ASU needs some good news. We have suffered through an embarrassing collapse from our football team followed by an even worse coaching search. Then our top basketball recruit fails to qualify and leaves the basketball team hanging as they try to fight to stay out of the bottom class of teams in the nation. Now that spring is here, we can actually talk about a team worth discussing. ASU baseball starts in less than two weeks, February 17 to be exact, and they come in ranked 17th in the nation according to Baseball America.
The Devils feature three likely first round picks in the 2012 Major League Baseball draft. Shortstop Deven Marrero (probable top 5 pick), RHP Jake Barret, and RHP Brady Rodgers all need to lead the team for them to live up to their potential. Throw in wildcards like DH Joey DeMichele, closer Trevor Williams, and LHP Bradon Bonilla (Bobby’s son) and the Devils could even shock some people and challenge Stanford, UCLA, and Arizona for the Pac-12 crown.
Of course, this wouldn’t be ASU if there weren’t any controversy. The Devils are banned from any post-season play this season because of infractions from the Pat Murphy era. Even without any post-season this team has a lot to play for. Nothing is better than playing spoiler and ruining Arizona’s season. They hopefully will use this season as a stepping-stone to rebuild the program into the championship quality team have all come to expect.
Posted by Devil Jeff
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