Baseball Well-Regarded in the Preseason

PHOENIX – Anticipation is high for Sun Devil Baseball with Opening Night just days away and plenty of people around the sport are taking notice of the Arizona State roster ahead of the season.
 
The Sun Devils had five players named to the Preseason All-Pac-12 team, as voted upon by the league's coaches. All five players are position players, giving ASU the most in the league and two more than any other program.
 
Ryan Campos, Jacob Tobias, Nu'u Contrades, Nick McLain and Harris Williams were the recipients of the preseason accolades, with Williams representing the only transfer in the Pac-12 to be recognized by the league's coaches.
 
McLain was tabbed by D1Baseball at the No. 53 collegiate prospect in the 2024 MLB Draft with Campos checking in at No. 95. Isaiah Jackson was dubbed the No. 17 collegiate prospect for the 2025 MLB Draft by the outlet and Nu'u Contrades as the No. 52 prospect.
 
Campos was ranked as the No. 10 catcher in the country for 2024 by D1Baseball, Tobias as the No. 44 first baseman, Contrades as the No. 46 third baseman and Williams as the No. 88 outfielder in the country.
 
McLain was tabbed as the No. 6 Pac-12 prospect in the 2024 Draft class with Campos checking in at No. 10, according to D1Baseball. Isaiah Jackson is the No. 3 prospect in the 2025 Draft Class in the league with Nu'u Contrades tabbed at No. 7.
 
The Sun Devils brought in the No. 25 transfer class in the nation, according to D1Baseball, highlighted by San Francisco All-WCC competitors Williams and Mario Demera, Santa Clara's All-WCC Eamonn Lance and highly touted junior college transfer Kevin Karstetter out of the State College of Florida.
 
ASU also brought in the No. 23 freshman class in the country, according to D1Baseball, highlighted by middle infielders Ethan Mendoza and Jax Ryan, local two-way prospect Cole Carlon and Opening Night starter Thomas Burns out of Wisconsin.
 
Sun Devil Baseball Preseason All-Pac-12 Selections
 
Ryan Campos
Jr. /// Catcher

• ASU's most reliable presence over the last two seasons, Ryan Campos earned his first recognition to the All-Pac-12 First Team last season as a sophomore after picking up an honorable mention honor as a freshman, also earning Freshman All-America honors that season as well.
• Campos enters the season as D1Baseball's 10th-ranked catcher in the country and No. 95 collegiate prospect for the 2024 MLB Draft.
• Will enter his junior season with a .372 career-batting average that will be among the Top-15 among active Division I players and the highest of any catcher on the list
• Campos has reached base in a ridiculous 79-of-89 (88.8%) career games with the Sun Devils overall and all but two games this season...The two games he did not reach base was once during opening weekend and the first game after he returned from an 11-game injury absence
• Had a team-best 31-game reached base streak at one point in the season and showed off plenty of extra pop in the bat, recording eight homers, seven doubles and a triple
• Campos was named to the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List and also tabbed as the Pac-12 Player of the Week after the Washington State series during his sophomore campaign.
• In 44 games, Campos smacked .388 with 16 extra-base hits including eight home runs...He walked 35 times and struck out on a mere 17 occurrences
• Campos' 35 earned free passes were 15th in the league, yet because of his midseason injury, he had the fewest games played of anyone in the top 50 in the category.
• His .388 average was third in the Conference of Champions and his .503 OBP was tops in the league
• Campos was named the Jim Brock Mr. Sun Devil at the squad's end-of-season awards banquet at the end of the regular season last year....Named for the legendary and late Dr. Jim Brock, the award is presented to the student-athlete who best exemplifies the attitude and character expected of a Sun Devil Baseball Player
• For his elite efforts behind the plate, Campos was named as a Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Semifinalist.

Jacob Tobias
Jr. /// Catcher

• Jacob Tobias earned Pac-12 Honorable Mention accolades last season as he took his game to the next level, finishing with a .317 average and starting 54 games - the majority coming at first base.
• Tobias was named by D1Baseball as the No. 44 first baseman in the country.
• He slugged .546 with 10 homers, nine doubles and leading the team with four triples en route to a 59 RBI season - good for ninth in the Pac-12 though the eight players in front of him benefited from postseason action
• Tobias was deadly the second time through the order with 22 of those RBIs coming in the fourth or fifth innings when he saw a starter for the second or third time
• As a sophomore, he recorded an RBI in 12 of the last 18 games of the season and 33 games overall
• Tobias was 7-of-9 on the season when the bases were loaded and brought a runner home from third with less than two outs 75 percent of the time (15-of-20).
• Tobias was named a Freshman All-American in 2022. His 12 bases (two homers, two doubles) against Utah in the series finale are tied for the most by a Pac-12 player in a game. His seven homers this year were tied for eighth in ASU freshman history.

Nick McLain
R-So. /// Outfielder

• Nick McLain missed the first half of the season last year after a sustaining a hand injury the week prior to the season and wasted no time catching up on the lost time.
• McLain earned Pac-12 All-Conference Honorable Mention despite appearing in just 23 games, posting a .298 average and reached base at a .391 clip while slugging .649 behind eight homers, two triples and five doubles, recording over an RBI per game with 24 on the season, recording eight multi-RBI games.
• He enters this season as D1Baseball No. 53 collegiate prospect for the 2024 MLB Draft.
• He 3-for-6 with four RBIs  - including a two-run insurance missile in the ninth - in his collegiate debut, a road win over Grand Canyon
• McLain tarted his collegiate career with an 11-game hit streak - the longest streak to start a career for an ASU freshman since at least the 1998, as far back as easily found records can be accessed - and had hits in 14 of his first 15 games as a Sun Devil
• He also recorded five outfield assists on the year in his limited action.

Nu'u Contrades
So. /// Infielder

• Honored as the team's Bobby Winkles Award winner as a true freshman, Nu'u Contrades found himself at home in the valley as he earned All-Pac-12 honorable mention honors as an infielder.
• Contrades enters the season as a Preseason All-Pac-12 selection and as D1Baseball's No. 46 third baseman in the country.
• The ASU third baseman bat .309 with 20 extra base hits (eighr homers, two triples, 10 doubles), recording 40 RBIs
• The .309 average was in the Top-5 for freshmen in the Pac-12 last season and Top-50 among all freshmen in the country...The rally at the dish came despite the youngster still sitting below the Mendoza line as of March 7
• He obliterated the University of Arizona in the three-game series in Tempe, where he was 7-14 (.500) with eight RBI, three runs scored...He plated the winning run in Saturday's series-securing victory and scored it in the series finale Sunday and was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week in the process
• He led the team with 10 RBIs (of 31 total for the week for ASU) with a .947 slugging percentage while batting .474 on 9-of-19 hitting in four total games that week

Harris Williams
Sr. /// Outfielder

• WCC All-Conference Second Team in 2023... All-WCC Honorable Mention in 2022...WCC All-Academic Honorable Mention (2022, 2023)
• Was USF's second-best hitter by average in 2023 behind fellow transfer Mario Demera, posting a .346 average to go with nine homers and 14 doubles for a .571 slugging percentage and reaching at a .421 clip and leading the WCC with 22 stolen bases to earn WCC Second Team honors
• Finished as a .299 career hitter at USF over four seasons, starting 147 games and playing in 165 and recording 20 homers, three triples, 34 doubles and 109 total RBIs while scoring 95 runs and stealing 46 bases