Sun Devil Baseball Lifts Lid on 2022 Campaign and Bloomy Era

PHOENIX -- The Sun Devil Baseball program will lift the lid on the 2022 campaign and the Willie Bloomquist era this weekend at Phoenix Municipal Stadium with a three-game series against Dixie State beginning on Friday, Feb. 18. Opening Night will feature a 6:30 p.m. AZT first pitch, followed by a 6 p.m. start on Saturday and concluding at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday.

#10THINGS (Twitter-Friendly Notes)

1. ASU was first in the nation with 60 double plays turned last season after it had just six in the first 14 games of the season.

2. The Sun Devil pitching staff inherited 189 baserunners in the regular season last year and allowed just 54 to score (28.6 percent). 

3. ASU is returning 60 percent of its team hits from last season and 62 percent of its team RBIs from the year.

4. Sean McLain turned 48 double plays last season, two more than any other player in the Pac-12 for the year.

5. McLain was tabbed by Baseball America as the No. 33 overall collegiate prospect for this year's MLB Draft.

6. Ethan Long is the No. 38 overall collegiate prospect for the 2022 MLB Draft according to Baseball America. 

7. And looking ahead, Hunter Haas is Baseball American's No. 38 overall collegiate prospect for the 2023 MLB Draft. 

8. ASU is 48-15-1 all-time in season openers and has won or split 15 of its last 16 season-opening series. 

9. ASU had one or fewer errors in 40 of 52 regular season games last year, going 39-11 in those contests. 

10. Ethan Long has became the 129th All-American in Sun Devil history, earning consensus honors from the major outlets last year.

BY THE NUMBERS

60 - The Sun Devil defense turned a nation's-best 60 double plays last season, of which no player in the country had more than Sean McLain's 48 double plays turned. ASU will have to overcome the loss of shortstop Drew Swift and his 42 double plays last year, but Hunter Haas - who turned a Pac-12 third-basemen best of 12 last year - will look to fill the gap as he forms a formiddable middle infield duo with McLain. ASU had one error or less in 40 regular season games last season, and would go on to a 39-11 record in those games. 

33 - Sean McLain became a staple in the Sun Devil infield and batting order last season en route to being named a freshman All-American, Pac-12 All-Conference selection and ABCA All-West Region pick. McLain enters the season as the No. 33 overall collegiate prospect in the 2022 class, according to Baseball America. McLain was a Collegiate Baseball News freshman All-American, an ABCA All-West Region first team selection at second base and an honorable All-Pac-12 choice.He was second on the team with a .322 average on the year, just outside ASU's all-time freshman top-10.

1 - Only one player in the Pac-12 finished the 2021 season with over a .700 slugging percentage and that was Sun Devil All-American Ethan Long. The big bopper had 27 extra base hits on the year and finished with a .704 slugging percentage that was 21st in the nation and and 16 long balls were the second most in Sun Devil freshmen history. Ethan Long is tabbed as the No. 37 overall prospect in the 2022 MLB Draft class by Baseball America and is a consensus Preseason All-America pick this season as well as a Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List member.

0 - The Sun Devil pitching staff features exactly zero freshmen this season. ASU leaned heavily into the transfer portal this season, welcoming nine players from other collegiate programs to join the eight Sun Devil pitchers still on the roster. Two of those eight didn't see action last year in recovering from injury in Boyd Vander Kooi and Luke La Flam. The other six, however, combined for a total of 135 appearances last season. ASU's transfer pitchers account for 88 Division I appearances and 46 starts.

Follow the Action

• All three games this weekend will be available through the Sun Devil Athletics/Pac-12 Live Stream. Friday's game will be available at: https://pac-12.com/live/arizona-state-university while the remaining games will take palce at: https://pac-12.com/live/arizona-state-university-2 
• Friday's opener will be available on the airwaves on 1440 AM with Tim Healey and Max Rossiter. 
• Fans are encouraged to follow along pre-game and in-game content throughout the weekend on the Sun Devil Baseball Twitter account: @ASU_Baseball, especially for key weather updates and time changes.

