Tracy Smith, the 2013 National Coach of the Year, was hired as the fifth head baseball coach in program history on June 24, 2014, and enters his seventh season at the helm of the Sun Devil baseball program.
Smith has established a reputation of evaluating and developing talent as more than 80 student-athletes since 2000 improved their stock in the Major League Baseball Draft under Smith’s tutelage, including five who became first-round draft picks after going undrafted out of high school.
In 24 total years as a head coach, Smith has seen 90 of his players selected in the MLB Draft, including 83 draftees since 2000 and 37 in the first 10 rounds. He has mentored 58 Major League Baseball draft picks over the past eight seasons, including the No.1 overall pick of the 2020 MLB Draft (Spencer Torkelson), fourth overall pick in the 2014 Draft (Kyle Schwarber), three first-round selections in the 2009 MLB June Draft (Eric Arnett, Josh Phegley, Matt Bashore) and two more first round picks in 2019 and 2020 (Hunter Bishop and Alika Williams).
Since Smith's arrival at ASU, 30 Sun Devils have been selected in the MLB Draft – including the No. 1 overall pick of 2020 Spencer Torkelson and fellow first rounder Alika Williams. Smith's prospects also include the No. 10 overall pick in 2019, Hunter Bishop, and the No. 70 overall selection Alec Marsh.
Torkelson became 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 joined Rick Monday (1965), Floyd Bannister (1976) and Bob Horner (1978) to earn the prestigious designation out of ASU.
It was 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)).
Despite the 2020 MLB Draft being shortened to five rounds from 40 due to the fallout from COVID-19, the Sun Devils made history as ASU's five draft selections through the first four rounds marked a program record. The five selections in the 2020 MLB Draft were the most of any program. It was ASU's third consecutive season with five draft picks and the fourth season in the last five years with the total.
Undrafted out of high school, 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.
The illustrious career of Torkelson was unfortunately cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic that ended the 2020 season early. However, Torkelson still put together one of the best careers in Sun Devil history, finishing within two home runs (54) of the long-standing ASU school record of 56 by Bob Horner - a mark Torkelson easily would have surpassed with a full season. Torkelson finished with the second highest career slugging percentage in school history (.729). 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.
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.
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 and he was the Preseason National Player of the Year by several outlets in 2020.
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 was the 37th overall pick of the 2020 MLB Draft by the Tampa Bay Rays. He 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.
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. He was 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.
ASU also saw three other players selected in the first four rounds of the draft in Trevor Hauver (Yankees, Round 3, Pick 99), Gage Workman (Tigers, Round 4, Pick 102) and RJ Dabovich (Giants, Round 4, Pick 114).
The 2019 season was an exciting one for Sun Devil Baseball as both Hunter Bishop and Spencer Torkelson earned unanimous All-America honors - the first pair of Sun Devils since Mike Leake and Jason Kipnis in 2009 - as the squad returned to the NCAA Tournament in 2019. Bishop and Torkelson were semifinalists for the Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy, given annually to the top players in college baseball.
Eight players earned All-Pac-12 honors while three earned a spot on the league's All-Defensive Team as the team made its 40th NCAA postseason appearance, fifth-most in NCAA History. The Sun Devils finished 38-19 and were one of five teams selected into the NCAA Tournament field from the Pac-12.
ASU led the nation in home runs during the regular season with 92, the most since the 1993 Sun Devils recorded 97 homers. The Sun Devils were the NCAA statistical champion in home runs per game at 1.65.
Bishop was a unanimous All-American in 2019 in one of the top offensive campaigns for a Sun Devil in recent memory. He became the first Sun Devil Baseball player to go in the first round of the MLB Draft since 2012 and just the 13th Top-10 pick in Sun Devil lore.
The junior slugger burst on to the scene, climbing over 100 positions in nearly every draft projection to earn his selection by the Giants. Bishop knocked 22 home runs on the season the second-best total in the Pac-12 behind teammate Spencer Torkelson and 10th in the country. He had just 10 combined home runs in his first two seasons in Phoenix.
