Compton Pac-12 Baseball Freshman of the Year, Nine Earn All-Conference

PHOENIX - For the second consecutive season, nine members of the Sun Devil Baseball program were recognized on the Pac-12 All-Conference teams and Brandon Compton was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, as voted upon by the league's coaches and announced by the conference Tuesday morning.
 
Compton is the fourth Sun Devil in program history to earn the Freshman of the Year honor and the first since 2020 No. 1 overall pick Spencer Torkelson earned the nod in 2018. He leads all Pac-12 freshmen in home runs with 14 and RBI with 50 while hitting .363 for the season, also tops among the league's frosh.  Compton has been exceptionally good down the stretch, with a .478 average (22-46), 5 home runs, 14 RBI and 14 runs scored in ten May games.
 
Compton also earned First Team All-Pac-12 recognition as a designated hitter, joining outfielders Kien Vu and Nick McLain, catcher Ryan Campos and first baseman Jacob Tobias on the First Team. The five First Team picks were second of all Pac-12 teams behind only Pac-12 Champion Arizona's six. 
 
The five First Team selections were the most for an ASU team since the 2015 season. It was the first time five ASU position players and/or designated hitters earned First Team honors since the 2011 team. 
 
Left-handed pitchers Connor Markl and Ben Jacobs earned All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention recognition, as did shortstop Steven Ondina. Outfielder Isaiah Jackson was named the the Pac-12 All-Defensive team to wrap up the Sun Devil accolades. 
 
With nine players recognized, ASU now has 340 all-time Pac-12 All-Conference selections, with 167 being First Team picks and 172 as Honorable Mentions.
 
Brandon Compton
Pac-12 Freshman of the Year
Pac-12 First Team - Designated Hitter

• Redshirt freshman Brandon Compton was recruited to ASU as a pitcher out of high school, but Tommy John surgery sidelined him his true frosh year, instead allowing him to focus on his bat - and focus he did.
• Compton is the Pac-12 Freshman of the year and  leads Pac-12 freshmen in homers (14), doubles (16), average (.363), slugging (.681), and OBP (.431) and RBIs (50). He is eighth overall in doubles, seventh in homers, fifth in average, fourth in slugging, eighth in OBP and 12th in RBI.
• He is 36th among all players nationally in batting average on balls in play (.444)
• His 363 batting average is Top-10 among all D1 freshmen and fifth among Power Five Freshmen and his 14 homers are Top-15 among all freshmen nationally
• The youngster is third on the team with his .363 average this season. His .383 mark (23-of-60) with runners in scoring position is second on the team.
• 27 of his 50 RBIs have come with two outs, leading the team in the category and having six more than any other player.
• Compton has recorded three grand slams this season, tied for the second most in program history and just one shy of the ASU single season record.
• His 1.113 OPS is third on the squad and is fourth in the Pac-12 while his .319 ISO Slugging (Slugging Minus Average) is fifth the Pac-12.
• Compton has easily been ASU's best hitter with two outs this season, recording a .467 average on 28-of-60 chances, leading the team in average and hits in the scenario.
• He was responsible for the go-ahead grand slam in the series finale against Ohio State that proved to be the difference in the 10-8 ballgame. He also had a huge game-tying RBI single in the eighth inning of ASU's eventual walk-off win over Oregon. He had the go-ahead two-run homer against Utah Valley as well. 

Kien Vu
Pac-12 First Team - Outfielder

• No player swung a better bat over last month  and a half for the Sun Devils - or the Pac-12 - than Kien Vu.
• In the month of April, Vu posted a .439 average to lead the Sun Devils, boasting a gaudy .848 slugging percentage that was 100 points higher than any of his teammates. He had seven homers, four doubles and a triple while driving in 26 runs - 12 more than any other Sun Devil for the month. His efforts garnered him finalist consideration for the NCBWA Hitter of the Month.
• Overall on the season, Vu posted a .427 average over 45 games and 33 starts. His 56 RBIs are tops on the squad and fifth in the Pac-12 despite having over 20 fewer at-bats than the team's eight AB leaders and nearly 50 fewer AB's than the four players in the Pac-12 ahead of him.
• His .825 slugging percentage (14 homers, 11 doubles, two triples) is easily tops on the team while he also leads the squad with 11 stolen bases on 12 chances. He is reaching base at a .506 clip on the year.
• Vu now has enough ABs to qualify for NCAA and Pac-12 statistic minimums and enters the weekend with the fourth-best batting average in the country and second in the Pac-12 by just ,02 points.
• His .825 slugging percentage is ninth nationally and second in the Pac-12 and his .506 OBP is  second in the league and 21stin the country.
• He led the Pac-12 in league-only games with 418 average and .916 slugging percentage and his 31 RBIs in Pac-12 games were fifth in the league.
• Vu is second in the country in batting average on balls in play at .516 

