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 Willie Bloomquist (1997-99) started his major league career with a bang in 2002, hitting .455 in 12 games with the Seattle Mariners. |
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Oct. 15, 2003
TEMPE, Ariz. (www.TheSunDevils.com) -- Led by eight former Sun Devils on major league rosters, 53 former Arizona State baseball players played in professional baseball in 2003.
Bonds Has Another Solid Season: Former Devil Barry Bonds (1983-85) continues to make a case as the greatest baseball player of all-time after another solid season in 2003. Bonds helped lead the Giants to the National League West pennant by hitting .341 (133-for-390) with 22 doubles, 45 home runs and 90 RBI. He was named to the all-star team for the 12th time and is looking to win his sixth MVP award.
Duncan and Switzer Make Their Debuts: Former Devils Jeff Duncan (1999-2000) and Jon Switzer (1999-2001) became the 78th and 79th Sun Devils to appear in the major leagues. Duncan hit .194 (27-for-139) for the New York Mets with one home run. He also played at Double-A Binghamton (.288-4 HR-23 RBI) and Triple-A Norfolk (.267-2-4). Switzer made his MLB debut with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Aug. 2 against the Kansas City Royals. The left-hander went 0-0 for the Devil Rays with a 7.45 ERA in five appearances. He was selected to the Southern League All-Star team while playing at Orlando (8-8, 3.43 ERA) and was 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA for Triple-A Durham.
Bloomquist Spends First Full Season With Seattle: Willie Bloomquist (1997-99) started his major league career with a bang in 2002, hitting .455 in 12 games with the Seattle Mariners. He spent the entire 2003 season with the Mariners as a utility player, hitting .250 (49-for-196) with seven doubles, two triples and one home run. The 1999 Pac-10 Player of the Year hit .394 for his career as a Sun Devil.
Lo Duca Makes All-Star Team: Los Angeles Dodger catcher Paul Lo Duca made his first all-star game when it was played in Chicago's Cellular Field at Comisky Park. Lo Duca hit .273 for the Dodgers in 2003 with 34 doubles and seven home runs. He played one year at ASU in 1993, earning Sporting News National Player of the Year honors. He holds the ASU single-season records for hits (129) and batting average (.446).
15 Former Devils Make Professional Debuts: Led by an NCAA high 12 players that were selected in the 2003 MLB Amateur Draft, 15 former Sun Devils made their professional debuts in 2003. Several players wasted little time making a name for themselves in the professional ranks. Andre Ethier, a two-time All-Pac-10 outfielder in 2002-03, was drafted in the second round by the Oakland Athletics. After starting at rookie level Vancouver (.390-1-7), he was promoted to Single-A Kane County in the Midwest League. Robbie McClellan (2002-03) was 4-3 with a 4.00 ERA and one save for the AZL Royals and earned a promotion to Wilmington for the playoffs. Steve Garrabrants (2001-03) led the Northwest League with 30 stolen bases while playing for the Yakima Bears. Garrabrants was a ninth-round draft pick by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Below is a complete statistical look at how all of the former ASU player fared in professional baseball in 2003:
| Sun Devils in the Majors (8) | |||||||||
