Baseball hosts Utah in halfway point of Big 12 schedule

PHOENIX -- No. 20 Sun Devil Baseball reaches the midpoint of its 2026 Big 12 conference slate this weekend as it welcomes  Utah for a three-game series beginning Friday at Phoenix Municipal Stadium before capping off a stretch of six games in seven days with a non-conference tilt against rival Arizona on Monday at home. The series against the Utes will feature first pitches at 6:35 p.m. AZT on Friday and Saturday before concluding Sunday at 1:05 p.m. Monday’s tilt against the Wildcats will also get underway at 6:35 p.m. AZT.

Follow the action

• Each game this weekend against Utah will all be available to stream via ESPN+. Braiden Bell will provide the action across all three contests alongside Alex Coil on Wednesday and Mark Teahen this weekend as analysts. Fans can check with their local cable or internet providers to see if they are on an ESPN+ plan or visit https://plus.espn.com/to sign up.
• All games this weekend will be broadcast live over local airwaves on KDUS 1060 AM with Tim Healey and Max Rossiter on the call.
• Fans are encouraged to follow along with in-game content and schedule updates throughout the weekend on the Sun Devil Baseball Twitter account (@ASU_Baseball).

#10Things (X-friendly notes)

1.  Dominic Smaldino has a line drive percentage of 35.8, which is good for 10th in the country. It’s especially notable as it sat at just 14.8% as a freshman and 24.8 last year.

2. Brody Briggs is credited with saving 4.09 runs on blocked balls as a catch in the season, good for 13th-best in the nation. 

3. 53.4 of ASU’s ABs this season have been considered quality (H, BB, SAC, SF, HBP, 8+ pitches,  runner advanced or exit velo 95+) - 26th-best in the country.

4. The Sun Devils have a .427 average on first pitches batted into play, the 20th-best average. ASU’s 85 1st pitch-hits are tops in the country

5. ASU is batting .399 this season when taking the ball the opposite direction, a total that ranks 24th nationally after ranking 108th (.349) last year

6. The Sun Devil pitchers have 49 strikeouts this season with runners in scoring position and two outs, a total good for 36th-best in the nation.

7.  Arizona State’s aggressive nature on the basepaths has seen the team advance a runner from 1st to 3rd on a single 32 times, 10th-most in the country.

8. Cole Carlon has allowed just a .083 batting average (3-for-36) against w/ RISP - the third-lowest tally in the nation (min. 40 innings).

9.  Landon Hairston remains the only player in the nation with a slugging % over 1.000 (1.016). His nation-leading 36 XBH, which is six more than anyone else.

10.  The Sun Devils are fourth nationally in slugging percentage when trailing in the count at .468. The team’s .268 AVG in pitcher’s counts is ninth.

By the numbers

93

Sun Devil pitchers have posted an average fastball/sinker velocity of 93.0 this season, a total that currently ranks eighth among all Division I programs. Arizona State also ranked ninth last season at 92.5. ASU ranked no higher than 28th in the category from 2019-2024 (28th in 2019 at 89.5 MPH). ASU’s overall average pitch velocity on all pitches is 88.2, good for 11th in the country. Among pitchers with at least 15.0 innings pitched this season, ASU has the No. 15 (Cole Carlon, 95.7), No. 22 (Alex Overbay, 95.5) and No. 35 (Derek Schaefer, 95.2) pitchers in the country in average fastball velo.  For perspective, from 2019-2025, the Sun Devils had just two players TOTAL that averaged 95+ MPH fastballs for a season (Lucas Kelly and Will Koger, both last season).

91
Conversely, Arizona State’s average exit velocity at the plate this season is 90.8 MPH - good for the seventh-highest tally in Division I. The Sun Devils currently have a hard-hit ball average (exit velo over 95 MPH) of 45.5 percent, which is 24th in Division I baseball, and the team’s 270 hard-hit balls (exit velo over 95 MPH) are 11th. ASU has put a barrel on 189 balls this season, good for 13th in the country and the squad’s 20.4 overall barrel% is 47th. 18.6 percent of ASU’s balls put into play this season are line drives with an exit velocity over 95 MPH with a launch angle between 10-30 degrees, the 33rd-highest percentage in the country. The Sun Devils have the No. 15 (Garrett Michel, 96.1), No. 22 (Dominic Smaldino, 95.6) and No. 39 (Landon Hairston, 94.7) players in terms of average exit velocity in the country.

54
Landon Hairston has 54 RBIs this season, good for second country and tops in the Big 12. HOWEVER, all 54 RBIs have come while hitting as the leadoff batter in the Sun Devil lineup, which is easily the most of any Division I player - TWENTY-TWO more than Eric Becker at Virginia. To put that in perspective, his 54 RBIs would have ranked seven in the nation among leadoff hitters for the entire SEASON a year ago. 22 of Hairston’s RBIs this season have come in pitcher’s counts (0-1, 0-2, 1-2, 2-2) - fifth-most in the nation. His seven homers while trailing in the count are sixth in the country.  His 26 hits overall in pitcher’s counts are tied for fourth-best in the country with his .433 average in that scenario good for sixth and his .933 slugging percentage and nearly 50 points ahead of the next closest player.

