TEMPE, Ariz. – Former Arizona State shortstop Deven Marrero became the 104th Sun Devil to play Major League Baseball after making his debut for the Boston Red Sox on June 28. Marrero entered the game in the second inning at second base and recorded three at-bats.
ASU now has the second-most alums that have played in the MLB behind USC, which leads all schools with 109. ASU's major leaguers all debuted since 1963, while Texas (1908) and USC (1927) have a much longer history of sending players to the MLB. Texas' list also includes three freshman-only players, while USC has five freshman-only players.
The 104 players ASU has sent to the Major Leagues is the most of any school since 1959, the year baseball’s modern era started at ASU, and ASU has had at least one major league player on their varsity roster from 1961 through 2012, which is the longest current streak in the nation. Twenty-nine former ASU baseball players have made their MLB debuts since 2002, and Marrero is the first player from ASU’s 2012 team to reach the MLB.
Marrero is the 15th Sun Devil to appear in an MLB game in 2015, which is the second-most among all NCAA schools this season, and joins Austin Barnes as the second Devil to make his MLB debut in 2015. ASU leads all Div. I programs with 409 MLB draft picks, including 50 over the past six years.
The 2011 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, Marrero was a three-time All-Pac-12 honoree, including a two-time first-team selection. He started 145 games during his three-year career and finished with a .325 batting average, 193 hits, 95 RBI and 102 runs scored. He set an ASU freshman record with a .397 batting average in 2010 and starred in the 2010 Tempe Super Regional as he had the game-winning walk-off single in game one and scored the game-winning run in game two. He played on the USA Baseball National Collegiate Team and for the Cotuit Kettleers of the Cape Cod League during the summer of 2011, and led Team USA with his 19 hits and 14 RBI in 14 games and was named a Cape Cod League All-Star.
Marrero was taken by the Boston Red Sox with the 24th overall pick in the 2012 MLB draft and has spent pieces of the past two seasons playing for Triple-A Pawtucket. He has appeared in 353 career minor league games, including 67 for the Pawtucket Red Sox in 2015.
The list of Sun Devils who have played in the MLB includes Floyd Bannister, Barry Bonds, Bob Horner, Reggie Jackson, Paul Lo Duca, Oddibe McDowell, Dustin Pedroia and Don Wakamatsu. Pete Lovrich was ASU's first Major Leaguer in 1963 and since then, former Sun Devils have won a combined nine Major League MVP awards and have represented ASU in the MLB All-Star Game 57 times, second most among all NCAA schools.
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