There are times in sport where the man meets the moment. Or the moment overcomes the man. Very rarely do we see the moment become centered around the man.
As sophomore outfielder Landon Hairston stepped up to the plate March 29, with a packed house at Phoenix Municipal Stadium and the eyes of the nation on him, to lead off the game against West Virginia, the moment belonged to Hairston.
In the left-handed batter's box, Hairston sat ever poised before sending a 3-1 pitch over the center field wall off the batter's eye for what would be his 15th home run of the year.
According to a post on X from Jacob Rudner, a fan behind home plate captured it best: "Folks, we are witnessing history."
Golden Spikes watch
"I don't think people realize what he's doing right now," head coach Willie Bloomquist said per Devils Digest. "You don't see this in baseball very often."
Bloomquist played 14 years in MLB and has coached at ASU for the past five years. ASU hitting coach Jason Ellison, who played six years in the big leagues, compared what Hairston is doing to one of his former teammates, ASU legend and all-time MLB home run leader Barry Bonds.
In game one against West Virginia, with two outs in the top of the sixth, Hairston leapt through the night sky, a flash of gold coming from his spikes, to make a run-saving grab.
The show belonged to him, and Hairston, ever the showman, rose to his feet with arms up toward the sky.
"Having a night like that's pretty fun," Hairston said. "And getting involved with the fans is always fun."
And just as everyone thought they had seen it all from the sophomore, he delivered an encore the next night against San Diego State, smashing two more home runs. That mark has him tied for second in the country.
Hairston ranks in the top three in the NCAA in batting average, home runs and RBIs, and leads the country in OPS with an uncanny 1.578 line. His grand slam against West Virginia tied Jeff Larish's single-season record for grand slams in just 26 games.
"I haven't seen somebody better," Bloomquist said on whether Hairston is the best player in college baseball. "There's some great players out there out there, I have definitely not seen a better hitter than him."
Rooted in the Valley
The Hairston family name is baseball royalty. Five Hairstons have played in MLB, most recently his father, Scott Hairston, who grew up in Tucson and was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2003 before enjoying an 11-year playing career.
But people wouldn't know it from the sophomore, who prefers to let his play speak, focused on building upon the name and carving his own legacy rather than living off his family's.
With the legacy of his last name comes pressure, and that was evident long before he came to ASU when he first arrived at Casteel High School in Queen Creek, Arizona.
Casteel's head coach, Matt Denny, is someone Hairston looks up to and views as a significant mentor not only in baseball but in life.
"He's the best coach in high school baseball," Hairston said. "He'll do anything for you as a human, do anything for you on the field. He's one of the best humans I've ever met ... I wish I could play for him my whole life."
Denny admires the season his former players put together, but jokes that he's hoping for "a tough couple of games" just so he has a reason to check in. For now, he's staying away so he doesn’t mess with Hairston's flow.
"There aren't very many people that can have that kind of pressure, and he relishes in it, and he wants it," Denny said.
Denny knew Hairston was special, probably more so than Hairston knew. He was a confident player from the start, but was still trying to get his feet wet without ruffling the feathers of upperclassmen.
"He was a really talented freshman who came in, but he was still really green," Denny said. "He was always confident to the point where sometimes he's arrogant, and sometimes his teammates didn't respect that kind of feel. He got better at that throughout the freshman year, and then sophomore year he got a little bit better."
Hairston did more harm than good his freshman year, trying to hit for power when he wasn't as strong. A scene that mirrors that of his senior year in high school, where Denny said he may have been pressing to slug more to garner attention from MLB scouts before the draft.
But both Denny and Bloomquist preached patience and shared the belief that power will come, and that Hairston is better served not trying to force it before his body fully matures.
"I knew that the juice would be there," Denny said. "There are some features that he had that I knew that he would grow into. I knew he would get stronger and faster."
This past summer and fall, Hairston focused on flexibility in trying to navigate ways in which he could get his body to open and loosen up while adding strength. Mechanically, he naturally started to get his hands away from his body in his stance and, in turn, started to create harder hit balls and more backspin.
The physical aspects, added with the mental maturity of being in his second year of college, paved the way for his breakout.
"(I) tried to simplify things even more than I did last year," Hairston said. "Being even more confident in my approach, more confident in myself, that's for sure, knowing that I can do things that guys all around the country are doing."
That confidence has translated into results and recognition, but for Hairston, the bigger picture runs deeper. A local product, he credits much of his path to Bloomquist, whose belief and opportunity made it possible.
"I made it very clear that I wasn't going to play for another coach here," Hairston said. "(Bloomquist's) not here. I'm not here. I'm more than thankful to the admin, to everyone involved, for getting (Bloomquist) extended and getting this coaching staff extended as well. It's huge for us in building momentum."
All of it, Hairston hopes, builds toward something bigger.
He's never been one to say much, letting his play make the noise, but as Denny describes, he "wants the big moment like crazy." And now, that focus has narrowed to what has eluded ASU for 35 years.
"Championships. That's the main thing, putting banners up on the wall," Hairston said.
Edited by Niall Rosenberg, Senna James and Ellis Preston.
Reach the reporter at eapache3@asu.edu.
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