24
The team is inducing a 23.9 whiff rate on pitches IN the zone that is second in the country, while the 33.1 OVERALL miss rate is sixth. The team is allowing a Z-Contact rate (pitches in the zone where contact was made divided by total pitches in the zone) of just 48.4 percent, the eighth-lowest total in the country.  The team has been incredibly efficient at dropping its offspeed and breaking pitches into the zone 45.0 percent of the time - Top-50 in the country after ranking 184th in the country in that category (36.6) just two seasons ago, improving to (40.5) last season. ASU had ranked no higher than 87th (2020-shortened season excluded) from 2019-2024.  Opponents are missing (swing and miss/total swings) that offspeed/breaking stuff 42.0 percent of the time - the 15th-highest total in the country.

A look back: Arizona/GCU/UNLV

• The Sun Devils picked up a series win against rival Arizona this past weekend, taking the rubber match in dominant fashion on national television to improve to 6-1 in weekend series.
• Arizona State also clinched the Territorial Cup point for baseball with its third victory in the five-game regular season series over the Wildcats.
• The pitching staff led the country for the weekend in whiffs with a total of 78 in the three games over the Wildcats, highlighted by Cole Carlon and his 33 whiffs, which was the most by a single pitcher over the course of the weekend. Carlon had a career-high 12 strikeouts with no runs allowed over 6.0 innings on Friday.
• The Sun Devils recorded 11 hits to the opposite field over the series, which was the eighth-highest total among Division I teams for the weekend.
• The Sun Devils overcame a seven-run deficit for the fifth time in the Willie Bloomquist era in the team’s victory at Grand Canyon on Tuesday. That tally is especially notable as the previous time ASU had overcome such a deficit prior to Bloomquist was in the 2000 season. The game marked the 12th game the Sun Devils have won under Bloomquist when trailing by at least five runs and the 23rd time over the last three-plus seasons in which they won a game while trailing by at least three runs in a game.
• Arizona State’s six homers were tied for the third-most in school single-game history.
• ASU fell into an early hole again on Wednesday against UNLV, trailing 6-1 through the top of the fifth. The team got the game back within a run at one point, but couldn’t complete a second consecutive rally in the 7-5 defeat.

On deck: Utah/Arizona 

• The Sun Devils, who currently lead the all-time series 57-16, swept the series in Salt Lake City last season, the program’s fourth-consecutive series win against the Utes in Salt Lake.
• Not always known for their vaunted offense, the Utes have quietly raked at a .308 clip this season that sits fifth in the Big 12 and 33rd in the country. Cameron Gurney paces the group with his .386 average that is seventh in the Big 12.
• Conversely, Utah has typically been a solid pitching team but finds itself 13th in the Big 12 and 214th nationally with a 6.78 ERA this season.
• In the modern era of Sun Devil Baseball (since it became an NCAA sport in 1959), ASU owns a dominant 214-150-1 record against the Wildcats. ASU went 23-116 against the Wildcats prior to that, dating back to 1907, skewing the overall series record all-time.
• The Sun Devils have already claimed the regular-season Territorial Cup point in the series, winning three of the four contests played this season. Monday’s tilt will be the final matchup between the two programs in the regular season

No lump of Cole

• Cole Carlon has shown no signs that moving to a starting role has fazed him this season, entering this weekend with a 2-1 mark with a 3.05 ERA over 41.1 innings pitched with 67 strikeouts to 16 walks and just a .221 average against.
• Carlon ranks 10th in the nation with his 67 strikeouts, and his 14.59 strikeouts per nine innings are ninth in the country.
• Carlon’s 12.38 career K/9 is 14th among active Division I players.
• Carlon has been at his best with traffic on the bases as he has allowed just a .083 batting average (3-for-36) against with runners in scoring position - the third-lowest tally in the nation (min. 40 innings). He has not allowed an extra-base hit on any of those three knocks.
• His .186 average against runners on any base is 35th-lowest in the country.
• With a runner in scoring position and two outs on the board, Carlon’s 10-inning ending strikeouts are the ninth-most in the country (min. 40 innings).
• Carlon became one of the top relievers in college baseball last year, earning All-America honors from the NCBWA to become ASU’s 135th all-time All-American. He also earned All-Big 12 first team recognition and was named the Collegiate National Team for USA Baseball.
• Carlon received a slew of preseason recognition coming into 2026 with a trophy case that includes being D1 Baseball’s #9 Big 12 2026 Draft Prospect, D1 Baseball’s #68 of Top 200 starting pitchers, a 3rd Team NCBWA Division 1 Preseason All-American, Baseball America’s #8 Big 12 2026 Draft Prospect, Baseball America’ 3rd Team Preseason All-American (Relief Pitcher) and on the Big 12 Preseason Team (Relief Pitcher).
• Last season, among D1 pitchers with at least 500+ pitches in the regular season, Carlon’s 41.9 whiff percentage was 2nd in the nation. His 55.3 whiff percentage on his slider was fifth among pitchers who threw it at least 150 times.
• He had 82 strikeouts in the regular season, third on the Sun Devils, 10th in the Big 12 and 105th in the nation - but notable as all came out of the bullpen. Of the 117 players in D1 baseball to record 80 strikeouts in the regular season, Carlon accomplished the feat in the second fewest innings of work (Vanderbilt’s Connor Fennell, 82 in 50.1 innings).