On the Trailblazers/Season Openers

• This will mark the first ever meeting between the two programs. 
• Dixie State posted a 24-32 overall record in its first season as an NCAA Division I program, which included a 21-15 mark and a fourth place finish in its first season of Western Athletic Conference play.
• The Trailblazers won 13 of their final 19 games, highlighted by an 11-9 upset win at then-No. 6 and Pac-12 champion Arizona in the penultimate game of the season.
• Dixie State is 9-6 all-time on "Opening Day" during its NCAA era and has won five of its last six, and nine of its previous 12 season debuts overall
• Kaden Hollow earned first team all-WAC and 2021 Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Freshman All-America honors after batting .322 with 15 doubles, nine homers and 41 RBI. He finished the year ranked in the WAC's top-10 in four offensive categories, including slugging percentage (.559), home runs, doubles, and RBI.
• On the bump, sophomore RHP Dillon Holliday (5-2/4.32 ERA/35 K), who will be DSU's Opening Day starter at ASU, is back to anchor a veteran rotation. ASU G2 starter sophomore righthander Brett Porthan (2-0/5.73 ERA/25 K), will also play prominent roles in the Blazers' rotation. In addition, sophomores Ryan Hardman (3-6/8.36 ERA/43 K), who may also see time in the late innings out of the bullpen, and southpaw (and ASU G3 starter ) Ben Hart (3-5/8.67 ERA/37 K), along with junior college transfer RHP Jake Dahle (College of Southern Idaho – 6-3/3.06 ERA/50 K) will also be in the mix in the Trailblazer rotation.
• The Sun Devils are 48-15-1 in season openers and have won or split 15 of their last 16 season opening series. ASU has won 12 of its last 15 season openers, though it dropped last year's behind a ninth-inning go-ahead grand slam to Sacramento State.

Big Sean

• Sean McLain became a staple in the Sun Devil infield and batting order last season en route to being named a freshman All-American, Pac-12 All-Conference selection and ABCA All-West Region pick. McLain enters the season as the No. 33 overall collegiate prospect in the 2022 class, according to Baseball America. 
• McLain recorded a 23-game hitting streak last season - tied for the third-longest at ASU since 1998 with Andre Ethier's 2003 23-game hitting streak
• McLain was a Collegiate Baseball News freshman All-American, an ABCA All-West Region first team selection at second base and an honorable All-Pac-12 choice
• He was second on the team with a .322 average on the year, just outside ASU's all-time freshman top-10 in the category
• McLain led the team in multi-hit games this year with 23. His 10 multi-RBI games were second on the team
• McLain had 17 doubles in the regular season, good for sixth in the Pac-12 and finished with 18 on the year – tied for third in ASU freshman history
• He led the team with 24 hits with two outs on 66 chances (.364)
• McLain stranded just 22 runners on the base path this year, lowest among the team day-to-day starters by a significant amount
• McLain successfully advanced runners 50.5 percent of the time (54-of-107 chances) – second on the year
• He had eight errors on 270 chances on the year, though one of those errors came while playing in the outfield. Those 255 chances were second among Pac-12 second-basemen - despite missing several games
• He turned 48 double plays on the season, two more than any other player in the league even including those with runs to the College World Series and 13 more than any other second baseman

Welcome to Our Haas

• Hunter Haas will be a part of that potent lineup and his move to shortstop will be a pivotal one as the team looks to replace the 2021 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, Drew Swift. Haas is the No. 5 player Baseball America's 2023 Pac-12 MLB Draft prospect list (No. 38 overall collegiate prospect) and started close to every game at third base and consistently batted in the middle of the lineup and was the only player to start every game for ASU last season. 
• Got it done both at the plate and at the hot corner, finishing the year with a .304 average
• Collegiate Baseball News Freshman All-American…Pac-12 All-Defensive Team (3B)…ABCA All-West Region (Second Team/3B)…ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove Finalist (3B)
• His 22 multi-hit games were second on the roster. He had a streak of seven straight games with multiple hits in April and 14 came after the date of April 17
• His 26 hits with runners in scoring position were the most on the team and six more than any other player (and came on 64 chances for a .406 average)
• Haas posted the go-ahead RBI or unassisted go-ahead run seven times this season in ASU's 33 wins.
• He was significantly better in clutch scenarios with a .371 average with runners on the basepath and a whopping .406 average with RISP compared to just a .239 average when the bases are empty
• Haas successfully advanced runners a team-high 57 times on 111 opportunities this season for a .514 average
• Haas has incredibly solid at the hot corner, with just six errors on 149 chances (one coming at a spot start at shortstop)
• His 12 double plays turned were tops among Pac-12 third basemen
• Led the team with 12 stolen bases on 13 chances