Ryan Campos
Pac-12 First Team - Catcher

• Ryan Campos was named a finalist for the Dick Howser Trophy last week and has twice been named the Pac-12 Player of the Week. He is also on the Watch List for the 2024 Buster Posey Award for the National Collegiate Catcher of the Year. Last weekend, Campos bat an absurd .857 (12-of-14) with nine runs scored and slugged 1.357 with three doubles and a homer
• Campos entered the season as D1Baseball's 10th-ranked catcher in the country and No. 95 collegiate prospect for the 2024 MLB Draft. He was named to the Preseason All-Pac-12 team, as voted on by the league's coaches. 
• Campos has the 19th-best active career batting average (.369) - tops among the nation's catchers and third among players with at least 500 career at-bats (559).
• Campos has reached base in a ridiculous 135-of-145 (93.1%) career games with the Sun Devils overall. He had a 40-game reached base streak dating back to 2023 snapped at Oregon State but has, regardless, reached base in 52 of 53 games for ASU this season. 
• Campos currently paces the Pac-12 with 25 doubles this season - a tally good for third in the country. His 11 homers are 15th in the league as well.
• Campos is the fourth player under Willie Bloomquist to have at least 20 doubles and 10 homers in a single season, joining Joe Lampe/Nate Baez (2022) and Luke Keaschall (2023. That tally is notable as ASU had just five players total accomplish the feat between 1998-2021. He is one of just 30 players in D1 Baseball this season to reach the 20/10 mark.
• His 55 RBIs this season are one shy of the team lead and sixth in the Pac-12. His 20 two-out RBI are the third-most on the squad.
• After an uncharacteristically low Sub-.300 average for the majority of the season, Campos rode a hot April where he bat .409 over 17 games and carried that through early May to bring his season total to .364 - good for third in the Pac-12. Campos has bat .375 in Pac-12 games, a tally that is good for fifth in the league. 
• His 25 multi-hit games are four more than any Sun Devil this year. 
• Campos' .460 average OBP is third on the roster and fifth in the Pac-12 while his .618 slugging percentage is seventh in the league. He is slugging .633 in Pac-12-only games, the fifth-best tally in the conference. 
• The junior has solidified his spot as a leadoff batter in the second half of the season and has posted a gaudy .564 on-base percentage when leading off an inning this season, reaching on 44-of-78 chances.
• Campos has 38 walks on the season, good for fifth in the league. 
•  In fact, despite having more strikeouts than he did all last season  (25), Campos still has more walks and his 0.65 strikeout-to-walk ratio is third in the Pac-12. He has  struck out just 10 times in the last 37 games after having 15 in the first 19.
• He easily leads the team in productive outs, advancing runners with an out 34 times - 17 more than any of his teammates.
• His 72 runs scored also pace the team and are good for second in the Pac-12 and10th in the country.
• Campos has been exceptional behind the plate as well, throwing out 17 of the last 54 baserunners attempting to steal on him (35.6 percent) after posting just a 2-for-21 tally to start the year. His 19 runners caught stealing are second in the Pac-12 and his 39 defensive assists this season are for second  among Pac-12 catchers. In Pac-12 games, however, his 15 runners caught stealing were three more than any other catcher and his 30 defensive assists were six more than any other backstop.
• The junior had his first multi-homer game against Santa Clara in the finale, also posting a career-best five RBIs. He added another multi-homer game against Oregon.  