Sliding in the DM's

• Among pitchers with at least 200 sliders thrown this season, Carlon’s .185 average against on the pitch is the 27th-lowest in the country.
• He has induced an in-zone whiff percentage of 46.2 percent on the slider, which is the highest of any pitcher in the country that has thrown it at least 200 times this season (10th-lowest among ALL pitchers with 35+ innings of work).
• Batters are making contact in the zone on the slider just 55.3 percent of the time, which is the lowest total in the country (min. 200 sliders).
• Carlon is getting batters to swing on the slider 51.6 percent of the time, which is eighth-most in the country.
• His 58.1 overall slider whiff percentage (including sliders out of the zone) is third in the country among those with 200+ thrown. He has gotten batters to chase out of the zone 37.9 percent of the time, 11th-best in the country.
• His 86.6 MPH average velo on the slider is third in the nation among pitchers with at least 200 sliders thrown.
• Additionally, his 95.7 MPH fastball/sinker average velocity is seventh-best among pitchers with 35.0+ innings of action this season. His fastest velo of the season, 99.2, is the 10th best as an individual with at least 30.0 innings of work this season.
• Carlon’s overall whiff rate on pitches in the zone of 35.2 percent is third among all pitchers with 35+ innings of work (478 total). His 43.9 overall miss percentage is fourth in the country.
• Only 27.0 percent of Carlon’s pitches have ended up in play this season, the sixth-lowest total nationally (min. 35 innings).

Hairy Bonds

• Landon Hairston has not experienced any sort of sophomore slump in Year Two with the program, quickly establishing himself as one of the elite pure AND power hitters in the country.
• Hairston is second in the nation with his .453 batting average on the season and rides a 17-game hitting streak into the weekend - the fifth-longest active streak in the country.
• Hairston enters the weekend with 19 home runs, which are tied for second in the country and one off the national lead of 20. ASU’s single school record of 27, set by Mitch Jones in 2000, is very much worth keeping an eye on on the back half of the season.
• Hairston’s next homer will mark the 17th time in program history a player has reached 20 homers in a single season, and first since Spencer Torkelson (23) and Hunter Bishop (22) did it in 2019.
• His 15 doubles this season are also eighth in the country and lead the Big 12.
• Should he reach 20 in both doubles and homers, he would join Bob Horner’s 1978 season as the only other time a player reached the 20/20 club at ASU.
• He enters the weekend as one of just one player in the nation with at least 15 homers AND 15 doubles.
• Hairston leads the entire nation with his 1.541 OPS (min. 3 PA per game). He is also the only player in the nation with a slugging percentage over 1.000, currently sitting at 1.007.
• Of his 62 hits this season, 36 have gone for extra bases (15 doubles, 19 homers, 2 triples) - a total that is six more than any other player in the country.
• Hairston had just one extra-base hit through his first 27 games as a Sun Devil. In his 61 games since, he has 52 extra-base hits.
• He has had just seven games this season WITHOUT an extra-base hit. He is currently in a stretch of 10 consecutive games with at least one extra-base hit.
• Hairston is the national leader with his four grand slams this season - also tying the ASU school record in the process. The NCAA single-season record is six.
• His 410.03 average distance on his homers is seventh among D1 players with 10+ home runs this season (105 total). Hairston’s 94.7 average exit velocity is 39th in the nation.
• Hairston’s offensive WAR of 3.51 is tops in the country, while his 47.62 total Offensive Runs over Replacement is also first. His 3.59 overall WAR is second nationally, but as an outfielder, he doesn’t benefit from as many chances to bump that number up with defensive acumen.

All eyes on three

• Landon Hairston (who wears #3) has 54 RBIs this season, good for second country and tops in the Big 12. HOWEVER, all 54 RBIs have come while hitting as the leadoff batter in the Sun Devil lineup, which is easily the most of any Division I player - TWENTY-TWO more than Eric Becker at Virginia.
• To put that in perspective, his 54 RBIs would have ranked seventh in the nation among leadoff hitters for the entire SEASON a year ago, with the national leader - Murray State’s Jonathan Hogart - recording 65 total over 61 games.
• 22 of Hairston’s RBIs this season have come in pitcher’s counts (0-1, 0-2, 1-2, 2-2) - fifth-most in the nation. His seven homers while trailing in the count are sixth in the country.
• His 26 hits overall in pitcher’s counts are tied for fourth-best in the country, with his .433 average in that scenario good for sixth, and his .933 slugging percentage and nearly 50 points ahead of the next closest player.
• Landon Hairston became ASU’s 38th Freshman All-American last season, as selected by the NCBWA and was named to the All-Big 12 first team as a utility player and to the Big 12 All-Freshman team.
• Hairston moved from D1Baseball’s No. 101 outfield in its preseason rankings to its No. 2 outfielder in its Week 6 update.