I Love Lamp

• Joe Lampe was one of three Sun Devils selected to the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team after not posting an error in center field in conference games all year. He finished the season with just one error and a .993 fielding percentage
• Also named a ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove Finalist as an outfielder
• In the opener against USC, Lampe recorded nine putouts - the most by an ASU center fielder since at least 1998. Hunter Bishop had eight in 2019 and no other player had more than seven
• Lampe did a solid job turning the order around in the nine-hole with a .383 OBP compared to a .294 average
• Lampe successfully advanced runners 53 times on 102 chances (.520) – the highest percentage in the team
• He was absurd at productive outs, recording 23 runners advanced with an out this year - five more than any other player on the roster
• He was ASU's best player with a runner on third and less than two outs with 13 RBI - tops on the team - and a .684 average on 19 chances

We Want EZ

• Ethan Long is tabbed as the No. 37 overall prospect in the 2022 MLB Draft class by Baseball America.
• Long became the 129th Sun Devil to be named an All-American, becoming a consensus selection after being named to teams by Collegiate Baseball News, NCBWA, and Baseball America
• Also earned two freshman All-America nods (CBN/NCBWA) and was a First Team All-Pac-12 pick
• Was an ACBA All-West Region second team selection and Pac-12 All-Conference first team pick
• Finished the regular season 22nd nationally and second in the Pac-12 with 16 home runs while finishing 13th nationally and leading the league with a .725 slugging percentage on .340 hitting. He was sixth in the league with 53 RB
• His .340 average remained the same through the postseason, giving him the ninth-highest freshman average in Sun Devil history
• Finished with a team-best 54 RBI, tied with Barry Bonds for fourth in ASU freshman history while his 16 homers on the year surpassed Bonds for second in ASU freshman history behind only Spencer Torkelson (25) and good for Top-Five in the league
• These numbers are made all the more incredible knowing that after the Washington series concluded on April 11, he had just one home run and 12 RBIs on the year after entering the season as the team's closer and posting four saves and no earned runs in the opening weeks of action before going down with a minor injury that kept him off the bump
• Led the team with 21 two-out RBI and bat .400 on the year (20-of-40) with runners in scoring position
• Long was responsible for the go-ahead RBI in seven Sun Devil victories this season – three coming against ranked opponents (#16 Oregon, #18 Stanford and #23 Oregon State) and four coming by way of the long ball. He has two go-ahead home runs in the ninth inning of games this year 
• Behind Long's bat, ASU won five straight weekend series in the last half of the year. He began getting hot with his go-ahead two-RBI eighth inning double off potential Stanford All-American closer Zach Grech on April 16. In the 19-game stretch that started that night and lasted until his hitless weekend against USC in the penultimate series, Long bat .444 with 40 RBI, 15 home runs, eight doubles, a 1.181 slugging percentage, a .500 OBP and an absurd 1.681 OPS. Of his 32 hits in that span, 23 were for extra bases.
• Long was the only player in the Pac-12 to earn multiple Pac-12 Player of the Week nods this season, let alone three.  He was the first Pac-12 player to win the honor three times in a season since Hunter Bishop in 2019. Andrew Vaughn of Cal was the last non-Sun Devil to accomplish the feat thrice in one season in 2018 when he was eventually named the Pac-12 Player of the Year. 

Nate the Great

• Nate Baez earned All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention accolades as a catcher, despite only playing behind the dish for only the last month and a half of the season.
• Baez bat a team-best .362 over the final 14 games of the season with team highs in homers (8) and RBI (20) in that stretch while slugging a gaudy .915. All eight of his home runs came in those 14 games
• Finished the year with a .276 average with 26 starts and 41 games played
• All these numbers are notable as he didn't become a fixture in the starting lineup until the Cal series as he has fully taken on his role as the team's backstop, showing off his utility after coming to ASU as an infielder and spending much of his early career there prior to this current stretch.

The Kids Will Be Alright

• The Sun Devil return just under 60 percent of the team's hits from last year after fielding the second-youngest lineup among all Power-Five teams with freshmen representing 66.3 percent of the Sun Devil at-bats for the year.
• In fact, ASU was one of just three teams among all Power Five programs with a 50 percent or more rate of freshmen ABs (Virginia Tech and Washington). All remaining Power Five programs combined are averaging just 21.6 percent of their at-bats this season from freshmen. 
• For a young team that took its fair share of gut punches, ASU was 11-4 in weekend series last year and went 13-13 when trailing or tied after five innings in the regular season. Those 13 wins were tied for the most  in a season at ASU since 1998 (the 2011 team was 13-13 and three times ASU had 12). Only the 2007  (10-7) and 2010 (10-9) have posted winning records in the category since 1998.
• The fact of the matter is that ASU returns plenty of players that saw plenty of action in tight games and big moments despite their relative use, which will hopefully see them as a group of seasoned vets in the months ahead.

