(Photo: Dominic Cotroneo/WCSN)
The Arizona State University baseball program landed the number one recruiting class in the nation with the 2016 class. Often in collegiate sports, the phrase “number one recruiting class” is thrown around. Yet, the actual process of recruiting these players is often overlooked.
It took a lot of behind the scenes work from the entire coaching staff to reel in some of the most coveted high school players. However, the mastermind behind all of this isn’t the one with the biggest name recognition.
The easy answer would be to say head coach Tracy Smith, or even just the allure of playing for one of the most storied programs in college baseball.
The Sun Devils’ skipper has surpassed over 600 collegiate wins as a head coach over the course of 19 seasons and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience. He brought Indiana University from a tenth-place finish in the Big Ten Conference to back-to-back conference championships in 2013 and 2014. The Hoosiers also made the College World Series in 2013.
ASU has won five National Championships and has been the College World Series Runner-Up five other times. Add to that 21 College World Series appearances and 20 Pac-12 championships and you have a baseball powerhouse.
While these reasons as to why a potential recruit would find a school in central Arizona so enticing definitely factor into the process, ASU has a secret weapon that fair-weather fans don’t know about.
That secret weapon is Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator Ben Greenspan.
Greenspan knows Smith well — he served under him in the same roles at Indiana University. He also played under him for two seasons in 2006 and 2007. He later made the move with Smith from Bloomington, Indiana to Tempe, Arizona after the 2014 season.
Greenspan’s work is much more extensive than merely being a recruiter. He also works primarily with the offense and catchers.
In his first season at ASU, the Sun Devils’ offense excelled in the Pac-12 in a few major offensive categories. They finished second in the conference in slugging percentage and third in the conference in batting average and hits.
Following Greenspan’s first season with ASU, he worked hard to bring some highly-touted prospects to Arizona State going into 2017. His efforts paid off as ASU is welcoming 20 players into the program for the first time this season.
Among them are Hunter Bishop, the No. 44 MLB Draft prospect on ESPN insider Keith Law’s top 100 draft prospects and Carter Aldrete, a recruit from Monterey, California who is the No. 12 player in California and the number 93 prospect in the country.
Greenspan’s job is often overlooked due to the fact that he isn’t the one who usually tries to convince the player to come to ASU face-to-face, but he studies the best high school players in the country, compiles the best of the best then allows head coach Tracy Smith to seal the deal.
Bishop went even as far as to say that Greenspan played a huge role in his recruitment
Sophomore Gage Canning, who had a breakout freshman campaign, explained that he wasn’t recruited by Greenspan or Smith but instead by the previous coaching staff, but sees what the two do and recognizes the impact, especially on an ASU team losing some of it’s biggest players to the MLB Draft.
“I feel like that’s really huge getting some guys to pretty much cover the spots that were empty so it’s good for us,” Canning said.
The freshmen are already impressing the veteran head coach, who talked further about who specifically has impressed him in the fall.
“On the position player side, Hunter Bishop is going to push for some time in left field,” Smith said.
He deepened his message for the recruits by saying they have looked really good in fall ball and it will be fun to watch their first times taking an at-bat, making a defensive play, or pitching their first inning.
These freshman are excited about the chance to play under coaches like Smith and Greenspan and will have ample opportunities to make an impact right away. Freshman infielder Carter Aldrete explained that Ben Greenspan and Smith quickly formed a relationship with him and made his recruiting “an easy decision.”
As the head coach of a young, talented roster, Smith gives all the credit to the man who identifies what ballplayers the team should scout.
“(Ben) Greenspan who primarily spear-heads the name gathering and the evaluations and the organization of our recruiting has done an excellent job of building relationships and getting out and identifying the right guys.”
Boasting a bevy of talented young players, it’s easy to understand why the likes of Aldrete and Bishop are excited just to be a part of the recruiting class.
Bishop thinks the positive attitude of the freshman class will only help them going forward.
“It’s a lot of confidence within the group,” he said. “I think that’s the main thing. We have to be on top of our game and obviously the expectations are really high with the number one recruiting class.”
Aldrete echoed Bishop’s sentiment of excitement.
“It’s definitely an honor to be part of the number one recruiting class in the country,” he said. “We’re all excited to get rolling this year and our older guys are definitely treating us right and we definitely feel like a part of the team so we’re all looking forward to bringing one home for Arizona State.”
All things considered, Greenspan deserves a tremendous amount of credit for the abundance of talent headed into ASU ahead of what looks to be a promising 2017 season.
