Arizona State baseball has recently added five players in the portal, making their roster deeper and forcing it to be well over the new roster limit of 34. Getting depth is necessary, as there has been significant roster turnover. In the fall, Arizona State Head Coach Willie Bloomquist will have to make some final cuts, but that is a story for another time.
Bloomquist finally added some pitching arms as he is seeing his Friday and Saturday starters, righty Ben Jacobs and lefty Jack Martinez, likely depart for the MLB draft. Established righty reliever Jonah Giblin has also likely exhausted eligibility. A few of the young arms have gone to the transfer portal.
Rising senior right-handed pitcher Kole Klecker has Friday starter potential, as he started the majority of his games at Texas Christian. Klecker posted a 4.49 ERA in over 150 innings with a 1.296 WHIP. The Phoenix-area product started 31 of his 43 appearances, posting an 11-7 record with the Horned Frogs.
Klecker had his best year as a freshman, going 10-4 with a 3.72 ERA. He had a pivotal role in TCU’s College World Series run. It will be interesting to see how pitching coach Jeremy Accardo develops Klecker, in particular, as he could rekindle what worked well in his freshman year.
Klecker faced Arizona State in the 2024 Kubota College Baseball Series in Globe Life Field. The righty threw six innings on 100 pitches, allowing one run on three hits, two walks and struck out six.
Another arm with starter potential is right-hander Colby Guy, a graduate transfer from UNC Asheville. Guy spent two seasons at Jackson State before spending the same length at UNC Asheville.
Guy has a 6.70 career ERA with a 17-13 record with a 1.758 WHIP in 211 innings. The South Carolina native has started 38 of his 52 appearances. Going into the 2025 season, Guy was named Big South Conference Preseason Pitcher of the Year. He struggled in five appearances with a 10.80 ERA before being sidelined with an injury.
Arizona State also lands rising sophomore righty Taylor Penn, who had a commendable freshman year at Western Kentucky. Penn has not officially signed with Arizona State, but made a post announcing his commitment with the caption Go Devils. It is unclear when he will sign, but it should be soon.
Penn posted a 3.48 ERA and a 1.129 WHIP in 31 innings with the Hilltoppers. He started in four games and came out of the bullpen in ten games, making him a viable option for the Sun Devils.
All three pitchers should fight for rotation positions with returners like rising junior lefty Cole Carlon, rising sophomore southpaw Easton Barrett, rising sophomore lefthander Max Arlich, rising junior righty Wyatt Halvorson and rising junior righthander Jaden Alba. Three or four will be the starters, with the rest mixing in with the bullpen.
The Sun Devils got some bullpen help, too. Rising junior righty Alex Overbay could slide into the back end of the bullpen. If that last name rings a bell, it should, as his father is longtime MLB first baseman, Lyle Overbay. Alex joins utility Dean Toigo as the second player to transfer from UNLV this offseason.
Overbay has a career ERA of 7.26 in two years with the Rebels in 31 innings. That is skewed, as in his freshman year, he posted a 27 ERA in three innings. He has a respectable WHIP of 1.935 and a record of 4-2. The Washington native made seven saves last season.
Overbay pitched an inning in both games the Rebels faced off against the Sun Devils last season. In those appearances, he allowed two runs on three hits and walked one.
The Sun Devils also land rising senior righty reliever Nick Anello. Anello has not officially signed with Arizona State, but he has reposted another post indicating he has committed. Anello should officially sign soon. Anello has spent time at three universities.
Anello started his collegiate career at Blinn College in Texas. He posted a 3.38 ERA in eight innings for the Buccaneers. The Florida native went back home as he transferred to Eastern Florida State College. He posted a 6.27 ERA and a 1.71 WHIP in 18 and two-thirds innings for the Titans.
Anello made the jump from NJCAA to the NCAA school of Jacksonville. As a junior, he made the All-ASUN Third Team with a 3.72 ERA and 1.500 WHIP in 19 and a third innings of work. Anello posted nine saves for the Dolphins.
Overbay and Anelllo will almost certainly slide into late-inning roles. If senior right-hander Lucas Kelly stays, he could be the closer as Cole Carlon is anticipated to move into a starting role, which would put Overbay as a setup man. Other setup guys could be rising junior right-hander Josh Butler and rising junior righty Derek Schaefer, as well as any of the guys listed above who do not receive starting roles.
In a year where two-thirds of the Sun Devil bats have departed for various reasons, Bloomquist needed to get replacements for his bats, which he had secured. Now, by adding two players from Cal, Bloomquist has secured depth.
Rising junior shortstop P.J. Moutzouridis figures to be in the mix, if not the prime candidate to be Arizona State’s starting shortstop in the spring. Moutzouridis has a career slash line of .284/.360/.413.
Moutzouridis looks to be a solid all-around player with 76 career runs and 73 RBIs. The California native has some pop with nine home runs and good speed with seventeen stolen bases. His numbers took a slight dip from year one to year two, but still enough for a capable starter.
Experts love Moutzouridis’ glove as he has a .936 fielding percentage. He is playing summer ball for the Cotuit Kettleers in the Cape Cod League with a slash line of .167/.211/.222 in 19 plate appearances. Fellow Sun Devils Cole Carlon and Wyatt Halvorson are on the Kettleers, so the transfer is already getting to know some of his new teammates.
Rising junior first baseman Dominic Smaldino also comes to Tempe from Berkeley. Smaldino has a career slash line of .273/.353/.502. The 6-foot-6 first baseman saw his playing time grow exponentially from 2024 to 2025, with over five times more plate appearances this past season.
Smaldino drove in 46 runs and scored 48 last season with the Golden Bears. The Californian smacked 11 home runs last season, showcasing his immense power.
Smaldino is having a summer to remember for the St. Cloud Rox in the Northwoods League. Smaldino leads the league in home runs with eight and has posted a slash line of .383/.479/.817 in 73 plate appearances.
Smaldino will battle rising senior transfer Garret Michel for the first base position. The two posted similar slash lines last year with Michel’s being slightly better (.272/.398/.467 for the former Virginia Tech Hokie, .277/.357/.505 for Smaldino), but Michel’s is higher (.326/.446/.607 for Michel, .273/.353/.502 for Smaldino) throughout their careers. It is unclear who will be the top first baseman in the spring or even fall.
Moutzouridis was the only one of the pair to see playing time against Arizona State in a series at Phoenix Municipal Stadium in 2024. He went 5-14 in the series with a pair of walks and a trio of runs scored.
The duo from Cal slots into an infield that has transfer third baseman Dominic Longo (from Utah Valley) and Austen Roellig (from Utah), the aforementioned Michel and returning second baseman Beckett Zavorek. The rest of the offense is highly competitive as well, as there are three catchers (rising junior Brody Briggs, rising sophomore transfer Coen Niclai and incoming freshman Cooper Clouser) and four outfielders (rising sophomore Landon Hairston, rising senior transfer George Bilecki, graduate transfers Dean Toigo and Matthew Polk). That makes 13 players competing for the nine starting spots, which is exactly what Arizona State needs after many offensive departures.
The Cal pair could be the final offensive transfers that Arizona State will get this offseason. Bloomquist will likely acquire a couple more pitchers, with at least one being a lefty, as the team is losing Jacobs and Bradyn Barnes and only bringing in Cody Kiemele, a true freshman arm from California.