ASU Baseball: What Happened to the Sun Devils in 2018?

After finishing the worst season in program history in 2017, ASU baseball followed with a disappointing 2018 season. What went wrong for the Sun Devils?

Despite having the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year in Spencer Torkelson, Arizona State finished the season with a 23-32 record, identical to 2017, their worst winning percentage in program history.

Inconsistency with pitching and defense sank the Devils in 2018. For instance, ASU never got a grasp of their starting rotation.

The opening day starter was a sophomore Spencer Van Scoyoc, who performed admirably as a freshman in 2017. However, he lasted just two starts before being removed from the role for control issues. He walked 10 hitters in 7.1 innings over those starts.

Senior Eli Lingos, despite having a strong start to the season, experienced turbulence over the last few weeks of the year. He gave up 5.2 runs per game over his last seven starts. ASU was 2-5 in those games.

Freshman Boyd Vander Kooi got off to a dream start. He held a 1.25 ERA in his first four starts. He also struck out 25 batters in that stretch. But, early in conference play, he suffered a muscle strain in his right arm and missed the next six weeks of the season.

As if those issues were not enough, the bullpen was a disaster in 2018.

Junior Connor Higgins was the closer in 2017 and got subsequently drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 35th round of the MLB Draft. He elected to return to school for the 2018 season.

More from Devils in Detail

However, in 26.2 innings this year, opponents hit .300 off of Higgins and he recorded no saves. Worse yet, he had a 6.41 ERA, 2.5 runs more than he allowed last season.

Then, Chaz Montoya took over as closer and got off to a hot start. Over his first 17.1 innings, he gave up just three earned runs. Then the bottom fell out. He gave up runs in eight of his next nine appearances and he was removed from the closer role.

Consequently, head coach Tracy Smith decided to do closer by committee in the final weeks of the season, with three separate pitchers picking up saves after Montoya lost the role.

ASU pitching as a whole gave up 4.70 earned runs per game, putting them eighth in the conference. They allowed 10 or more runs in 10 games this year.

As bad as the pitching was, their defense did not help the cause.

Arizona State ranked 230th out of 297 teams in the country in fielding percentage with their 78 errors. They led the Pac-12 in that category, and they committed 21 more errors than the next team on that list. Their defensive woes resulted in more runners on base and longer innings to tax ASU’s struggling pitchers further.

If there was a silver lining for the Sun Devils this year, it was the offensive production. But even that came with an asterisk.

As a team they hit .290, which put them second in the Pac-12, hitting with runners on base was a struggle.

ASU led the conference in strikeouts and were second in double plays. Despite their near best average, the Sun Devils only scored the sixth-most runs in the conference.

The brightest spot of the offense was freshman first baseman Spencer Torkelson, who quickly became a superstar in college baseball.

He became the first freshman ever to lead the nation in home runs this season with 25. He broke MLB’s all-time home run leader Barry Bonds’ ASU freshman home run record midway through the year with his 12th homer.

Torkelson did it all hitting .320 for the season and leading the Devils in slugging and on-base percentage, OPS and RBIs.

The freshman wasn’t the only one hitting well in the lineup though. Junior Gage Canning made the All-Conference team and was tied with Torkelson for the ASU team lead in total bases. He finished with a Pac-12 leading 11 triples. He also led the conference in hits with 87 (.369 average).

Just one position player graduated and another, Canning, was taken in the fifth round of the MLB draft, so the vast majority of the team’s hitter will return.

Catcher Lyle Lin was selected as well, but he was a late selection and since he has two years of eligibility left, he will likely return to ASU for another year.

With further development and recruits, the offense could improve as a whole next year. More experience could also result in better outcomes in pressure situations with runners on base.

Next: ASU Baseball: Sun Devils take one of three vs. Arizona

Arizona State needed a lot of help with pitching this year, but luckily most of Arizona State’s recruits for next year are pitchers. With the incoming depth on the mound, perhaps ASU will start trending upwards in the near future.

Home/ASU Baseball