TEMPE – After making the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2021, a newfound buzz circles around Arizona State’s baseball program.
ASU’s tournament trip to the dance last spring ended the program’s three-year drought and granted Coach Willie Bloomquist his first postseason appearance.
Sparky even showed some promise in the regional, nabbing a win against UC Irvine before bowing out two games later.
But mass departures in the offseason forced Bloomquist to retool this offseason. As a result, he and his staff attacked the portal, bringing in a whopping 27 new players, composed of transfers and high school recruits, and assembling one of the top transfer portal classes in the country.
Now, after losing multiple starters across the board, ASU will look to lean on new faces to replace much of its offensive production from last season and ride reliable arms on the mound to make strides in the pitching department in hopes of matching the standard it set in 2025.
Contributing writers: Adam Kunin, Mihir Sinhasan, Colin Hogan
This offseason, ASU lost multiple starters and key pieces from its lineup. What can we expect from a revamped Sun Devils’ offense in 2026?
After posting a .319 batting average, the second-highest in the Big 12 last year, ASU will need multiple replacements to maintain its offensive power into 2026.
The Sun Devils lost five of their regular starters – outfielders Kien Vu, Brandon Compton and Isaiah Jackson, along with infielders Kyle Walker and Matt King – to the 2025 MLB Draft. Additionally, infielder Jacob Tobias ran out of eligibility.
Fortunately, Willie Bloomquist can turn to his depth to fill those starting roles. This includes sophomore infielder Beckett Zavorek, who batted .385 and started last year’s NCAA tournament games against UC Irvine and UCLA. Fellow sophomore infielder Landon Hairston, who batted .333 as ASU’s 38th Freshman All-American, will also return.
More importantly, Bloomquist will rely on junior infielder Nu’u Contrades to be a veteran leader in the clubhouse. Despite an injury-ridden 2024, Contrades started 47 games in 2025, logging six home runs and 38 RBIs. With the multiple transfers into the program, the co-captain Contrades will also be in charge of growing the Sun Devil culture.
“The main thing was just spending time together,” Contrades told reporters at Tuesday’s media availability. “We’re here for however many hours a day … Just that team camaraderie has been (a) really important piece for us.”
Conversely, the Sun Devils have brought in multiple transfers to round out their lineup. This includes fifth-year outfielder Dean Toigo, the 2025 Mountain West Player of the Year with UNLV. Toigo is no stranger to his current team, as he hit 4-for-8 and three RBIs in two games against it last year.
The Maroon and Gold will also welcome Austen Roellig, who was named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team and received an All-Big-12 Honorable Mention with Utah last season. He also led the Utes with a team-high .357 batting average during conference play.
While there are many new pieces to the starting lineup, ASU will be ready to continue last year’s offensive accomplishments.
– Sinhasan
Traditionally, Bloomquist’s squads haven’t been able to sustain consistent success in the pitching department. Can the Sun Devils find more success on the hill this spring?
After an up-and-down 2025, Bloomquist believes his pitching staff is deep and poised to take another step forward entering his fifth season.
“We have a lot of local kids who have been here since their freshman year, and they took their lumps as freshmen,” Bloomquist said. “We had our growing pains with those guys, but it was necessary for them to be in the positions they are now.”
The headliner of that group is junior left-handed pitcher Cole Carlon. In 2025, Carlon earned All-American honors as one of the top relievers in the country, posting a 3.33 ERA through 54 innings.
Carlon will take the bump Friday night for the Sun Devils against Omaha, marking his first start in more than 650 days.
“I have always wanted to be a starter,” Carlon said. “It was my goal to be the Friday night starter at Arizona State. Now I’m telling myself not to take it for granted and to go out and do what I do.”
On Saturday, redshirt junior right-handed pitcher Colin Linder will make his Sun Devil debut. The JUCO product transferred from Northwest Florida State College before the 2025 season and, after recovering from Tommy John surgery, said he is ready to make his first Division I appearance.
“I can already feel the excitement building,” Linder said. “I am sure there will be anxiety too, but at the end of the day, once I step back on the mound, it’s back to business.”
Rounding out the weekend starters will be sophomore left-handed pitcher Easton Barrett. As a freshman, Barrett threw nearly 40 innings in 17 appearances and took his talents to the Cape Cod Baseball League over the summer, where he said he found a new level of confidence.
The final starter Bloomquist named is senior left-handed pitcher Kole Klecker. The TCU transfer earned freshman All-American honors but struggled to replicate that success in Fort Worth after 2023. However, the Hamilton High School alum said returning home has brought a breath of fresh air as he is ready to bounce back.
“I think I have my confidence back,” Klecker said. “I feel like I am a different pitcher now. I’ve taken that confidence from the fall and brought it into the preseason, which has me feeling like I am in a great spot. I am really excited to go out there and throw.”
In the bullpen, Bloomquist praised senior left-handed pitcher Sean Fitzpatrick, junior left-handed pitcher Brady Louck and freshman right-handed pitcher Austino Musso as reliable options.
Bloomquist said the team will go as far as his pitching staff can take them, and he believes the group is ready for the moment.
– Hogan
Speaking of ASU’s head man, Willie Bloomquist received a multi-year extension this offseason ahead of a contract year. What do expectations look like for the fifth-year coach going into his next three seasons in Tempe?
Willie Bloomquist finally got the monkey off his back in 2025, steering his squad into the NCAA tournament to make his first postseason appearance as the head coach in Tempe.
As a result, Athletic Director Graham Rossini rewarded Bloomquist this past offseason with a two-year contract extension, locking him up until 2028, pending approval from the Arizona Board of Regents.
“I have more energy and more excitement now than I did on the first day that I took this job,” Bloomquist said after a recent practice. “It’s a special place to work … I’m a Sun Devil through and through.
“(I’m) truly honored that the administration values me, what we’re doing and the direction that we’re going.”
But NCAA tournament appearances are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to expectations for a program that boasts the slogan of “college baseball’s greatest tradition.”
Following his extension, the pressure is on Bloomquist to not only match what his squad did in 2025 but also take another step forward by advancing further in the NCAA tournament over the next few years.
Still, he remains more confident than ever in his approach, especially after constructing the nation’s No. 11 portal class according to 64Analytics. The group boasts an impressive array of size and speed, contributing to one of Bloomquist’s most physically imposing teams in his five years as the Sun Devils’ head coach.
“We’re going to look good getting off the bus,” Bloomquist said in a media availability back in the fall.
His new look squad will get a chance to make its first impression on Opening Day, Feb. 13, when Arizona State hosts Omaha at Phoenix Municipal Stadium at 6:35 p.m. MST.
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