Sun Devils sweat out deadline
August 14th, 2008, 7:38 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Dan Zeiger
Outfielder Jason Kipnis will be back for another year at Arizona State if he cannot reach an agreement with the San Diego Padres before Friday’s draft signing deadline. (Ralph Freso/Tribune)
With his current Arizona State baseball roster and list of top recruits still under assault by major-league teams, coach Pat Murphy will finally have an idea who will be suiting up for the Sun Devils next season after 9 p.m. (Arizona time) on Friday.
That is the signing deadline for players selected in the June draft. Fourteen players from the 2008 team have signed pro contracts, and six ASU recruits — including four of the first 52 draft picks — opted to play for pay.
“You could describe it best as a two-sided fuse,” Murphy said on Thursday. “We lose guys on our current roster, and we lose incoming guys. This time, it’s a major hit. Yes, it turns out we might have a great player back, but we lost a bunch of others. We lost more from this team than an Arizona State team has ever lost.”
The current-player bleeding might stop with outfielder Jason Kipnis, who appears set to return for his junior season.
Kipnis and the San Diego Padres, who selected him in the fourth round, are reportedly more than $600,000 apart in negotiations. Kipnis, who batted .371 with 14 home runs and 73 RBIs, believes he would be a first-rounder in the 2009 draft and is evidently trying to get that kind of money now.
Murphy, however, said he is not yet ready to classify a Kipnis return as a sure thing, and he is monitoring the status of at least four incoming players. That does not include infielder Eric Hosmer, the third overall pick, who Murphy expects to reach an agreement with the Kansas City Royals.
Infielders Zack MacPhee (Detroit, 22nd round) and Zach Wilson (Pittsburgh, 26th round) and outfielder Johnny Ruettiger (Texas, 35th round) are getting last-minute pushes from their pro teams, Murphy said. MacPhee could be the Sun Devils’ leadoff hitter, Wilson is the projected third baseman, and Ruettiger is in the mix to start.
Also, Murphy would love to have Johnny Coy, a basketball recruit who was taken by the Philadelphia Phillies in the seventh round.
Coy is expected to join the hoops team, and coach Herb Sendek has given him the OK to play baseball at ASU. However, the Phillies are reportedly trying to convince the infielder/outfielder to work for them during the summer.
Even if Kipnis and all four signees return, Murphy has quite a rebuilding task ahead. His team returns just three regular players: pitcher Mike Leake, second baseman Raoul Torrez and right fielder Matt Newman.
Pat Murphy
“If we’re going to finish in the top 10 again, we’ll have some work to do,” Murphy said. “We could be using seven or eight freshmen in the lineup, and we’ll have another brand-new pitching staff.”
If he returns, Kipnis will play in left or center field, with returnee Andy Workman, Ruettiger and Jeff Lusardi likely competing for the other spot.
In the infield, the Torrez brothers — Raoul and Riccio, a freshman — along with MacPhee and Austin Barnes and will get first crack at the middle positions. Abe Ruiz (San Francisco, 47th round), a newcomer with a slight chance of signing, could play first base.
Drew Maggi and returnee Mike Murphy will compete at multiple spots, and more infield help could arrive via a junior-college transfer.
Jordan Swagerty, Jake Saylor, Carlos Ramirez and returnee Andrew Pollak are the main contestants at catcher.
“Right now, before we have something definitive on Kipnis, the only position not up for grabs on this team is right field,” Murphy said. “Newman has established himself.”
Leake (11-3, 3.49 ERA last year) is the unquestioned pitching ace. Seth Blair has been solid in the Cape Cod League and will audition for the other rotation spots with Devin Fuller, R.J. Preach and Josh Spence, a left-hander. Fuller, who failed to qualify academically for the 2008 season, is eligible for the fall semester.
The Sun Devils begin fall practice on Sept. 1.
“It’s going to be an extensive practice and teaching period, but it will be fun,” Murphy said. “It’s all puppies out there. I think we’ll be picked close to the cellar in the Pac-10 because we lost everybody, and I don’t think there will be a top-20 (preseason) ranking for the first time in a while.
“But I like the team. I like who we recruited, and I like the character of the guys. They are the right guys.”