Toiga party

• Dean Toigo was voted by the Big 12 coaches as the conference’s Preseason Newcomer of the Year and has been one of the most prolific offensive threats in the conference this season.
• Toigo’s 13 homers this year are 15th in the country and fifth in the Big 12.
• Toigo has at least one RBI in 17 of his last 21 games with six of those being multi-RBI efforts. He had nine RBIs through his first 13 games this season and has 30 since then. The 39 RBIs are 50th in the country and 10th in the Big 12.
• Toigo’s offensive WAR of 2.01 this season is 37th in the nation.
• After having just eight hits in the first 10 games of the season, Toigo has 37 in the last 24 to bring his season average up to .346.
• Toigo’s OBP is over 100 points higher than his average at .448, due in large part to being a magnet for the baseball, as his 10 HBPs this season are fifth in the Big 12.
• Toigo’s average home run distance of 401.68 is 31st in the nation among players with at least 10 homers.
• The transfer from UNLV was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week on March 16 for his efforts against TCU and was named to Baseball America’s National Team of the Week as well.

Biggie Smalls

• New Sun Devil infielder Dominic Smaldino is anything but small, giving his teammates a 6-6, 230-pound target over at first base.
• Of the D1 baseball players averaging 3+ plate appearances per game this season (2,099 total), Smaldino’s 95.6 average exit velocity is 22nd in the country, and his 62.2 hard-hit ball average (exit velo 95+) is 33rd.
• Smaldino’s 419.30 average home run distance is 12th in the country among players with at least five homers this year.
• Smaldino’s mammoth blast against Mississippi State at Globe Life Field was officially logged at 480.74 feet, the eighth-longest RECORDED homer by any Division I player this season and the longest recorded by a Sun Devil since 2019.
• Smaldino has seen his line drive percentage jump to 35.8 percent this season, which is good for the 10th-best in the country. That total is especially notable as it sat at just 14.8 percent as a freshman and 24.8 percent last season.
• Conversely, he has watched his groundball rate drop from nearly 45 percent in 2024 to 32.6 percent this season.

Moutz-see TV

• PJ Moutzouridis (pronounced MOOT-zerr-EE-diss) is another Sun Devil quietly putting up a solid start to the season.
• Moutzouridis leads the team in seeing 152 pitches with two strikes this season.  His 40 balls fouled off also pace the team with two strikes..
• HOWEVER, it’s his ability to battle back from early holes in the count that has stood out. With two strikes on the board, Moutzouridis’ 2.53 pitches seen per plate appearance is the 31st-HIGHEST total in the country (among batters with 3+ PA per game).
• That said, Moutzouridis is arguably ASU’s best hitter while being aggressive in the count as well. His 15 hits this season on the first pitch of at at-bat are tied for 28th-most in the country and he has a .469 average when putting the first pitch he sees into play.

Not so Nu’u anymore

• Nu’u Contrades represents ASU’s most veteran presence as he enters his fourth year with the program - a rarity in the modern age of college baseball.  Contrades was selected by his teammates as a Co-Captain of the 2026 squad entering the year.
• Unfortunately, the veteran was down a couple of games while dealing with a hamstring injury sustained in the finale against LMU, missing nearly three weeks and the first two weekends of Big 12 action.
• Contrades .367 average this season is 14th in the Big 12.
• Contrades’ 408.72 average distance on his homers is 22nd in the nation among players with at least seven homers this season.
• Contrades has struck out just 11 times this season. Last season, he notably struck out just 30 times - compared to 28 walks -  on 181 ABs on the year (16.6 percent) after striking out 51 times with just 9 walks his freshman season on 217 ABs (23.5 percent).
• Prior to his injury, Contrades was credited with saving 3.09 runs on infield ground balls this season, good for 34th in the nation but third among all second basemen.
• Contrades made his long-awaited return to the diamond last season after missing the majority of the 2024 season with a back injury. He entered last season on D1Baseball’s sixth-ranked third baseman in the country and the No. 22 MLB Draft prospect in the Big 12. Contrades has shifted over to second base this season. He was ranked by D1Baseball as the #21 second basemen in the country entering the year.
• Unfortunately, after a strong season for the majority of last year, Contrades missed ASU’s final month of the season with a hand injury. Prior to the injury, Contrades was reaching base at a .416 clip over his .309 average while posting 15 doubles, three triples and six homers. His 24 extra-base hits were tied for second on the team at the time.
• He ranked third in the Big 12 at the time with those 15 doubles and tied for second in the Big 12 with nine doubles in conference-only games.
• Contrades played exceptionally well at the hot corner and was second on the team in defensive assists prior to the injury with 75, the most among Big 12 third basemen.
• Contrades was 14-for-15 on stolen bases last year, bringing his career tally to 23-of-26. The 14 stolen bases were tied for 9th in the Big 12 at the time of the injury.
• Contrades batted out of the leadoff position often last year and reached on 21-of-51 (.412) leadoff opportunities.
• He was named the Big 12 Co-Player of the Week for his efforts against Oral Roberts, where he homered three times and batted at a .385 average with five RBIs and six runs scored. 