At the conclusion of his season, he was eighth in the country and second in the Pac-12 with a .748 slugging percentage while fifth in the league with a .479 on-base percentage for a gaudy 1.227 OPS. He was seventh nationally and second in the Pac-12 with 166 total bases and finished third in the league 63 RBIs, which was 40th nationally. He was fourth in the Pac-12 with 67 runs scored, a total that also ranked in the top-25 nationally.
Torkelson also earned unanimous All-America honors in 2019 and was the Pac-12 home run leader for the second season in a row in 2019, finishing the season with 23 – good for fifth in the nation. He became the first Pac-12 player to lead the conference in homers in back-to-back seasons since Oregon State's Michael Conforto 2012 and 2013, though it should be noted Conforto only hit 13 and 11 in those seasons. Torkelson is only the third player in Pac-12 history to have back-to-back 20+ home run seasons.
In 2018, Smith eclipsed 700 career wins as an NCAA head coach while also overseeing one of the most prolific freshman campaigns in collegiate baseball history as Spencer Torkelson became the first freshman to ever lead the nation in home runs, finishing with 25 on the season.
Torkelson knocked two more home runs than any other player and just one shy of the NCAA freshman record. Torkelson was just the sixth player to reach 25 home runs since the BBCOR batting technology changes took effect in 2011 and the only freshman in the NCAA to reach the milestone in that time.
Against Washington State, he surpassed the previous Sun Devil freshman record of 11 home runs set by Barry Bonds in 1983. Torkelson finished tied with Bob Horner (1978) for second in ASU single-season history, just two shy of Mitch Jones' school record 27 in 2000.
Torkelson slugged .743 on the season (25 homers, 12 doubles), the third-highest total for any freshman in the NCAA in the past two decades and the highest for a freshman in the BBCOR era (since 2011). Only Rickie Weeks (.849 in 2001) and Jeremy Baltz (.771, 2010) have posted higher freshman slugging percentages in the past 20 years.
Smith saw five of his student-athletes taken in the 2018 MLB Draft, including fifth-round selection Gage Canning to the Washington Nationals. Canning wrapped the season as one of the elite five-tool players in the country, finishing with a .369 average and a Pac-12 leading 87 hits on the season. Canning was the national leader in triples with 11, and now has 25 in his career at ASU – good for third in school history and the most since Ed Irvine tied the school record of 26 between 1977-79.
Canning reached base in 54 of 55 games for the Sun Devils this season and logged a hit in 47 of those. He led the team with multiple hits in 26 games and had 11 games with three or more hits, becoming the first Sun Devil player to have at least 10 games with 3+ hits since Brett Wallace did so from 2007-08.
With one more home run, Canning would have become the first player in the BBCOR batting era (since 2011) to record double digit numbers in doubles, triples AND home runs. He finished the season with nine homers, 17 doubles and 11 triples, slugging .648 for the season – good for third in the Pac-12 and 38th nationally.
The 2017 campaign saw Canning emerge as one of the elite players in the Pac-12. The California-native led the team in virtually every hitting category, including batting average (.332), runs (37), doubles (12), triples (8), home runs (6) and slugging percentage (.538). He was the only player in the Pac-12 to finish with a double-digit number of doubles while also posting at least six home runs and six triples.
On top of dominating the leader boards at ASU, Canning's eight triples were the most by a player in the conference and second-most in the NCAA. Canning also recorded 120 total bases on the season, good for third in the conference. The outfielder really hit his stride in the middle of the season, as he went on a 12-game tear in which he hit at a .538 clip, including five three-hit nights and a four-hit performance.
Smith also helped oversee the emergence of Hunter Bishop as one of the exciting young freshmen in the country on the year. The freshman finished his 2017 campaign with an impressive .301 batting average, five doubles, four triples and five home runs. He ranked second on the team – behind only Canning – in batting average, runs scored (27), triples, home runs and slugging percentage (.484). Bishop started 31 games in the outfield season to become just the sixth ASU freshman in the past 15 years to start over 50 percent of the season in the outfield, most recently done by Canning last season. His 10 multi-RBI games were also a team-best.
In 2016, Smith piloted the Sun Devils to a regional final for the first time since 2013. The Sun Devils’ 36 wins were the most in the previous three years and they finished tied for third in the Pac-12. Five players were selected in the 2016 Major League Baseball Draft, marking 14 total players who have been taken in the draft during Smith’s tenure.
