April 3, 2001
TEMPE, Ariz. - On Wednesday, Arizona State University junior left-handed pitcher Jon Switzer will make a special visit to chat to talk about the upcoming baseball series at Pac-10 rival USC. The Sun Devils are currently ranked No. 10 in the nation by Baseball America, setting up a showdown with the preseason No. 1 and current No. 12 USC Trojans.
Switzer is currently 4-1 in 2001 with a 3.84 ERA. Earlier in the season Switzer struck out a career-high 13 vs. Southern Utah to earn National Player of the Week honors. During that game, Switzer struck out eight in a row to rank second in school history. With a career 22-8 record and 3.95 ERA, Switzer is among the elite on the mound in college baseball this year, earning third-team All-America honors in 2000 and was a unanimous preseason All-American this year. Switzer also pitched for Team USA last summer, posting a 1-0 record and a 2.41 ERA. He played under USC head coach Mike Gillespie on that team and was teammates with current Trojans Mark Prior and Anthony Reyes.
The hard-throwing left-hander is a native of Houston, Texas and a 1998 graduate of Clear Lake High School. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 26th round of the 1998 MLB draft and is rated as one of the top pitchers in the nation for this year's June draft by Baseball America.
Switzer won't be stopping by until 12 p.m. PT on Wednesday, but feel free to leave your questions now and we will save them for his arrival.