Laser show

• Arizona State’s average exit velocity at the plate this season is 90.8 MPH - good for the seventh-highest tally in Division I.
• The Sun Devils currently have a hard-hit ball average (exit velo over 95 MPH) of 45.5 percent, which is 24th in Division I baseball, and the team’s 270 hard-hit balls (exit velo over 95 MPH) are 11th. 
• ASU has put a barrel on 189 balls this season, good for 13th in the country, and the squad’s 20.4 overall barrel percentage is 47th.
• 18.6 percent of ASU’s balls put into play this season have qualified as line drives with an exit velocity over 95 MPH with a launch angle between 10-30 degrees, the 33rd-highest percentage in the country.
• The Sun Devils have the No. 15 (Garrett Michel, 96.1), No. 22 (Dominic Smaldino, 95.6) and No. 39 (Landon Hairston, 94.7) players in terms of average exit velocity in the country.

A disciplined approach

• The Sun Devils have recorded a 53.4 quality at-bat percentage this season (plate appearance ending in a hit, walk, sac bunt, sac fly or HBP, is eight pitches or longer, moves the runner, or has an exit velo over 95 MPH). That total is currently tied for 26th nationally.
• ASU has done a good job of not simply watching pitches taken for strikes, with an in-zone swing percentage of 70.6 percent, which is 14th in the country.
• The team makes contact on 87.1 percent of the pitches in the zone, the 39th-highest total in the nation.
• The Sun Devils are batting .268 as a team when trailing in the count this season, which is the ninth-highest in the country. The team’s .468 slugging percentage in pitcher’s counts is fourth in the country.
• The Sun Devils have a .399 average when taking the ball the opposite direction, good for the 24th-best average in the country.
• Arizona State is 14-3 in games in which it has at least three hits to the opposite field this season, compared to a 10-7 record when it doesn’t.
• Among D1 teams with at least 30 games played this season, ASU’s 226 strikeouts offensively are the 39th-fewest in the country.
• The team has just 58 strikeouts looking on the season, which is 24th-lowest among teams with 30+ games.
• The Sun Devils have taken just 373 fast balls looking, the 10th-lowest total of any Power Four team in the country.
• The Sun Devils are producing quality at-bats even while being aggressive at the plate. The team’s .427 average on first pitches put into play this season is 20th nationally. The squad’s 85 hits on first pitches are the most in the country.
• Arizona State has advanced a runner from first to third base on a single 32 times this season, 10th-most in the country.

The heat sheets

• Sun Devil pitchers have posted an average fastball/sinker velocity of 93.0 this season, a total that currently ranks eighth among all Division I programs.
• Arizona State also ranked ninth last season at 92.5. ASU ranked no higher than 28th in the category from 2019-2024 (28th in 2019 at 89.5 MPH).
• The only non-SEC team ranked ahead of ASU in the category is Wake Forest, which leads the country at a 94.3 MPH rate.
• ASU’s overall average pitch velocity on all pitches is 88.2, good for 11th in the country.
• Among pitchers with at least 15.0 innings pitched this season, ASU has the No. 15 (Cole Carlon, 95.7), No. 22 (Alex Overbay, 95.5) and No. 35 (Derek Schaefer, 95.2) pitchers in the country in average fastball velo.
• For perspective, from 2019-2025, the Sun Devils had just two players TOTAL that averaged 95+ MPH fastballs for a season (Lucas Kelly and Will Koger, both last season).
• Colin Linder has a swinging strike rate (misses/pitches) of 14.6 percent on his fastball this year, which is 16th-best among all pitchers with at least 250 fastballs thrown.
• Opponents are putting Linder’s fastball into play just 27.2 percent of the time - the 11th-lowest total in the country among pitchers with 250+ fatballs.
• Opponents are making contact with the pitch just 69.4 percent of the time, which is 19th-lowest among the 250+ crew.
• Similarly, Overybay’s 70.3 percent contact rate on the heater is 41st-lowest among pitchers with at least 200 fastballs thrown.
• Opponents are whiffing on Overbay’s fastballs IN the zone at a 27.4 percent clip, ranking 20th in the nation among those with at least 200 fastballs thrown.

Fitz-magic

• Sean Fitzpatrick enters his fourth season of college baseball and third season with the Sun Devils, and was elected a team captain by his teammates entering this season. The southpaw bulked up over the offseason, and it has resulted in a noticeable uptick in velocity.
• Fitzpatrick has appeared in 72 games over his career in relief (69 at ASU), which currently ranks 13th among active Division I players.
• Fitzpatrick has recorded 45 outs this season, and 28 of those have come by way of strikeout. Among pitchers with 15.0+ innings of work, his 16.80 K/9 is second-best in the country.
• He has inherited a team-high 20 baserunners this season, and just nine have scored.
• Out of all D1 pitchers with at least 15 appearances this season (120 total), Fitzpatrick has given up just one base hit to the first batter he has seen in an appearance, tied for the fifth-lowest total in the country.
• He has struck out the first batter he has seen 10 times, which is two more than any other pitcher in the country (min. 15 appearances).
• Fitzpatrick is getting called strikes 49.4 percent of the time he throws his slider, the eighth-HIGHEST percentage in the country among pitchers with at least 100 sliders thrown.