Eight Devils earned All-Pac-12 honors on the season, including first team selections David Greer, Seth Martinez, Brian Serven and Colby Woodmansee. All four players would go on to be selected in the MLB draft with Greer (third team), Martinez (second team) and Woodmansee (third team) earning Louisville Slugger All-America accolades.
In his first season at ASU, Smith led the Sun Devils to a postseason berth, a third-place finish in the Pac-12 and 30-plus wins.
He became one of five active coaches, and one of eight all-time, to bring three different Div. I schools to NCAA Regional play as he guided the Sun Devils to a No. 2 seed in the Fullerton Regional in 2015.
A exceptional recruiter, Smith was instrumental in Sun Devil Baseball’s signing of the nation’s top recruiting class in 2016, which included eight players who had been drafted by the Major League out of high school. His 2017 class was also rated in the Top-5 nationally and was the No. 1 class in the West.
He has amassed a 698-535-1 career record in 21 seasons as a head coach at three different schools, including nine seasons at both Miami (Ohio) and Indiana, and one year at Arizona State. His 698 victories rank in the top 50 among active coaches in the NCAA, and his 21 seasons represent the sixth-fewest number of years on that list.
Smith instituted a change in culture at Arizona State and his demand for excellence both on and off the field was represented as the Devils led the Pac-12 in both all-conference and all-academic honorees in 2014.
Nineteen players have earned Pac-12 All-Academic honors in Smith’s first two seasons, tied for the most in Sun Devil history for a two-year span. ASU's 10 selections in Smith’s first season led the Pac-12.
His emphasis on defense became evident right away as ASU vastly improved its fielding percentage and lowered its number of errors committed in Smith’s first season. The Devils finished fourth in the Pac-12 in both categories in 2015 after ranking near the bottom of the conference from 2010-14.
An accomplished fundraiser, Smith played a huge role in helping transition the Sun Devil Baseball program into Phoenix Municipal Stadium. His vision saw a renovated clubhouse, complete with an alumni locker room and an academics center, as well as an increased prominence on the program’s historical accomplishments. Capital improvements included a state-of-the art video board, batting tunnel, a weight room and training room, creation of a grass berm and patio installations, and premium seating options. Smith also played a huge role in facility upgrades at both Indiana University and Miami (Ohio) and was instrumental in the approval and design of both Miami's Stanley G. McKie Field at Joseph P. Hayden Jr. Park and Indiana's Bart Kaufman Field.
Smith earned National Coach of the Year honors and was a unanimous choice for Big Ten Coach of the Year after he led IU to the school's only College World Series appearance in 2013. The following season in 2014, Smith led the Hoosiers to the No. 4 national seed in the NCAA Tournament, the first national seed in Big Ten baseball history.
Smith came to Tempe with 18 years of experience as a collegiate head coach, including nine at Miami University (Ohio) and nine at IU, where he was two-time Big Ten Coach of the Year. He led both programs to a pair of NCAA Regional appearances and more than 600 combined career victories.
He tallied more than 40 wins in his final two seasons at IU and led the Hoosiers to consecutive Big Ten Conference Championships for the first time in school history. IU won the Big Ten regular season and B1G Tournament title in 2013, marking the school’s first regular season conference championship since 1949 and the first outright crown since 1932, and advanced to the 2013 College World Series, which ended the Big Ten’s 29-year CWS absence.
Smith took an IU program that had finished 10th in the Big Ten six times in an eight-year stretch between 2000 and 2007, and led the Hoosiers to an NCAA Regional in 2009 and to the College World Series in 2013. IU notched a program-best 21 conference wins in 2014 and secured eight first team All-Big Ten selections to tie a conference mark for most first team honorees from one school.
Smith’s Academic Progress Rate as a head coach increased each season until it reached a perfect 1000 in two-year stretch between 2008-10.
IU saw eight players on 12 occasions be named All-Americans under Smith, including four in 2014, which was the highest total in program history and the second straight season that IU produced three or more All-Americans.
