The Sun Devils are mere hours away from throwing out the first pitch of the 2025 season, beginning things with a three game series at home against the Ohio State Buckeyes. This will also mark the first year in the Big 12 for Arizona State baseball, and it coincides with a crucial season for fourth year head coach Willie Bloomquist.
As we prepare for this opening series to begin, here are three reasons why the Sun Devils should come out of the weekend with a perfect 3-0 record.
Plenty of power in the Sun Devil bats
Offense has never been an issue for the Sun Devils under Bloomquist's watch. In 2024, Arizona State finished with a team .313 batting average, tied for 12th best in the nation and tops in the conference. They also finished in the top 15 in slugging percentage, hits, and doubles per game.
They also had six individual players with a plus-.300 batting average, and five of them return this season. They are led by Kien Vu, who finished sixth in the country with a .413 batting average. Prized transfer Kyle Walker placed 36th in batting average as well, adding yet another explosive hitter to the lineup.
Much like the Sun Devils, last year's Buckeyes squad struggled on the mound. As a team, they posted a 6.35 ERA, which ranked 169th in the nation. This is a rotation that the Sun Devils should see great success against, especially with so much hitting juice returning from last year.
Ohio State is rebuilding
Speaking of the Buckeyes, they're going into Year 1 of a new regime. They fired their coach after last season and hired Justin Haire from Campbell. In Haire's 10 seasons leading the Fighting Camels (yes, that's actually their name) he posted five conference titles and five NCAA Tournament appearances.
Haire brings a strong track record to Columbus, but he takes over a program lacking serious talent. As such, the Buckeyes enter the season as a bit of an afterthought in the Big Ten. They were picked to finish 11th in the conference and had just one player named to the preseason All-Big Ten team: pitcher Blaine Wynk, who was a third team honoree.
Simply put, Ohio State isn't playing with high expectations this year, and Haire is going to spend much of the season just trying to figure out his roster, let alone be competing on a regular basis. Starting the year with a long road trip to Phoenix is certainly less than ideal.
Bullpen should be much better
Remember how Ohio State was 169th in team ERA? Arizona State was below them, with a dismal 6.53 ERA. That was a major point of emphasis for Bloomquist in the offseason. He moved pitching coach Sam Peraza into a recruiting role and added minor league pitching coach Jeremy Accardo.
That's not all, though. The Sun Devils brought in six pitchers via the transfer portal, including two from Texas A&M and one from reigning national champion Tennessee. They've worked hard to rebuild their bullpen around ace Ben Jacobs, who finished 11th in the nation in strikeouts per nine innings.
Between the firepower from the bats and the anticipated improvements on the mound, Arizona State should be a pretty talented team in 2025. They don't need to have the best pitching rotation in the Big 12, just serviceable enough to protect the leads their offense puts up. The hope is that all the transfer additions, along with a new pitching coach, gets them there.
If things click into place, there's no reason why Arizona State shouldn't be able to start their year off with a series sweep.