TEMPE, Ariz. – Sun Devil for Life Tony Barnette became the 106th Sun Devil to play Major League Baseball after making his debut for the Texas Rangers on April 5. Barnette entered the game in the seventh inning and faced five batters.
The 106 players Arizona State has sent to the Major Leagues is the most of any school since 1959, the year baseball’s modern era started at ASU, and trails only USC, which leads all schools with 109. ASU's major leaguers all debuted since 1963, while USC (1927) has a much longer history of sending players to the MLB. USC’s list also includes five freshman-only players.
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. Thirty-one ASU baseball players have made their MLB debuts since 2002, and Barnette is the seventh Sun Devil from the 2005 team and sixth from the 2006 team. The 2005 team is tied with the 2000 team for the most Major Leaguers on an ASU roster since 1984. The 1975 team holds the school record with 14.
Barnette, a 2002 graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School in Auburn, Wash., transferred to Arizona State for his junior season after playing two seasons at Central Arizona College. The right-handed pitcher was used primarily as a set-up man out of the bullpen for two years at ASU, but also made 12 starts, and finished his ASU career with a 10-2 record in 104.2 innings.
The Diamondbacks selected Barnette in the 10th round of the 2006 MLB draft and he spent three seasons in the minors, making it to Double-A. Barnette spent the past six seasons playing for the Yakult Swallows of the Japan Central League, where he tallied an 11-19 record with a 3.58 ERA in 97 games for the Swallows. In December 2015, the Texas Rangers signed Barnette to a two-year deal.
Sun Devil Baseball has a long and storied tradition of producing MLB players across the past six-plus decades, including an NCAA-best 409 Sun Devils who have been drafted, a combined 24 World Series appearances and 57 All-Star Games, nine MVP awards, four Rookie of the Year’s, 16 Gold Gloves, 17 Silver Sluggers and two World Series MVP honors.
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.
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