(Photo: Dominic Cotroneo/WCSN)
On the surface, Dalton DiNatale’s upcoming return to the Sun Devil lineup seems like good news for the Arizona State baseball team.
The third baseman has been a quality player for three years at ASU, and it would seem like a no-brainer to have him play once he has fully recovered from his injury.
However, Head Coach Tracy Smith may have to be creative, as sophomore David Greer has performed admirably in DiNatale’s absence.
During the 11 games DiNatale played before his injury, the junior hit for a .297 average, three doubles, and two home runs. Both homers in his last weekend of action during the Phoenix Muni Classic.
Then came the scrimmage against the Arizona Diamondbacks on March 3rd, where he was forced to wear regular “turf” shoes during infield drills, as Salt River Fields would not allow spikes on the field before the game.
During the final drill of infield practice before the game, DiNatale fell and jammed his right thumb. He managed to play for some of the game, but later it was revealed that his thumb was broken. DiNatale has not appeared in a game since, but has participated in practice and looks to make it back on the field soon.
With DiNatale out, Tracy Smith had to put in David Greer, who has exceeded expectations and has been on an absolute tear in DiNatale’s absence. Greer leads ASU with a .364 batting average and his 17 runs batted in are second on the team despite his limited action.
So it’s pretty safe to say that Greer will continue to keep his place in the Sun Devil lineup, but where does that put DiNatale? Well, it would be an easy decision for Smith if DiNatale was an average player, because he could just bench him in favor of Greer.
But DiNatale’s early success in 2015 was no mirage, as he has been putting up great numbers ever since he has arrived at ASU. DiNatale was a key contributor for the Sun Devils last season, as his name is littered throughout the top five of every offensive category.
To be specific, DiNatale had a .297 batting average (5th), 36 runs batted in (2nd), 58 hits (4th), 12 doubles (3rd), and three home runs (4th). During the 2013 season, his freshman year, DiNatale hit a .302 average, which ranks among the top freshmen in school history.
Obviously, DiNatale has been marvelous during his time on the baseball team.
Unfortunately, that leaves the team with two quality third basemen and only one spot to play them, so somebody is going to have to make an adjustment.
Luckily, Tracy Smith has shown a tendency to put his players at a variety of different positions, perfectly illustrated when he placed catcher Brian Serven in the outfield on the final game of the Utah series.
But here’s the problem, there is not one spot on the field that is a glaring weakness at this point in the season.
For a while it looked like DiNatale would take over the spot at first base when he came back, because for a good chunk of the season the production from there was marginal at best. He spent time at first in his freshman campaign and he still will switch corners in practice for grounders.
However, that may be off the table, since Joey Bielek has effectively taken over the job at first, as he is now hitting .338.
With the real meat of the Pac-12 schedule in the near future, Tracy Smith will have a tough decision to make, play the experienced DiNatale, or hope that the fantastic play of some these inexperienced players continues for the remainder of the season.
