Pitchfork nation!
Rise from your spring break stupor (with whatever working synapses), ditch the fake remorse for the basketball teams ( the ASU men and women had great years, by many standards) and take a look in your own backyard.
The baseball world revolves around the Sun Devils.
Make them yours.
Consider that on the day before the ASU baseball team went to 20-0, Mike Leake, last year’s National Player of the Year, was fighting for a spot in the Cincinnati Reds rotation at Scottsdale Stadium.
600-win former ASU coach Pat Murphy’s new team, the Padres, for whom he is a special assistant, were playing in Peoria.
Meanwhile, 2007 Pac-10 Player of the Year Brett Wallace battled for a starting position on the Toronto Blue Jays in Florida. Dustin Pedroia and Andre Ethier are entering their primes, and ASU players are sprinkled throughout big league organizations.
What other college program could lose their 15-year head coach, their top pitcher, their two most productive bats and their returning ace to injury and look better than the previous season?
ASU has gotten off to its second-best start in school history — and if you are familiar with the baseball program’s history, it’s a truly remarkable statement.
When Josh Spence comes back from an arm injury, possibly this week, ASU will have six viable starting pitchers; seven if you count the work sophomore Mitchell Lambson did in the role last year.
They also have a deeper bullpen than last year’s third-place College World Series team. The Sun Devils have a team ERA below three and a team batting average above .360. They are the No. 1 team in the country and should be quite high in most national metrics — offense, defense and pitching — when the new statistics come out Tuesday.
ASU is doing all of that with steady contributions from just one senior — last year’s Omaha stalwart Kole Calhoun — and he is hitting only .288 (low by Sun Devil standards).
The one commonality of the Sun Devils’ top five hitters?
Zach MacPhee, Drew Maggi, Zach Wilson, Johnny Ruettiger, Riccio Torrez are all sophomores.
Compare them to the AARP card-carriers — the pitching staff.
Seth Blair and junior college transfers Jimmy Patterson and Merrill Kelly are all juniors, though redshirt sophomore Jake Borup has been the most effective starter at 5-0 with 2.42 ERA
Even if you don’t know the names, don’t care about the stats and don’t follow college baseball (shame on you, Pitchforkers), you can’t ignore a great story.
Legendary coach loses job controversially. Baseball program under NCAA investigation. Chaos doesn’t ensue and players don’t transfer because team leaders call meeting with School President and Athletic Director. Players get school to hire old assistant coach. Team forecasts a special season. Team gets off to 20-0 start led by young and inexperienced players.
No matter the results of the NCAA investigation, and regardless of the controversy surrounding the program, the team has proven it can insulate itself from all of it. What extrinsic motivations were created from the turmoil and to what extent?
One can only speculate.
And even if the team of Murphy recruits can’t change history, they seem solely intent on writing it this season — implications for the past and future immaterial.
How long can the streak last?
As a tuition-and-fee-paying ASU student, this is one story you ought to pay attention to.
Reach Nick at nruland@asu.edu