| Player | MLB Team | W-L | ERA | G | SV | IP | H | BB | SO |
| Sean Lowe, RHP | Kansas City Royals | 1-1 | 6.25 | 28 | 0 | 44.2 | 55 | 21 | 28 |
| Gabe Molina, RHP | St. Louis Cardinals | 0-0 | 13.50 | 3 | 0 | 2.2 | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| Jon Switzer, LHP | Tampa Bay Devil Rays | 0-0 | 7.45 | 5 | 0 | 9.2 | 13 | 3 | 7 |
| Player, Pos. | MLB Team | Avg. | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI |
| Willie Bloomquist, UTL | Seattle Mariners | .250 | 196 | 30 | 49 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 14 |
| Barry Bonds, LF | San Francisco Giants | .341 | 390 | 111 | 133 | 22 | 1 | 45 | 90 |
| Jeff Duncan, OF | New York Mets | .194 | 139 | 13 | 27 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 10 |
| Paul Lo Duca, C | Los Angeles Dodgers | .273 | 568 | 64 | 155 | 34 | 2 | 7 | 52 |
| Fernando Viņa, 2B | St. Louis Cardinals | .251 | 259 | 35 | 65 | 14 | 4 | 4 | 23 |
| Sun Devils in the Minors (49) | |||||||||
| Player | Team (Class) | W-L | ERA | G | SV | IP | H | BB | SO |
| Carlos Arguello | Gateway (Independent) | 0-0 | 7.71 | 3 | 0 | 2.1 | 3 | 6 | 2 |
| Ryan Coffin* | South Bend (A, Diamondbacks) | 3-9 | 4.18 | 29 | 0 | 116.1 | 120 | 37 | 58 |
| Chuck Crumpton | Edmonton (AAA, Expos) | 2-1 | 4.79 | 19 | 4 | 47.0 | 42 | 21 | 19 |
| Harrisburg (AA, Expos) | 4-6 | 3.57 | 26 | 3 | 63.0 | 72 | 24 | 30 | |
| Mike Esposito | Visalia (A, Rockies) | 12-6 | 3.75 | 27 | 0 | 161.0 | 173 | 55 | 116 |
| Jason Fingers | AZL Royals (A, Royals) | 0-0 | 6.00 | 2 | 0 | 3.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Bryce Kartler | Staten Island (R, Yankees) | 0-3 | 5.89 | 14 | 1 | 18.1 | 20 | 11 | 19 |
| Jered Liebeck | Missoula (R, Diamondbacks) | 0-0 | 3.38 | 5 | 0 | 8.0 | 10 | 3 | 11 |
| Yakima (R, Diamondbacks) | 5-3 | 2.95 | 12 | 0 | 64.0 | 57 | 11 | 50 | |
| Robbie McClellan | AZL Royals (R, Royals) | 4-3 | 4.00 | 18 | 1 | 45.0 | 44 | 7 | 51 |
| Wilmington (A, Royals) | 0-0 | 0.00 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Ryan Mills | Rochester (AAA, Twins) | 5-1 | 4.11 | 32 | 0 | 61.1 | 62 | 31 | 51 |
| Gabe Molina | Memphis (AAA, Cardinals) | 2-9 | 5.09 | 57 | 9 | 63.2 | 73 | 31 | 47 |
| Chad Pennington* | River City (Independent) | 1-0 | 5.09 | 10 | 0 | 17.2 | 22 | 5 | 20 |
| Josh Perrault | Missoula (R, Diamondbacks) | 3-1 | 3.47 | 24 | 2 | 36.1 | 38 | 11 | 33 |
| Franco Pezely* | Clinton (A, Rangers) | 4-4 | 3.16 | 44 | 8 | 62.2 | 64 | 19 | 51 |
| Dennis Sarfate* | Beloit (A, Brewers) | 12-2 | 2.84 | 26 | 0 | 139.2 | 114 | 66 | 140 |
| Mark Sopko | Auburn (R, Blue Jays) | 3-0 | 2.10 | 18 | 0 | 34.1 | 20 | 14 | 29 |
| Jon Switzer | Orlando (AA, Devil Rays) | 8-8 | 3.43 | 22 | 0 | 126.0 | 117 | 32 | 100 |
| Durham (AAA, Devil Rays) | 1-0 | 1.80 | 1 | 0 | 5.0 | 6 | 0 | 3 | |
| Andy Torres* | Dunedin (A, Blue Jays) | 4-3 | 2.16 | 43 | 5 | 75.0 | 62 | 23 | 67 |
| Ben Thurmond | Salem-Keizer (R, Giants) | 5-0 | 1.93 | 14 | 2 | 51.1 | 44 | 9 | 45 |
| Beau Vaughan | Lowell (R, Red Sox) | 1-0 | 2.32 | 11 | 0 | 31.0 | 27 | 15 | 30 |
| Player | Team (Class) | Avg. | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI |
| Andrew Beinbrink | Frisco (AA, Rangers) | .266 | 451 | 67 | 120 | 24 | 1 | 10 | 65 |
