 |
|
 |
Coach Murphy's Responses
This Week's Winner of the ASU baseball cap is Terry Lee Tyrrell of Phoenix, AZ!
Larry Vosmik (Scottsdale, AZ)Coach Murphy, During one of the Duke games a Blue Devils batter appeared to be hit in the hands by a pitch. He had two strikes on him at the time. The batter was called out and the Duke coach argued for a long time. What happened?
Coach Murphy: The umpire said that the batter swung. If you swing at a pitch that hits you, it is a strike.
Ruben Aguilar (Irvine, CA)
Coach, sometimes baseball is a very unfair game.
Like in the 1998 CWS, I really felt ASU should've
won against USC. How do you prepare your young players
for this situations and not let that bring their
spirit down and take every game at a time and forget
what happened the day before?
Coach Murphy: You can only control your preparation and your response to a situation. I remind the players that they have to focus and prepare for what ever the game brings them.
Janet Caldwell (Tempe, AZ)
We all wish Mike Espinosa the best with his surgery. My question is -
with the loss of Mike for this year what is that going to do to the depth
of our pitching staff for the rest of the year. Does anyone seem to be
stepping up to be able to take on his role?
Coach Murphy: Even though we did lose Esposito and Waldrip, a lot of players have stepped up and made contributions. Pezely, Field, Doble and Friedberg have all made significant contributions. We are still waiting for Fingers to come into a zone, and Kartler and Liebeck are also showing a lot of promise.
Karen M. Caldwell (Tempe, AZ)
With the parity in College Baseball today, due to the decrease in
scholarships and other factors, including the amount of money Pro
Baseball is throwing around, when you are recruiting, do you present the
fact that less than 10% of the kids going into the minors actually make
the "Show" and the advantages of playing college ball (especially on the
West coast and in the Pac-10)? AND, what do you feel those advantages
are? Also, do you think we will ever see the wood bat in college ball?
GO DEVILS!!!
Coach Murphy: No question -- we present the benefits of college baseball. Playing college baseball makes you a different adult. It provides opportunities for growth in baseball, like and business. Regarding your other question -- no, I do not think that wood bats will ever be used in college baseball.
Terry Lee Tyrrell (Phoenix, AZ)
Coach Murphy, in a recent article in the Tallahassee, Florida paper the
difference between the Wilson and Rawlings baseballs was discussed. FSU
batters were saying the Rawlings ball is dead and "doesn't move". The
pitchers were saying the laces were more raised on the Wilson ball and
therefore they could get to break more. All this while trying to justify
FSU's lack of homerun production this year. They also mentioned how the
balls used during the ASU series were different then they use at home.
Are the baseballs used determined by the NCAA? the conferences? And are
they truly this drastic of differences?
Coach Murphy: Non-conference balls are determined by the home team. For conference games, the NCAA and the conference strike a deal with a ball company. In regards to the quality, there is very little difference between major manufacturers' best baseballs. But every company makes different quality balls.
Thanks again to all the fans writing in to "Ask the Coach"!