Your best sales pitch

• Sun Devil pitching coach Jeremy Accardo’s addition to the staff paid immediate dividends last season and continues to excel this season.
• The team has a K/9 ratio of 11.1 that is 12th in the country and tops in the Big 12.
• The team is inducing a 23.9 whiff rate on pitches IN the zone that is second in the country, while the 33.1 OVERALL miss rate is sixth.
• The team is allowing a Z-Contact rate (pitches in the zone where contact was made divided by total pitches in the zone) of just 48.4 percent, the eighth-lowest total in the country.
• The team has been incredibly efficient at dropping its offspeed and breaking pitches into the zone 45.0 percent of the time - Top-50 in the country after ranking 184th in the country in that category (36.6) just two seasons ago, improving to (40.5) last season. ASU had ranked no higher than 87th (2020-shortened season excluded) from 2019-2024.
• Opponents are missing (swing and miss/total swings) that offspeed/breaking stuff 42.0 percent of the time - the 15th-highest total in the country.
• That said, Kole Klecker has had plenty of success getting batters to chase his slider OUT of the zone, with a 45.8 percent chase rate that is seventh in the nation among pitchers with at least 100 sliders thrown.
• Taylor Penn is getting a swing and miss rate (misses/swings) of 44.8 on his changeup - 39th among pitchers that have thrown at least 100 changeups this year. His swinging strike rate (misses/pitches) on the pitch of 24.5 percent is 30th among those pitchers.
• Last season, ASU had seven pitchers with 10.0+ innings pitched and a sub-4.55 ERA in the regular season. In 2024, the team had just a single player who met that criteria.
• ASU’s overall team WHIP was 78th nationally at 1.48 last year. While not eye-popping, it was notable as the team had not finished in the Top-100 in the category since 2012 (6th, 1.17). In fact, ASU had been outside the Top-200 five different times since then and outside the Top-150 eight times.
• The team’s strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2.44 ranked 36th in the nation. The Sun Devils had not ranked in the Top-100 in that category in a non-COVID season since the 2015 campaign, where ASU checked in at 79th in the nation with a ratio of 2.20.
• ASU was first in the Big 12 with an 11.3 K/9 average last season, good for third nationally. The Sun Devils struck out double-digit batters in 37 of 60 games.
• ASU was one of just three schools in the nation with three different pitchers with 80+ strikeouts (Vanderbilt, Florida State) in the regular season.
• ASU struck out 653 batters last season, the seventh-most in the country.  The tally was the second-most in school history in the aluminum bat era, just behind the school record 675 set by the 1975 team.
• ASU had given up the 81st-most home runs (64) in the regular season, which, while not outstanding, was still a marked improvement from the previous year’s squad, which ranked 23rd with 88 allowed.
  

Grabbing the bull-pen by the horns 

• As many fresh faces as there are in the starting rotation and in the field, the most veteran force on the roster likely comes from the team’s bullpen.
• The bullpen has a solid 4.66 ERA this season with an 18-3 record and a 206-74 strikeout to walk rate over 162.2 innings.
• The 4.66 ERA ranks 48th in the country - a year removed from ranking 80th with a 5.32 bullpen ERA in 2025 and 159th at 6.36 in 2024.
• Derek Schaefer has taken hold of the back end of the bullpen, settling in as the team’s closer with a mid-90s fastball and electric secondary pitches. Schaefer’s 95.1 average fastball velo is 35th in the country among pitchers with at least 15.0 innings of work.
• Schaefer's five saves are 31st in the nation this season.
• Schaefer was ASU’s fireman when it needed him last season, allowing just three of his 15 inherited runners on the season to score.
• Prior to being moved to the weekend rotation, Taylor Penn ate up valuable middle relief innings, posting a 4-0 record over his 18.2 innings out of the pen, striking out 20 and posting a 1.45 ERA. That ERA ranked 22nd in the nation among all players with at least 18.0 innings of work in relief this season prior to his insertion into the weekend rotation in the Arizona series.
• Last regular season, ASU had three players with a bullpen ERA of 3.00 or less with 10.0+ innings pitched (Cole Carlon, Easton Barrett, Jaden Alba) - a feat that hadn’t been achieved through the regular season at ASU since the 2013 team (Ryan Burr, Matt Dunbar, Josh McAlister). 

