Arizona State shook things up with its pitching staff in the offseason. In Friday’s season-opening 11-6 win over Santa Clara, that change was in full effect.
An up-and-down 2023 campaign on the mound caused head coach Willie Bloomquist and pitching coach Sam Peraza to re-evaluate the team’s depth at pitcher. The duo opted for a youth movement, with 11 freshman pitchers joining the Sun Devils for 2024.
Freshman right-hander Thomas Burns took the mound as the team’s Friday night starter and proved the strategy right.
The Wisconsin native struck out the first hitter faced, showcasing impressive velocity early on. He touched 95 mph a handful of times, proving it was not early nerves.
Burns gave up one hit, a solo shot but recovered well and struck out seven Broncos throughout his five-inning outing.
“That dude can chuck it,” sophomore outfielder Isaiah Jackson said.
The freshman’s ability to pound the zone and get ahead in counts allowed him to utilize an impressive slider to wipe out Santa Clara’s hitters.
“For me, starting ahead is the biggest thing,” Burns said. “Then you have many options to go with. Early in that game, it built a lot of confidence.”
The Sun Devil offense gave its starting pitcher a nice cushion to play with, tagging the Broncos for eight runs in the second and third innings.
Burns added that pitching to the strong ASU lineup throughout the fall and winter helped him prepare for the moment on Friday night.
In addition to the offense, Burns credited visualization as a key part of his preparation throughout the week ahead of his debut.
“Mentally preparing every night … every hitter that I faced out there tonight, I already faced in my head before,” he said.
Bloomquist gave his starter a subtle, but poignant compliment after the performance.
“There’s a reason that we have him on Friday,” the coach said.
After a year of piecing a rotation together like a puzzle, there was a sense of catharsis and confidence in Bloomquist after watching his first starter perform so admirably.
Three other pitchers worked for the Sun Devils in the win. Sophomore lefty Ben Jacobs, who appeared in just seven games at UCLA last season, was sharp in two innings of work.
Jacobs struck out three of the seven batters he faced.
A pair of freshmen followed Jacobs in the eighth and ninth innings. Right-hander Wyatt Halvorson was tuned up for two hits and three runs, but he was able to navigate through the jam and finish his inning.
Righty Josh Butler got the ball in the ninth and gave up a pair of runs on two hits as well, but also finished the inning.
“We’re going to need those guys and those are good arms … that we’re going to need down the stretch,” Bloomquist said. “We got to get them experience and I don’t know if we can get them a softer landing than we did tonight but we knew they were going to be amped up and they’ll get better as we move on.”
Bloomquist appreciated the bounce-back ability of both freshman relievers and remained confident in both moving forward.
While it was only the first game of the season, it felt in many ways like a validation of the remade staff.
Whether that holds true remains to be seen but the quality start certainly created a sense of confidence around Phoenix Municipal Stadium that can be built on going forward.
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