By Michael McLeran, ASU Media Relations 

Do you ever find yourself asking, "Remember that one player who played for us like 5 years ago?  Whatever happened to him?"  Well you are in luck if you are an ASU baseball fan.  Throughout the season I will be keeping you updated on former ASU alums in the MLB and their performance throughout the week.  As of Opening Day for the 2012 MLB season there were currently 9 former ASU baseball stars in the bigs.

Willie Bloomquist

Bloomquist enters his 13^th season in the majors, his second with the hometown Arizona Diamondbacks.  Drafted all the way back in 1999 in the third round by the Seattle Mariners, he is the oldest Sun Devil in Major League Baseball.  He will be competing for a starting job throughout the season, but was named the D-backs starting shortstop on opening day.  He has been a solid utility infielder since his early days with Seattle with a career batting average of .265 and a career on base percentage of .337.  Bloomquist is a very versatile player and has played every position in the majors except pitcher and catcher.  Look for him to play mostly middle infield and occasionally some left field this year for the D-backs.

Travis Buck

Buck enters his first year with the Houston Astros and is currently their backup outfielder.  It is his sixth season in the Majors after being drafted 36^th overall by the Oakland As in 2005.  Buck has an opportunity to push his way into the starting lineup if he can hit early and consistently for Houston.  He is still looking for his first shot to be an everyday outfielder for a full season.  If Buck is unable to win a starting job expect him to be used primarily as a pinch hitter and a platoon man this year, as he is capable of playing every outfield position.  He is a career .248 hitter with a career .321 on base percentage.

Ike Davis

Davis will be the 2012 starting first baseman for the New York Mets.  Davis enters his third year in the majors, all with New York who drafted him in 2008 with the 18^th overall pick.  Last season Davis was on the verge of a breakout season batting .302 with 7 homers and 25 RBIs with a .383 on base percentage through his first 36 games.  However, that all came to an end after an unfortunate collision with teammate David Wright, which sidelined Davis the rest of the year.  Davis injured his ankle but was able to avoid micro fracture surgery this off season.  Look for Davis to be the Mets every day first baseman and bat clean up.  Health permitting this could be a very big year for Davis and he could provide some much needed hitting to weak offensive Mets team.  Through two seasons he is a career .268 hitter with a career .354 on base percentage, but look for both of those numbers to increase this year as he gains more Major League experience.

Andre Ethier

Ethier enters his seventh season in the MLB, all of which have been with the Los Angeles Dodgers.  Ethier was originally drafted by the Oakland As in 2003, in the second round.  This year Ethier will be the everyday starting right fielder for LA.  He is another former Sun Devil who has been plagued with injuries over the past two seasons, a finger issue in 2010 and an elbow aliment in 2011, both which negatively impacted his statistics.  Look for him to hit in the middle of the lineup this season as he provides decent power numbers and has always hit for a very high average.  Either won the Silver Slugger award in 2009 and sports a .291 career batting average, .364 career on base percentage, and has 109 career home runs.  Ethier is also a very solid defensive outfielder and won the Gold Glove in 2011.

Jason Kipnis

Kipnis was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in 2009 in the second round.  It only took Kipnis two years to make his major league debut with the Indians in 2011.  Fresh off his rookie season Kipnis enters his sophomore season with the Indians.  Kipnis got called up last year towards the end of the season and was able to produce in 36 games belting 7 homers while batting .272 with a .333 on base percentage.  Primarily because of his late season production Kipnis will get his first shot as a full time second baseman in the majors.  Expect Kipnis to go through the struggles that are common for most rookies hitting in the majors as he only had 136 at bats last season.  Kipnis will most likely hit towards the bottom of Cleveland's lineup until he can show that consistent pop which he displayed his rookie year.  Look for Kipnis to come into his own this season as he as he gains more experience and is able to see more pitching at the major league level.

Mike Leake

Leake is coming off his most successful year in the majors and enters his third season, all with the Cincinnati Reds.  Along with Kipnis, Leake was drafted in the 2009 draft and was taken 8^th overall by the Reds.  Leake has been in the Reds starting rotation since 2010 and will be the fifth starter in their rotation this year.  He has continued to improve every year he has been in the majors, and last year drastically increased his control.  In 2010 Leake walked 3.19 batters per nine innings and in 2011 Leake walked 2.04 batters per nine.  Leake has never had a losing record in the majors and has a career record of 20-13 to go along with a career with an ERA of 4.03.  He also has 209 career strikeouts in 306 innings pitched.  Leake will have a chance to grow again in his third year with the Reds as he is surrounded by a solid rotation.  Expect him to start more than 25 games for the Reds this season and lower his career ERA, as last year he was able to post a sub 4.00 ERA.     

Dustin Pedroia

Arguably the best player to come out of ASU in the last ten years, Pedroia enters his seventh season in the majors and seventh year with the Boston Red Sox.  Boston drafted him in the 2004 in the second round with the 64^th overall pick.  Pedroia broke into the majors in 2006 and has been one of the most productive second baseman in the majors ever since.  Pedroia has a career batting average of .305, and a career on base percentage of .373 to go along with 75 career home runs and 345 career RBIs.  In 2007 Pedroia was awarded the Rookie of the Year award.  He followed up his solid rookie season in 2008 by winning the second baseman Silver Slugger award, a Gold Glove, and the American League MVP.  Pedroia has remained a solid hitter and fielder throughout his career and last year, in 2011, he was able to win another Gold Glove.  This year Pedroia will be an important part of Boston's offense success and will also play a key part defensively for them with those two Gold Gloves.  He will primarily bat in the two and three hole in the lineup and be Boston's everyday second baseman.  Pedroia is coming off his first 20 home run 20 stolen base season, and it would not be a surprise if he has another in 2012.  Expect Pedroia to remain one of the league's top second baseman with another productive year for the Red Sox.

Eric Sogard

Sogard made his Major League debut in 2010 with the Oakland As and enters his third season with the club.  Originally Sogard was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the second round in the 2007 MLB draft.  Although Sogard enters his third season in the majors he has seen little action thus far, only appearing in 33 total games.  With less than 100 at bats Sogard is still a raw talent, but has an opportunity to win an everyday job for Oakland this year.  He will be competing with Josh Donaldson for the starting third base job throughout the season and was named the opening day starter at third.  Sogard also has major league experience playing shortstop and second base.  He is a career .212 hitter with a .264 career on base percentage.  Given Sogard has not seen much action he could get his first real shot in the majors if he can come out swinging in April and take the job for Donaldson.  Look for Sogard to be used as a utility infielder with the chance to be Oakland's regular third baseman.

Josh Spence