(Photo: Joshua Eaton/WCSN)
PHOENIX – For most teams around college baseball, if you’re batting .340 and can flash the leather around the infield, you’ll find yourself written into the lineup more often than not. Unfortunately for Arizona State sophomore infielder Jax Ryan, through no fault of his own, he’s not one of those players.
Ryan’s at-bats and the ability to showcase his talents are few and far between due to the state of the Sun Devils infield. He is in the unenviable situation of being stuck behind two of ASU’s hottest hitters, senior shortstop Matt King and redshirt junior Kyle Walker, as well as the ever-reliable junior third baseman Nu’u Contrades.
“If you’ve got to feel bad for someone, it’s that kid,” ASU head coach Willie Bloomquist said.
Despite his limited opportunities, Ryan has taken advantage of them when they’ve come around. Thursday night – batting in the eight hole as the Sun Devils designated hitter – was no different.
Ryan reached base four times, representing just over 20% of Arizona State’s (26-16, 12-7 Big 12) 18 baserunners in a game where the Sun Devils scored eight runs en route to taking game one of its three-game set against BYU (20-19, 6-13) at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. Even with the roadblocks ahead of him, Ryan keeps his head up and pushes forward, leading to nights like Thursday.
“It’s kind of hard for me to find my spot in the field,” Ryan said. “… You just got to stay ready and my time will come.”
Part of staying ready has been keeping his approach streamlined. Ryan doesn’t let the moment get too big, or let the pressure of playing for playing time affect his decisions at the plate, allowing these types of games to happen more frequently. Ryan has been able to take what’s been given to him and avoid bad pitches.
“I felt like I stuck to the approach that they gave me,” Ryan said. “(I) feel like that’s what (the coaching staff has) been beating on the past couple of weeks, just sticking to your approach. Not swinging at the pitches (the opposing pitcher) wants you to swing at and just sticking to the approach and staying ready.”
Ryan rarely fell behind against BYU’s arms and worked counts to see good pitches. The Oklahoma native started the Sun Devils’ three-run fourth inning with a single back up the middle to center field after taking the first pitch of the at-bat for a ball. He also singled in the second inning and drew a five-pitch walk in the eighth.
Even during the lone plate appearance where Ryan didn’t reach by way of a hit or walk, he still did everything right. Ryan worked a full count and rocketed a ball to BYU sophomore shortstop Ryder Robinson in the fifth inning and reached on an error after Robinson couldn’t make a play.
“Ryan was a nice spark in there today,” Bloomquist said. “(He) added some life to the offense.”
Thursday wasn’t an isolated instance. Ryan has been extremely impressive recently, batting .466 over his last 15 at-bats and performing well in practice. Ryan’s hot stretch has been especially noticeable when compared to the disappointing recent stretch from some of Bloomquist’s regulars.
“The way he’s been swinging it in batting practice and live (at-bats) and in his limited opportunities, I’m like, ‘You know what? This kid needs a shot to get in the lineup.’” Bloomquist said. “Some of these other guys are getting awful complacent and thinking they’re just going to write their name in the lineup every day, and we need a wake-up call on some of those guys.”
After sitting behind shortstop defensive wizard Steven Odina and the uber-talented Ethan Mendoza last year and King and Walker this year, Ryan hasn’t had the playing time he would receive at other programs. Instead of complaining about his playing time and letting his time on the bench affect his play, Ryan has managed to stay ready for every situation, waking up when others haven’t been able to and giving Bloomquist another tool in his belt.
It’ll be hard for the skipper to take King or Walker out of the lineup, but Ryan gives him a safety net and is making it hard for Bloomquist to sit him in his own right.
“He just continues to keep his mouth shut and work hard and wait for his opportunities, and when he gets them, he continues to produce,” Bloomquist said. “I’ve got to continue to find ways to get him in the lineup.”