Smith mentored two Big Ten Players of the Year, three Big Ten Pitchers of the Year and a pair of Big Ten Freshman of the Year in nine seasons at IU, and at least one Hoosier earned Freshman All-America honors in six of the past seven seasons in Bloomington.
He has landed three players on the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team and mentored numerous players at all positions, including outfielder Alex Dickerson, who was named Big Ten Player of the Year and won the Big Ten Triple Crown in 2010, right-handed pitcher Aaron Slegers, who was named 2013 Big Ten Pitcher of the Year, and catcher Kyle Schwarber, who was named an All-American by five major college baseball groups in 2014.
In nine years at the helm of the RedHawks baseball program, Smith compiled eight straight 30-win seasons, two NCAA Regional appearances and advanced to the Mid-American Conference Tournament finals six times.
He began his coaching career as head coach at Miami University-Middletown in 1990, served as an assistant coach at Miami (Ohio) from 1993-94 and was the pitching coach at IU from 1995-96.
A four-year letterwinner at Miami (Ohio), Smith was a pitcher and an infielder for the RedHawks, and played three minor league seasons in the Chicago Cubs organization. He also participated in 1992 Major League Scouting Bureau's Professional Scout School as a representative of the Cubs.
Born Feb. 14, 1966, Smith graduated with a bachelor's degree in Education from Miami (Ohio) in 1989 and completed a master's degree in Sport Organization from Miami (Ohio) in 1992.
A native of Kentland, Ind., Smith and his wife, Jaime, have three sons, Casey, Ty and Jack. Casey was a four-year letterwinner on the Hoosier baseball team while Ty was a member for the IU football team. Jack was a star prep quarterback in Arizona before going on to join the Sun Devil football team, where we medically retired and now acts as a student coach.
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference (Standing) | Postseason |
| 1997 | Miami (OH) | 27-28 | 17-13 (4th) | MAC Tournament |
| 1998 | Miami (OH) | 33-26 | 17-13 (3rd - East) | MAC Tournament |
| 1999 | Miami (OH) | 34-27 | 20-12 (2nd - East) | MAC Tournament |
| 2000 | Miami (OH) | 40-23 | 16-12 (3rd - East) | NCAA Regional |
| 2001 | Miami (OH) | 35-25 | 16-12 (4th - East) | MAC Tournament |
| 2002 | Miami (OH) | 31-28 | 16-12 (3rd - East) | MAC Tournament |
| 2003 | Miami (OH) | 36-24-1 | 19-9 (2nd - East) | MAC Tournament |
| 2004 | Miami (OH) | 36-21 | 14-8 (1st - East) | MAC Tournament |
| 2005 | Miami (OH) | 45-18 | 17-4 (1st - East) | NCAA Regional |
| Miami (OH) | 317-220-1 | 152-95 | ||
| 2006 | Indiana | 22-34 | 11-21 (10th) | |
| 2007 | Indiana | 19-35 | 8-23 (10th) | |
| 2008 | Indiana | 31-30 | 15-17 (6th) | Big Ten Tournament |
| 2009 | Indiana | 32-27 | 16-7 (3rd) | NCAA Regional |
| 2010 | Indiana | 28-27 | 12-12 (t-5th) | Big Ten Tournament |
| 2011 | Indiana | 30-25 | 11-13 (7th) | |
| 2012 | Indiana | 32-28 | 16-8 (2nd) | Big Ten Tournament |
| 2013 | Indiana | 49-16 | 17-7 (1st) | College World Series |
| 2014 | Indiana | 44-15 | 21-3 (1st) | First-ever Big 10 National Seed |
| Indiana | 287-237 | 127-111 | ||
| 2015 | Arizona State | 35-23 | 18-12 (t-3rd) | NCAA Regional |
| 2016 | Arizona State | 36-23 | 16-14 (t-3rd) | NCAA Regional |
| 2017 | Arizona State | 23-32 | 8-22 (t-10th) | |
| 2018 | Arizona State | 23-32 | 13-17 (7th) | |
| 2019 | Arizona State | 38-19 | 16-13 (5th) | NCAA Regional |
| 2020 | Arizona State | 13-4 | -- | -- |
| Arizona State | 169-133 | 71-78 | ||
| Total | 772-590-1 |