Nick McLain 
Pac-12 First Team  Outfielder

• Nick McLain missed the start of the 2024 campaign for the second-straight season due to having his other hamate bone removed, but has been very productive since his return and is responsible for the go-ahead RBI or run in a team-best seven ASU games this season.
• McLain was the back-to-back Pac-12 Player of the Week the last two weekends, doing so last week after a Stanford series  and Arizona midweek where he finished the four games batting .611 on 11-of-18 hitting, with three homers and two doubles to post a 1.222 slugging percentage while reaching at a .667 clip with three walks and striking out just once. He had a team-best eight RBIs and six runs scored.
• McLain led the Pac-12 in league-only games with 38 RBIs this season out of his 54 total - which is two off the team lead. The 38 RBIs were three more than any other Pac-12 player in league games. His .692 slugging percentage in Pac-12 games was fourthin the league and his 22 extra-base hits in Pac-12 games were second.  He has homered in seven of the last 12 games.
• The sophomore enters the weekend riding a 18-game hitting streak, the longest active streak on the Sun Devils and the longest for the season overall. He has reached base in 20 straight games.
• He is second on team with 16 multi-RBI games and has recorded one of those in 10 of his last 14 games
• Nick McLain homered for the fifth-straight game in the UW finale to cap off a gaudy week at the plate with his first career five-hit game. In ASU's five games that week, McLain bat .591 (13-of-22) with 13 RBIs and scored 14 runs. He hit a walk-off grand slam in extra innings (10) to defeat Washington on Friday. He slugged 1.364 on the week with five homers and two doubles, striking out just once and reaching base at a .654 clip for a gaudy 2.018 OPS. His efforts were rewarded as the unanimous National and Conference Player of the Week by all major outlets, including NCBWA, NCAA Baseball, D1Baseball and the Pac-12 Conference. 
• McLain has drawn 33 walks this year and been hit seven times, a large part of his .462 OBP over his .346 average on the year. His 14.9 walk percentage this season is 11th in the Pac-12 and is 0.82 strikeout-to-walk ratio is fifth in the league.
• He has brought the runner home from third with less than two outs 14 times this season - leading the team despite missing eight games. 
• McLain's 17 doubles this season are seventh in the league despite his games missed and his 12 homers are 13th. His 1.117 OPS is third in the conference and his .346 average is seventh.
• Defensively, McLain is 30th in the country in defensive runs saved on fly balls at 3.72. He has no errors on 92 chances this season with a team-leading five outfield assists. 
• McLain is one of just 13 eligible players in the Pac-12 to not record an error thus season and his 9 errorless chances are fourth among those. 

Jacob Tobias 
Pac-12 First Team - First Base

• Jacob Tobias earned Preseason Pac-12 All-Pac-12 recognition after he took his game to the next level last season, finishing with a .317 average and starting 54 games - the majority coming at first base.
• Tobias is batting .329 this  season with 55 RBIs, 14 doubles and a team-leading 18 homers, the latter of which is good for second in the Pac-12. His .635 slugging percentage is sixth in the league.  He slugged .626 in Pac-12 games, the ninth-best tally in the conference.
• His 14 doubles give him 33 for his ASU career while the 18 homers have bumped his career tally to 35. The 35 homers are the seventh-most for a player in the career at ASU since the 1998 season.
• Tobias' 143 career RBIs are the 15th-most for an ASU player since the 1998 season and his .558 career slugging percentage is also 18th at ASU in that time. 
• Tobias has a 22-game active reached base streak going into the weekend, trailing only Campos' active 25 game-streak and third longest for the season (Campos had a 30-game streak to start the year as well).
• The junior posted his first career five-hit game in the finale against Arizona and added a four-hit game against Utah. He added another five-hit game in just seven innings against Texas Tech last weekend.
• Tobias has recorded 19 RBIs in his last four games alone (six, eight, four, one) to now sit tied for second on the team with 55 this season. He joins Spencer Torkelson as the only other Sun Devil in the last decade to record over 50 RBIs and over 10 homers in back-to-back seasons. His 55 RBIs this season are tied for sixth in the Pac-12.

