PHOENIX – Sun Devil Baseball bookended the opening round of the 2020 MLB Draft as Spencer Torkelson was selected with the No. 1 overall pick by the Detroit Tigers while Alika Williams was chosen 37th overall by the Tampa Bay Rays in the Competitive Balance Round A with the final selection of Wednesday evening.
Torkelson becomes the fourth Arizona State baseball player to go No. 1 overall in program history, easily an NCAA-high – two more than any other program. He joins Rick Monday (1965), Floyd Bannister (1976) and Bob Horner (1978) to earn the prestigious designation out of ASU.
It is the seventh time in ASU history that the program recorded two first round selections (including supplementary rounds) - tied with Stanford for the most multi-pick years in NCAA history. The last time it occurred was 1997 when Ryan Bradley and Dan McKinley were selected 40th and 49th overall in the supplemental rounds. It is the first time with at least one of the players going in the non-compensatory first round since 1994 (Antone Williamson (4th) and Jacob Cruz (32nd)).
With Torkelson becoming Sun Devil Baseball's fourth No. 1 overall pick, Arizona State now ranks tied for fourth among all NCAA programs for most No. 1 overall draft picks from a single program among the major sports (MLB/NBA/NFL/NHL). Notre Dame, Oklahoma and USC football have all had five No. 1 picks in the NFL draft. Sun Devil Baseball is the only NCAA baseball program in the Top-10.
Torkelson was the 22nd first round selection for the Sun Devils in program history (June draft only, no supplemental rounds) – good for the second-highest tally in NCAA history (Stanford's 23). With supplemental rounds included, Torkelson and Williams mark 30 first-round selections - one behind Stanford for the most in the NCAA. The duo marks the 51st and 52nd first round selections in program history with the supplementary, January and June Secondary phase drafts included as well.
Mo-Tork City ??
— Sun Devil Baseball (@ASU_Baseball) June 10, 2020
It's official?? @spennyt selected first overall by the @Tigers?? pic.twitter.com/xJsLR7E0h6
Torkelson's selection marks the second consecutive season that a Sun Devil has gone in the first 10 picks of the MLB Draft, joining Hunter Bishop's 10th overall selection by the San Francisco Giants last season. Torkelson is the 14th Top-10 pick in Sun Devil program history - the most of any program in the NCAA.
Torkelson and Williams mark the 443rd and 444rh overall draft picks for Arizona State – also a total that leads the nation.
Torkelson was selected by the Tigers as a third baseman despite playing his career at ASU as a first baseman. He is the first third baseman to go first overall since Pat Burrell in 1998 and just the fifth third baseman to be selected first overall in MLB Draft history. Had he been selected as a first baseman, it would have been the first time in history a right-handed first baseman had gone first overall in the MLB Draft while also being the first ever college first baseman to be selected first.
It also marked the first time a college position player went from being undrafted out of high school to the No. 1 overall pick since Nebraska outfielder Darin Erstad in 1995 – though it should be noted Erstad's high school didn't have a baseball program. Arkansas third baseman Jeff King in 1986 would mark the last time prior to that.
Torkelson had 54 homers in his career, second in Sun Devil history and needed just three to surpass Bob Horner's long-standing school record of 56 – a feat he almost surely would have achieved with a full season this year.
Torkelson played 35 multi-game series at ASU and homered at least once in 28 of those. He played 20 Pac-12 series and homered in 18 - the season finales against Cal (2018) and Stanford (2019) being the only exceptions. He had at least one hit in 104 of his 129 career games and multiple hits in 50 of those.
#??1??
— MLB (@MLB) June 10, 2020
The @Tigers select Arizona State 1B Spencer Torkelson. #MLBDraft pic.twitter.com/u8zkJWa11Q
Torkelson needed 19 home runs to break into the NCAA all-time Top-10 in career homers and in doing so would have become the first player in the BBCOR era to even sniff the feat. He would have been just the second player since 2000 to have a career home run tally that left him in the Top-10 in NCAA homers (Matt LaPorta, Florida).
He was the active career leader in homers at 54, regardless of NCAA level, and had 17 more home runs than the next closest Division I player.
Torkelson bat .337 in his career with 130 RBIs, 152 runs scored, 33 doubles and 54 long balls. He slugged a an incredible .729 over his career – also just shy of Mitch Jones school record .731 from 1999-2000. He struck out just 104 times in his career while walking 110 times. He was also solid defensively, recording a career fielding percentage of .987.