Playing the field

• The Sun Devils currently sit 35th in the country with a .978 fielding percentage, also good for third in the Big 12.
• The team’s numbers have been largely skewed by just a handful of games, with just six games with 2 or more errors, while posting 28 with 1 or fewer (17 with none).
• Catcher Brody Briggs is credited with saving 4.09 runs on blocked balls, which is 13th-best in the nation. 
• The Sun Devils posted 31 games last season without an error and quietly put up a .980 fielding percentage in the regular season - good for first in the Big 12 and 14th in the country. ASU ranked outside the Top-100 in each of the last three seasons in the category.
• The 31 games without an error easily surpassed ASU’s total for the 2024 season of 21. ASU had a seven-game streak without an error at one point last year, which was its longest since a nine-game stretch in the 2015 season.
• The Sun Devil pitchers were amongst the most improved in the area, with just four errors credited against them in the regular season (10.2 percent) - notable as ASU pitchers were responsible for 12 of ASU’s 60 errors in 2024 (20.0 percent).

Headed to the gap

• The Sun Devils currently rank 21st in the country and third in the Big 12 with 73 doubles this season, paced by Landon Hairston’s 15, eighth in the country.
• The team has recorded at least one double in all but six games this season and has multiple doubles in 21 games.
• ASU led the nation with its 149 doubles last season and recorded multiple doubles in 42 of 60 games. The team was seventh in the country at 2.48 per game.
• ASU has had a player reach 20 doubles five times under Willie Bloomquist and at least one player do so in each season (2022-p). ASU had just two players, total,  reach 20 doubles from 2011-21.
• 11 players recorded at least four doubles last season, and eight reached double digits in the category.
• The Sun Devils were tops in the Pac-12 and sixth in the country with 143 doubles in 2024 in 58 games, and the 2.47 doubles per game were fourth in the nation. The total was 15 more than any other team in the Pac-12, even without making the postseason. 15 different Sun Devils had multiple doubles that season - the most of any school in the Pac-12.

Chicks dig the long ball

• Arizona State is currently sixth in the nation with 66 home runs. Already, 12 different players have homered for the Sun Devils.
• The team hasn’t had many cheapies either, with its average home run distance of 401.41 ranking 12th in the country.
• The team has a home run rate per fly ball rate of 14.0 percent on the season, a tally that sits sixth in the country.
• The squad’s 12 opposite field homers are tied for 12th in the nation, as are its 17 homers to center.
• The Sun Devils are fourth in the nation when behind in the count with 25 homers.
• Arizona State had 87 home runs last season, a total that was fourth in the Big 12 and 38th in the country. ASU was 19-3 when hitting two or more homers in a game.
• Five times last season, ASU recorded five or more homers. That included a school record eight homers against BYU and 6 in two other games that were tied for third in school history.
• The Sun Devils set a school record with eight home runs in the finale of the BYU series, surpassing their previous record of seven against Arizona on March 4, 2000. ASU got that in the first two innings of the game alone as eight of the team’s first 10 hits all left the ballpark. ASU’s 15 home runs in the BYU series (8 Saturday, 6 Friday and 1 Thursday) were a school record for a three-game series.
• The Sun Devils had 102 homers in 2024, good for 30th nationally and surpassing the program’s BBCOR record of 94 from the 2019 season. ASU became just the eighth Sun Devil team in the program’s illustrious history to reach 100 home runs and the first to do it since having 101 in 1990. The 2024 Sun Devils were the fastest to reach triple digits in the category in program history, doing so in 56 games.
• ASU had five Sun Devils reach double-digit homers in 2024 (Ryan Campos, Kien Vu, Brandon Compton, Jacob Tobias and Nick McLain), marking the first time at ASU since 1993 that five players accomplished the feat (Todd Cady, Doug Newstrom, Antone Williamson, Paul Lo Duca and Jacob Cruz). It was the first season that even four had reached the tally since 1994. The 2024 Sun Devils were the first ASU team to have 13 players homer since the 2008 squad also had 13.
  

Coming in hot

• ASU has outscored opponents 1006-626 over its last 107 regular-season games, going 75-32 in the process.
• ASU has scored multiple runs in 66 of its 113 half-innings with runs this season. ASU has 39 innings with at least three runs scored, 24 with at least four and 19 with at least five.
• Last season, the Sun Devils put up 69 innings where the team had scored at least three runs, 32 with four or more and 21 with 5 or more.
• The team has reached double-digit hits in 23 games this season.
• ASU’s 387 total hits this season are third in the Big 12 and second in the country, while the team’s .326 average is seventh nationally and second in the league. The team’s .568 slugging percentage is eighth in the nation
• ASU is averaging 8.9 runs per game, good for 16th nationally.
• ASU scored 253 runs in its 30 conference games last season (8.4 per game) - tops in the league. The team bats .328 in Big 12 games - tops in the league by 11 points.
• Last season, ASU ranked 9th nationally and 2nd in the Big 12 with a .318 batting average in the regular season and was 19th in the country and first in the league with a .527 slugging percentage. ASU was first in the Big 12 and 27th nationally with 8.4 runs per game in the regular season.
• Eight times in Willie Bloomquist's tenure have the Sun Devils recorded 20 or more hits (since 2022). The team had just eight from 2008-21 and only three from 2011-21.
• Both of ASU’s 20-hit games last season came on the road and three of the eight total under Bloomquist have met that criteria. Of the team’s 36 games with 20+ hits from 2000-2021, only eight came on the road.
• The Sun Devils have scored 20 or more runs six times in 4+ seasons under head coach Willie Bloomquist. That total is notable as the team had just five such games TOTAL from 2009-2021.