Connor Markl
Pac-12 Honorable Mention - Left-Handed Pitcher

• Connor Markl has been Mr. Consistent on the mound for the Sun Devils this season, posting a team-best four quality starts - which included posting consecutive quality starts for the first time since Tyler Meyer in March of 2022 - and eating up innings on Saturday's after ASU had to rebuild its  weekend rotation after losing two of its Opening Weekend starting pitchers.
• Markl went at least 5.0 innings in seven straight starts over the course of March and April,. It was the first time in his career going 5.0+ innings in seven-straight games and tied for the most at ASU since current Kansas City Royals pitcher Alec Marsh started the 2019 season with 10 such games. He now has eight such games going 5.0 or more innings in a contest.
• Markl was named the Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week following the Arizona series, ASU's first pitcher of the week since March of 2022 as well, for his efforts in one-hitting the Wildcats. 
• In his two quality starts against Arizona and Washington State, Markl had a 1.42 ERA over 12.2 innings with 14 strikeouts to four walks, holding opponents to a .186 average against. 
• He matched his career high in innings pitched with his 6.0 against Arizona and then topped it with his 6.2-inning effort against Washington State. It marked the first time in his career that he had posted back-to-back 6.0 inning efforts. 
• The senior has been exceptional in league games and his 3.54 ERA is fifth among Pac-12 starters. His 4.21 overall ERA is seventh in the league.
• Opponents are slugging just .362 off of Markl, the third-lowest tally in the league. \ 

Ben Jacobs 
Pac-12 Honorable Mention - Left-Handed Pitcher

• Ben Jacobs has put together an impressive season for ASU and done so in a number of roles, making nine starts while coming out of the pen 10 times.
• Jacobs has a team-best 92 strikeouts this season over just 60.2 innings.
• The 92 strikeouts are third-best in the league but his 13.65  K/9 is easily tops in  league among players with at least 35 innings pitched this year with only Stanford's Matt Scott (12.05) coming close. He is 16th in the country in the category and 47th in total strikeouts.
• The 13.65 K/9 is currently the second-best single-season mark for an ASU pitcher since 1998, trailing only Ryan Burr's 14.37 tally in 2015. 
• Jacobs struck out a career-best 11 hitters in his Friday night win over USC, earning a quality start with a career-best 6.1 innings of work while allowing just a single run. He added a second quality start in 6.0 scoreless innings against Stanford with nine strikeouts.
• Jacobs' only struggle has been keeping the ball in the park with 14 of his 54 total hits allowed this year being homers and accounting for 19 runs  of his 36 total earned runs allowed. 
• Jacobs has been especially deadly against lefties, holding left-handed batters to just a .213 average on 17-of-80 batting this year. 

Steven Ondina 
Pac-12 Honorable Mention - Infielder

• Steven Ondina has sneakily put up a .299 average this season and has been among ASU's hottest players in the last 18 games where he has bat .354 with 20 RBIs, five homers and two triples. 
• Ondina has ninestolen bases while making several highlight reel plays at shortstop en route to a team-best 105 defensive assists this year, good for 15th among all Pac-12 defenders.
• Ondina has six homers this season, including his first multi-homer game of his career at Stanford this last weekend. That tally is notable as he had just two TOTAL in three seasons prior to arriving at ASU over 110 games and 365 ABs

Isaiah Jackson
Pac-12 All-Defensive Team - Outfielder

• After a solid freshman showing, Isaiah Jackson has shown continued exceptional defensive skills while adding 28 RBIs and eight homers.  Jackson is batting .269 on the year but has reached base at a .352 clip thanks to 18 walks and five HBPs.
• Jackson's 28 RBIs match his total from a season ago.
• The sophomore has been exceptional in the last 16 games, batting .379 on 16-of-44 hitting.
• Jackson has been second on the team in productive outs, advancing runners with an out 17 times. 
• The sophomore recorded SportsCenter's No. 1 play a couple weeks ago against UCLA with his incredible leaping grab over the wall in right center field to rob a three-run homer from the Bruins, becoming a viral sensation overnight with several million views of the catch over multiple platforms. 
• Jackson's eight putouts in center field in the USC finale are tied with Hunter Bishop (2019) for the second-most for an ASU outfielder since 1998 behind Joe Lampe's nine in 2021. Coincidentally, all three of those games have taken place against USC.
• Jackson homered in the first two games of the season, as did teammate Jacob Tobias, joining a small list of Sun Devils to do so since 1998, including Spencer Torkelson (2020), Riccio Torrez (2011) and Jason Kipnis (2008). 
• His three-hit game in the opener gave him more hits in five at-bats than he had through his first seven games last season.