(Photo: Sydni Griffin/WCSN)
Entering the 2023 season, Arizona State baseball had a lot to be excited about. The team was entering the second season under head coach Willie Bloomquist, and a large group of transfers bolstered a solid foundation of returners from the 2022 team. None of those returners sparked quite as much anticipation as junior infielder Ethan Long.
Long’s bat scorched the Earth his freshman year, but due to a lingering left wrist injury, he was unable to match the performance of his freshman year during his sophomore campaign. Long was drafted with the last pick in the 2022 MLB Amateur Draft, but he decided to come back for his junior season, feeling he had more to prove.
“There’s some boxes I didn’t get to check off,” Long said on Jan. 27. “I mean, it just wouldn’t sit well with me if I was to decide to go pro ball and not check off those boxes before I got done here. So that was a big part for me.”
However, following the team’s 6-5 win over Washington State, Bloomquist announced that Long’s season would be coming to an end.
“Ethan will be out for the year,” Bloomquist said. “He had surgery, and unfortunately, he’s not going to be able to make it back in time for the end of the year. That’s a big blow for us.”
In the middle of an eventual 8-4 loss to Oklahoma State on March 7th, Long exited the game after it appeared he had re-aggravated the injury to his left wrist that had hampered him the majority of the previous season.
As the knowledge about Long’s injury developed, Bloomquist and his staff announced that Long would have a procedure that would not allow him to take an at-bat for the rest of the year. However, there still remained a possibility that Long could make an appearance on the mound, something he did in a limited role during the 2022 season.
“He’s gonna have a procedure, and he’s gonna be out for a significant time from a hitting standpoint,” Bloomquist said following the team’s 6-5 victory over Arizona. “He has toyed with the idea of getting back on the mound. I’ve been waiting for this moment for him to say, ‘I’m ready to start pitching’ because he can help us.”
Despite initial hopefulness that Long could come back on the mound, Bloomquist announced that the doctor said — following Long’s surgery — he would not recommend Long pitching because of potential further injury to Long’s left hand when catching a ball or squeezing his glove, ending any possibility of a comeback during the 2023 season.
“It kills him too,” Bloomquist said. “He’s a competitive kid, and you can see him just wanting to be a part of this, and he is a part of it regardless. My heart goes out to him because he’s worked really hard this offseason to get back and in shape. Injuries suck, man they do. I’ve had plenty of my life, so I get it, but as long as he continues to be a positive influence around here, he’ll always be a part of this.”
Update on McLain
Sophomore outfielder Nick McLain has not appeared this season due to a hamate injury he suffered in the offseason. Previously, Bloomquist had said that McLain was targeting a comeback for the series against Cal last weekend, but the UCLA transfer did not return against the Golden Bears.
When asked why McLain did not hit his scheduled return, Bloomquist announced that McLain had suffered a setback and that he was “not optimistic” that McLain would return. However, after Thursday’s win, Bloomquist announced that the tests done on McLain revealed more positive results than initially expected.
“There could be a light at the end of the tunnel on one of our guys,” Bloomquist said. “I was not optimistic last time I talked to you about Nick McLean, but now I’m cautiously optimistic. I think we got some good news on that front, so now it’s just a matter of getting him ready to go. We’re hopeful that he can be ready soon.”