| Cesar Castillo | Bristol (A, White Sox) | .222 | 99 | 10 | 22 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| Mike Collins | Jacksonville (AA, Dodgers) | .237 | 279 | 19 | 66 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 24 |
| Brooks Conrad | Salem (A, Astros) | .284 | 345 | 50 | 98 | 24 | 3 | 11 | 61 |
| Jacob Cruz | Louisville (AAA, Reds) | .348 | 132 | 25 | 46 | 8 | 0 | 7 | 29 |
| Dustin Delucchi | Inland Empire (A, Mariners) | .327 | 312 | 61 | 102 | 19 | 5 | 3 | 32 |
| Jeff Duncan | Binghamton (AA, Mets) | .288 | 278 | 49 | 80 | 11 | 5 | 4 | 23 |
| Norfolk (AAA, Mets) | .267 | 15 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | |
| Chris Duffy | Altoona (AA, Pirates) | .273 | 494 | 84 | 135 | 23 | 6 | 1 | 42 |
| Mark Ernster | High Desert (A, Brewers) | .288 | 163 | 28 | 47 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 29 |
| Andre Ethier | Vancouver (R, Athletics) | .390 | 41 | 7 | 16 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Kane County (A, Athletics) | .272 | 162 | 23 | 44 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 11 | |
| Sergio Garcia | Vero Beach (A, Dodgers) | .218 | 188 | 27 | 41 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 19 |
| Steve Garrabrants | Yakima (R, Diamondbacks) | .276 | 199 | 41 | 55 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 22 |
| Scott Goodman | Gary (Independent) | .170 | 106 | 7 | 18 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 8 |
| Mike Guerrero | Missoula (R, Diamondbacks) | .183 | 60 | 3 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Mitch Jones | Trenton (AA, Yankees) | .242 | 463 | 76 | 112 | 18 | 0 | 23 | 91 |
| Bryce Kartler | Staten Island (R, Yankees) | .291 | 110 | 16 | 32 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 10 |
| Mike Kelly | Omaha (AAA, Royals) | .296 | 368 | 63 | 109 | 29 | 1 | 14 | 65 |
| Ian Kinsler* | Spokane (R, Rangers) | .277 | 188 | 32 | 52 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 15 |
| Cory Lizarraga | Amarillo (Independent) | .250 | 208 | 37 | 52 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 22 |
| Cody McKay | Indianapolis (AAA, Brewers) | .232 | 371 | 32 | 86 | 15 | 1 | 6 | 43 |
| Dan Meier | Amarillo (Independent) | .277 | 332 | 45 | 92 | 23 | 2 | 4 | 52 |
| Casey Myers | Modesto (A, Athletics) | .301 | 166 | 21 | 50 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 25 |
| Jeff Phelps | Clearwater (A, Phillies) | .263 | 297 | 39 | 78 | 20 | 1 | 5 | 33 |
| Trent Pratt* | Clearwater (A, Phillies) | .217 | 253 | 31 | 55 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 25 |
| Doug Schutt | Rockford (Independent) | .258 | 233 | 40 | 60 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 18 |
| Jay Sitzman | Reading (AA, Phillies) | .277 | 249 | 23 | 69 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| Mel Stocker | Burlington (A, Royals) | .273 | 403 | 85 | 110 | 16 | 9 | 3 | 33 |
| Wilmington (A, Royals) | .232 | 56 | 6 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | |
| Fernando Viņa# | Memphis (AAA, Cardinals) | .176 | 17 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Jeremy West | Lowell (R, Red Sox) | .280 | 264 | 32 | 74 | 17 | 1 | 4 | 43 |
| Dennis Wyrick | Aberdeen (R, Orioles) | .234 | 154 | 14 | 36 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 15 |
* indicates did not finish college career at Arizona State.
# indicates MLB rehab assignment.
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