ASU Baseball: Sun Devils get first taste of new regime in fall ball

(Photo: Brendan OKeeffe/WCSN)

When former Arizona State Baseball Head Coach Tracy Smith was fired in early June following the team’s exit in the Austin Regional of the NCAA Tournament, Arizona State Vice President for University Athletics and Athletic Director Ray Anderson said that he wanted to hire someone to “instill discipline, focus, accountability” and that had “an intensity that we think is necessary to win.”

To get that, Anderson went to the pro level, hiring a coaching staff headed by former ASU infielder and Arizona Diamondback Willie Bloomquist. Bloomquist and his assistants have over 40 years of professional baseball coaching experience to go along with over 20 years of service time in Major League Baseball.

Assistant coach Mike Goff spent 16 years with the Seattle Mariners working extensively in player development, with nine of those years coming as the coordinator of instruction in the Mariners farm system. He also spent four years as a minor league manager in the organization before going on to manage in the Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants organizations. His most recent stop was as the bench coach for the Miami Marlins in 2015.

Another assistant on ASU’s staff is Bill Mueller, who is perhaps best known for his game-tying single off Mariano Rivera in Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS that ended up leading the Boston Red Sox to a World Series championship. Following his career, Mueller spent time with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals in a variety of non-playing roles.

Based on what multiple players said at Thursday’s fall ball media availability, the changes Anderson made seem to be paying off already. Players like redshirt sophomore outfielder Joe Lampe recognize the experience of the new staff and have appreciated learning about those experiences.

“I think one of the biggest things is that [the coaches] have been through it,” Lampe said. “We have alumni that are coaching us that have played here. They’ve played pro ball. They’ve coached pro ball. I think just the level of professionalism that they have makes all the guys feel comfortable.

“We can trust all of them because they’ve had success at the highest level and they see everything.”

Although much of the staff sports an impressive amount of experience at the professional level, Bloomquist has had to adapt the rules of the college game and follow the certain standards set by the NCAA.

Bloomquist described his work ethic as doing something until it is fixed no matter how long it takes. In his current position of employment, that is no longer allowed. Additionally, learning about college players is different compared to the staff’s usual view of professional players.

“I’m learning something new every day and juggling the time constraints and understanding the time limits given to us which is something we have to be careful with,” Bloomquist said. “Learning the personality of these guys is another thing that I’ve had to deal with, but it’s a challenge I enjoy.”

Bloomquist spent three seasons in Tempe, winning the 1999 Pac-10 Conference Player of the Year award. In his collegiate career, he slashed .394/.489/.596 with 15 home runs and 176 RBI.

He is also the only Sun Devil in history to record 100 hits in back-to-back seasons, and his career .394 batting average ranks third all-time in ASU history. His many successes at ASU led to the Mariners using their third round pick on him in the 1999 MLB Draft.

As he returns to take the helm of the Sun Devils without any prior coaching experience, Bloomquist has spent little time having to earn the respect of the veteran players like redshirt senior right-handed pitcher Boyd Vander Kooi.

“He’s [Bloomquist] a good leader, and Goff, he knows everything and he’s great,” Vander Kooi said. “Coming to ASU, that’s kind of what you expect as a coaching staff, so I’m glad we have them.”

Vander Kooi and redshirt junior left-handed pitcher Adam Tulloch, a transfer from West Virginia, are hoping to reciprocate everything the coaching staff has already done for them.

“They have very high expectations for us and they should, we’re a very good team,” Tulloch said. “We have all the hitting that we need and we have a bunch of really good arms. So I think they have certain expectations of us and we have certain expectations of ourselves and it’s kind of just a matter of meeting their expectations.”

While a wealth of talent and experience returns to the program this season, Bloomquist made it very clear that there is still plenty of work to be done. Saturday’s scrimmage against Long Beach State will be used as an indicator as to what more ASU needs to work on, and the amount of detail they will need to put into it.

Bloomquist shared that he and his staff prepare practice schedules multiple days in advance to account for the players’ availability. The new way of doing business has been a success so far.

“The response has been overwhelmingly positive to the new structure,” Bloomquist said. “They understand what they’re expected to do every day. It’s a good starting point.”

Preparation is always key to games, but the new staff has been taken to a new level: preparation for practices.

The schedules given ahead of time gives players the opportunity to plan in advance. This allows for efficient practice time, which has seemingly gotten the Sun Devils off to a strong start this fall.

“I think the practices are being run a little more smoothly and we have a better understanding of what’s going on in each practice and what we should be preparing for pre-practice,” redshirt sophomore left-handed pitcher Graham Osman said. “One of the biggest differences is making sure that we’re really taking care of our bodies and helping us with that, instead of making ourselves kind of go through it on our own.”

Senior infielder Conor Davis, who will play his first season at ASU in 2022 due to an ACL injury that kept him out all of 2021, echoed prior statements on the increased focus on the health of the players.

“It’s kind of a more professional look and it’s just a different way our staff is doing things this year and it’s been working well all Fall,” Davis said. “So far, you’ve seen guys respond to that positively and it definitely helps in terms of getting time to take care of your body and get into the training room to get your work done.”