When Torkelson actually saw pitches to hit this year, he responded with six home runs on his 17 base hits and four doubles for a gaudy .780 slugging percentage. His six homers were 15th in the nation. The junior led the Pac-12 and was 19th nationally in slugging (.780) and was first in the league in OBP (.598/4th nationally) and in runs scored (24/3rd nationally).
Torkelson reached base in all 17 games this season and rode a 22-game reached-base streak dating back to last year. Torkelson led the nation with 31 walks, an incredible 15 of which were intentional. He had 10 more walks than any other player in the country. With those numbers extrapolated over the course of a whole season, Torkelson would have challenged the NCAA record for single-season walks. Torkelson drew a walk in 15-of-17 games this season and had a school record five walks in ASU's extra-inning victory over New Mexico State, tying the record set by Kole Calhoun (2010), Alvin Davis (1982) and Fred Nelson (1967).
His 15 intentional walks were already the most by any Sun Devil in a season since at least 1998 (Jeff Larish with 11 in 67 games in 2005). His 15 intentional walks were more than the entire Sun Devil TEAM posted in 16 of the last 22 seasons.
A once-in-a-lifetime moment ?? pic.twitter.com/ugwcWw3kJa
— Arizona State Sun Devils (@TheSunDevils) June 10, 2020
Torkelson was a two-time Golden Spikes Award semifinalist, given annually to the top player in college baseball. He was a unanimous All-America selection as both a freshman and sophomore. Collegiate Baseball also tabbed him as an All-American in his COVID-19-shortened junior season.
He will go down in the history books as the first Pac-12 player in history to be crowned the league home run champion in three consecutive seasons as he also led the league when the 2020 season was canceled. He was only the third Pac-12 player in history to post back-to-back 20+ home run seasons.
He was the nation's home run champion as a freshman with 25 home runs – two more than any other player. Torkelson also donned the Red, White and Blue as he competed for the U.S.A. Collegiate National Baseball team following his freshman and sophomore seasons.
Alika Williams joined Torkelson as the starting shortstop for Team USA this past summer and finished his career at ASU batting .300 with 91 runs scored, 81 RBIs and 31 extra-base hits. He struck out just 49 times in 463 career at-bats and finished with a .961 career fielding percentage at shortstop.
Williams is the first shortstop to go in the first round since Deven Marrero went to the Red Sox 24th overall in 2012 and just the third Sun Devil shortstop in history to go in the first round.
As a leadoff batter, Williams reached 11 times on 30 chances (.367) this season and sat third on the team in advancing baserunners in front of him 21 times this year (.636 percentage on 33 chances). His nine runners advanced with an out of the season were tops on the team.
Defensively, the junior continued to be elite with 22 putouts and 38 defensive assists. He turned eight double plays on the year, tied for 7th in the conference while sitting third in the league with his 38 defensive assists.
As has been the case throughout his career, Williams did not strike out much this season and did so just four times on 64 at-bats. His one strikeout per 16.00 at-bats marked him the 34th toughest player in the nation to strike out and third in the Pac-12. Williams struck out just 32 times in his last 74 games.
ALIKA LIKE THAT??@RaysBaseball select Alika Williams! pic.twitter.com/0ut6oYBJs3
— Sun Devil Baseball (@ASU_Baseball) June 11, 2020
As has been the case the last two seasons, Williams was incredible when trailing in the count, recording 10 of his 16 hits this season while behind. As a sophomore in 2019, 41 of his 71 hits came when trailing in the count.
Williams put up impressive numbers as a sophomore in 2019, embracing his role as a cleanup hitter with All-Pac-12 honorable mention accolades with a .333 batting average with 53 RBIs - easily a career high in the category. He had just 20 total RBIs as a freshman.
Defensively, Williams was second in the Pac-12 with 149 defensive assists in 2019 while he helped turn 36 double plays, which was good for fourth overall in the Pac-12 and first among non-first basemen. He was named the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team as a result and earned honorable mention All-Pac-12 accolades as well.
Williams entered the 2020 season as a Preseason All-America by several media outlets.
The 2020 MLB Draft will continue on Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m. Arizona Time. Several other Sun Devils expect to hear their names called in Rounds Two through Five. Follow @ASU_Baseball on Twitter for updates throughout the afternoon.