Photo: Brady Klain/WCSN
When Trevor Hauver stepped up to the plate on Friday night, his job was clear: do whatever you have to do to get on base, a seemingly mundane task. Hauver, the 2019 leadoff hitter for the Sun Devils, was called upon to do something every other player behind him was asked to do: just get on base. But, at that moment, there was much more going on than the eye could see. ASU’s patience at the plate would show its face.
In 2018, the then-freshman hit just .227 in 75 at-bats. On the season, he walked just 12 times. But, in the brisk Friday night Tempe air, Hauver stood at the plate for five pitches, watched all of them and walked to first base.
To the naked eye, it was nothing. The pitcher lost control, it was the first at-bat of the season and Hauver took a walk. But, the reality was Hauver would be the first of many, many walks to come or, at the very least, it would be the first of many mature and patient plate appearances, something Tracy Smith has long been asking for.
In Hauver’s walk, it was a microcosm of the brand of baseball ASU would play throughout the weekend. Yes, the Sun Devils scored 46 runs in three games and their run differential was +33, but to every Batman, there is a Robin. To every single, double or home run, there was professional patience at the dish.
“I was really pleased with our patience at the plate,” Smith said. “We were not chasing. Those were very very mature at-bats. I could count on one hand where guys chased pitches out of the zone.”
Smith used the words ‘the guys’ because the buck did not stop at Hauver. Over the three-game stretch, ASU faced 534 total pitches and walked 22 times. They knew when to wait and they knew when to swing. No longer were the Devils playing ‘hit ball, see ball’, rather they were entranced in watch mode.
“From the beginning, we talked about always hitting with a two-strike approach,” center fielder Hunter Bishop said. “We are more mature, yeah, but we are sticking to a strategy.”
This success is exactly that. It is a strategy, not a fluke. The Sun Devils are pacing themselves at the plate and, as a result, getting better pitches to hit. Every player in the starting lineup had at least two hits this weekend and the team as a whole struck out just 20 times.
This newfound maturity and patience is a much bigger deal than you might think. By waiting at the plate, teams will have no choice but to get closer to the zone and ultimately, they will make mistakes.
“I saw enough pitches but really he just grooved a fastball down the middle to me and I didn’t miss it,” Bishop said after he hit the scoreboard with a home run.
On top of the strategy, there is certainly maturity. The core of the batters from 2018 returned for 2019, providing a backdrop for learning. Players now know what went wrong last year and how to fix it this year. Patience at the plate seemed to be the common answer.
“This is us maturing,” junior outfielder Carter Aldrete said on Saturday night. “There are so many returners in our lineup and over the years we’ve tried to do too much. Now we know you don’t have to do too much, just do your job.”
That has been Arizona State’s biggest success, doing only what they need to do. Whether it is Hauver in the leadoff spot, Spencer Torkelson in the two hole or Drew Swift batting ninth, the Sun Devil bats have done their job. Tracy Smith has seen it and the players have too. For Sun Devil Baseball in 2019, if they wait for it, the pitch will come as patience appears to be the key.
