ASU baseball adjusting to life without Torkelson
Arizona State baseball lost threefourths of its starting infield, its most experienced outfielder and its closer in the COVID-shortened five-round major league baseball draft.
But the hit off a top 10-ranked team would have been much bigger had the draft been its standard 40 rounds. So the Sun Devils return lots of pitching experience, some in the field starting with junior Drew Swift shifting back to shortstop where he began his college career and two veteran catchers.
ASU will play a different offensive style in 2021 without Spencer Torkelson (54 home runs in his career) but that doesn’t necessarily mean the Sun Devils are rebuilding or can’t be successful given the addition of some key transfers to round out what Collegiate Baseball rates as the No. 10-ranked incoming class.
“I was real honest with the guys,” hitting coach Michael Earley said during a fall baseball media call Monday. “I don’t think there is anyone on this team that’s going to hit 20 home runs. I hope you do, but that’s just not who we are. We just pivoted and guys have really bought in. Our motto is we’re going to throw jabs then we’ll throw those knockout punches when they come.
“We’ll hit for power in a different way. Doubles, triples and maybe a guy comes out and surprises us (with double-digit home runs). As long as we don’t get outside ourself and stay with who we are, we’re going to be pretty relentless one through nine.”
The starting lineup is far from set, but it could look something like this: Auburn transfer Conor Davis at first base, Sean McLain at second, Swift at shortstop and Nate Baez at third; Hunter Jump in left, junior college transfer Joe Lampe in center and Oregon State transfer Kai Murphy in right; Sam Ferri, Nick Cheema and Logan Paustian in a catching rotation; and Jack Moss as designated hitter.
That’s a lot of unfamiliarity for fans used to seeing Torkelson, Alika Williams and Gage Workman in the infield for the last three years. But seventhyear head coach Tracy Smith believes Davis, Murphy and Lampe bring a mix of maturity and talent that will “add nicely to what we have with the younger guys.”
Swift, who played second base for two-plus seasons, has “made a huge jump,” Smith said, and is like another coach on the field.
The 6-3 Davis hit .287 in four years at Auburn with 40 doubles,14 homers and 113 RBI. Because the NCAA granted an extra year of eligibility to spring athletes due to the pandemic that ended 2019 seasons early, he has a chance of reaching a second College World Series with a second team. Auburn made it to Omaha for the 2019 CWS.
“I’ve not seen a guy come into a program that’s pretty well established and fit in and not miss a beat,” Smith said. “He’s going to give us contributions in the lineup but also be able to supply some of the leadership qualities that we lost in great numbers.”
Murphy grew up around ASU baseball when his father Pat was ASU coach from 1995-2009 (Kai was born in 2000). He made just four pitching appearances in 2020 as a freshman at Oregon State in part due to having mononucleosis the preceding fall.
“In a goofy way, Kai has more ASU experience than anybody on this staff,” associate head coach Ben Greenspan said. “He knows the program inside and out. He embodies what we’re looking for in terms of how he’s going to play the game. Kai’s unique path lends itself to him being a guy we are so excited to have in our program because of what it means to him to wear Sun Devils across his chest.”
Murphy, who throws and bats lefthanded, could pitch some but for now appears more likely to help as a position player.
Lampe had 17 stolen bases and eight triples while at Santa Rosa Junior College. He is from Petaluma, California, also the hometown of Torkelson, who left ASU as the No. 1 overall MLB draft pick. “He’s one of the fastest I’ve seen,” Earley said. “He has the kind of speed we’ve never had here.”
Another transfer, 6-6 Allbry Major from Xavier, is in outfield and DH contention while transitioning from a switch hitter to a lefty.
Cooper Benson, Tyler Thornton, Justin Fall, Erik Tolman and Boyd Vander Kooi combined to start all 17 of ASU’s 2020 games when the Sun Devils were 13-4. They all return under second-year pitching coach Jason Kelly in what could be a premier season on the mound.
There are 17 returning pitchers in all plus incoming class additions. Fall could potentially become the closer replacing departed R.J. Dabovich or that job could be handled by committee.
“When I got here, we wanted to change the narrative a little bit on how we were going to develop (pitchers),” Kelly said. “We’ve put together a plan that is good and making sure recruits see that plan. It’s word of mouth and trust and as we continue to prove ourself on the mound, we hope that trust continues to spread out all over the nation and guys want to come here to pitch.”
ASU is expecting to play a standard 56-game season starting in February, something Smith believes administrators will do their best to protect after the 2020 cancellation right before the start of the Pac-12 season.