Playing the Field

• The Sun Devils were likely one of the few teams in the country that are not returning a single position player to their 2020 positions in 2021. ASU's only veteran starter was Drew Swift - who shifted over to shortstop this season after spending the majority of his career at second base.. All other positions on the diamond have been replaced by newcomers.
• Despite that, ASU finds itself fielding at a very respectable .976 fielding percentage in the regular season - good for 47th nationally
• The left side of the Sun Devil infield has been exceptional this season as Swift and Hunter Haas have combined for just 10 errors on 380 chances. The 10 errors mark the lowest on the left side of an infield in the Pac-12.
• ASU's 380 chances on the left side of the infield are second-most for a primary duo in the Pac-12 as Haas will be no stranger to the spotlight as he takes over for Swift at shortstop this season
• ASU was first in the nation with 60 double plays turned last season, which is especially impressive since the team had just six in the first 14 games of the season.
• Sean McLain (48), Drew Swift (32) and Hunteer Haas (12) all led their respective positions in the Pac-12 in double plays turned in the regular season.  McLain and Swift were first and third in the league in the category, regardless of position - incredibly notable as first basemen tend to lead the way in the area.
• ASU had one or fewer errors in 40 games last year during the regular season, going 29-11 in those.

The Kids Will Be Alright

• Sun Devil baseball is fielding the second-youngest lineup among all Power-Five teams with freshmen representing 66.3 percent of the Sun Devil at-bats this season. Only Virginia Tech's 72.0 percent is higher. 
• In fact, ASU is one of just three teams among all Power Five programs with a 50 percent or more rate of freshmen ABs (Virginia Tech and Washington). All remaining Power Five programs combined are averaging just 21.6 percent of their at-bats this season from freshmen. 
• If the season ended today, Sean McLain and Ethan Long would both move into ASU's all-time top-10 for freshmen batting averages. 
• For a young team that has taken its fair share of gut punches, ASU is 11-4 in weekend series this year and are 13-13 when trailing or tied after five innings on the season. 
• Those 13 wins are tied for the most  in a season at ASU since 1998 (the 2011 team was 13-13 and three times ASU had 12). Only the 2007  (10-7) and 2010 (10-9) have posted winning records in the category since 1998.

Big Willie Style

• One of the best players in the program's record books will start a new era of Sun Devil Baseball as Willie Bloomquist looks forward to his first season at the helm of the Devils. 
• A 14-year Major League Baseball veteran and with over 20 years of experience in professional baseball, Bloomquist returns to the Sun Devils as one of the most accomplished alumni in program history and has remained deeply entrenched in all levels of baseball.
• Bloomquist spent five years as a Special Assistant to Arizona Diamondbacks President & CEO Derrick Hall after joining the front office in May 2016. In this role, Bloomquist assisted Hall and other departments throughout the baseball and business side of the organization, including working on-field with players at all levels of the organization, attending community events, meeting with corporate partners, interacting with season ticket holders and visiting D-backs Minor League affiliates.
• The Port Orchard, Wash., native joined USA Baseball's Board of Directors in 2016, a post he has retained since then. Bloomquist is a two-time alum of Team USA, having played for the Collegiate National Team in 1998 and for the 2013 World Baseball Classic.
• Bloomquist became the first Arizona State Sun Devil to play for the Diamondbacks and spent three seasons with the franchise from 2011-13, serving a key role on the 2011 National League West Championship team. In 225 games for the D-backs, he hit .289 with 36 doubles, 8 triples, 4 homers, 63 RBI, 43 walks and 27 stolen bases. In the 2011 NL Division Series vs. Brewers, he hit .318 (7-for-22) with an RBI and three stolen bases in five games. In 2012, he set career highs with a .302 average and 21 doubles.
• 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). Of the 111 Sun Devils to play in MLB, only seven earned more service time than Bloomquist.
• Bloomquist played three seasons at ASU (1997-99) and earned 1999 Pac-10 Player of the Year honors as a junior. In 1998, he tied a College World Series single-game record with 5 hits in a game while leading a team that competed for the National Championship. Bloomquist was an All-American in both the 1998 and 1999 campaigns. He finished his college career with a .394 average before being drafted by the Mariners in the third round of the 1999 draft. 
• To this day, Bloomquist still holds the fourth-highest career batting average in school history (.394) while he remains fifth in ASU history in runs (216), fourth in triples (22) and fourth in stolen bases (72) and was named to the All-Packard Team in 2014.