Hold on to your seats

• The team posted the game-winning RBI/run in the sixth inning or later in 12 of the team’s wins last year. It has done so seven times season.
• The Sun Devils have walked off nine games over the last two-plus seasons (not including run-rule games).
• On the season, when ASU has a potential go-ahead or game-tying plate appearance (7th inn. or later), the team’s .418 average (28-for-67) in the nine games the scenario has occurred is second in the country.
• ASU has trailed at one point in 67 of its last 104 victories dating back to 2023 - including 20 of its wins last season and 11 times this season.
• With the team’s 9-3 loss in the finale of the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series at Globe Life, the Sun Devils lost their first regular-season game by more than five runs since a 17-7 run-rule loss at Cal State Fullerton on April 17, 2024, ending their nation-leading streak of 85-straight regular-season games.
• In four seasons under Willie Bloomquist, the Sun Devils have shown that no opponent lead is safe, with plenty of grit in erasing multi-run deficits. ASU has 23 wins over the last three+ seasons when trailing by at least three runs at some point in the game.
• In 2022, the seven-run deficit overcome by the Sun Devils to defeat and take the series from Cal was the most since March 3, 2000, against Arizona. ASU doubled down at that in 2023  with the victories over North Dakota State and GCU, overcoming a 7-0 deficit in both (and 9-2 in entering the eighth against GCU) for victories in both.
• ASU came from behind 13-6 in the regular season finale in 2024 against UNLV to walk it off in the ninth - the fourth seven-run comeback in the Bloomquist era. It added its fifth such comeback this season after rallying from a 7-0 deficit at Grand Canyon to win 12-8.
• ASU has won 12 games in which it has trailed by at least five runs at some point in the game under Willie Bloomquist.

A fresh look

• The Sun Devil roster will look quite a bit different in 2026, especially in the field. Arizona State welcomes a whopping 27 new faces (12 on the mound and 15 position players) as ASU was aggressive in both the transfer portal and the high school ranks.
• The Sun Devils brought in the nation’s No. 11 portal class, according to 64Analytics. It was the highest-ranked class west of the Mississippi and the highest-ranked class NOT in the SEC (8 teams) or ACC (2 teams).
• ASU brought in six portal players rated in the Top-250 in the nation, while not losing any players to the portal who were ranked in that Top-250.
• Right-handed pitcher Kole Klecker was the highest-rated of the group, checking in at No. 54 after returning home to the Valley after his time at TCU. Klecker was a Freshman All-American in 2023 and started a game for the Horned Frogs in Omaha at the College World Series. The Chandler native previously starred at Hamilton High School, winning a State Title as the starting pitcher his senior year in the championship game.
• A pair of Cal transfers in PJ Moutzouridis (No. 98) and Dominic Smaldino (No. 155) will look to serve a prominent role in ASU’s infield. Moutzouridis was a Freshman All-American himself in 2024. Smaldino is anything BUT small, standing at 6-6 and offering a big target over at first base. The junior launched 11 homers for Cal last season and figures to greatly enjoy the lefty-friendly hitting confines of Phoenix Muni this season.
• Dean Toigo has already been asterisked by the Big 12 coaches, who voted him the Big 12 Preseason Newcomer of the Year entering 2026. Toigo was the Mountain West Co-Player of the Year for UNLV last season and was also named a NCBWA Preseason All-American heading into this year as 64Analytics’ No. 187 transfer.
• A pair of ACC transfers in Florida State’s Brady Louck and Virginia Tech’s Garrett Michel checked in at No. 242 and No. 243 in the transfer rankings. Louck was the top-rated southpaw out of Illinois out of high school, while Michel is a light tower power-wielding bat that has battled through injuries in the last two seasons after a freshman campaign that saw him log 11 homers and 16 doubles.
• Austin Roellig looks to man the hot corner for ASU this season and just missed being a Top-250 transfer prospect, checking in at No. 255. Roellig earned Big 12 All-Freshman honors and was an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention after his redshirt freshman campaign at Utah last year.
• Junior College transfer RHP Finn Edwards was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 18th round of the 2025 MLB Draft before electing to continue his collegiate career with the Sun Devils this year.
• Alex Overbay (UNLV), Nick Annello (Jacksonville), Colby Guy (UNC Asheville)  and Taylor Penn (Western Kentucky)  bring a glutton of experience to the mound while Coen Niclai (Oregon), Dominic Longo (Utah Valley), Matt Polk (Vanderbilt) and Sam Myers (TCU) all figure to contribute in the field over the course of the season.
• ASU signed the nation’s No. 22 freshman class in 2025 and while the veteran-heavy lineup will allow the group to mature, there is plenty of talent in the form of INF Finn Leach (No. 141 prospect nationally by Perfect Game), Marcelo Rodriguez (No. 244), Austin Musso (No. 331), Cooper Clouser (No. 416), Brenden Lewis (No. 433) all flashing throughout Fall and Spring practices.