in there for the long haul."
Thurmond is now working on a throwing program and is setting a roundabout pitch count in preparation for next season. Thurmond's team goal — to advance to the College World Series — is shared with the rest of the players in fall camp. As far as personal goals are concerned, he has not set any because he doesn't know what his role on the team will be.
"I'm not sure about my place in the rotation because we just started workouts," Thurmond said. "But I'm eager to get out there and show Murphy what I've got. I just want to do whatever I can to help the team."
Reach the reporter at casey.pritchard@asu.edu.
