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ASU Baseball: Five Sun Devils selected in 2018 MLB Draft

by Nicholas Badders -

(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)

Five Arizona State Sun Devils, two ASU recruits and four former Sun Devils heard their named called over the course of the three-day MLB Draft in 2018, a significant increase after only one Devil was taken in 2018.

Junior outfielder Gage Canning was the first Sun Devil off the board after the Washington Nationals selected him with their fifth round pick, 161st overall. Canning was ranked by MLB.com 106th draft prospect in the country and expected to be selected between the third and fifth rounds.

In 2018, Canning finished with a .369 batting average, starting all 55 games and leading ASU in at-bats with 236. He hit nine home runs and collected 45 runs batted in, while tripling 11 times. Almost surely going to sign with the Nationals, Canning will finish his three-Sun Devil career with 100 RBI, a .326 average, 25 triples and 18 home runs.

Canning was the only pick of a future, current or former Sun Devil on the first two days of the draft, in which rounds 1-10 take place.

The next pick of a current Sun Devil was one many considered a surprisingly high choice, as the Toronto Blue Jays selected junior right-handed pitcher Fitz Stadler in the 18th round with the 536th overall pick.

Unlike Canning, who was drafted for the first time of his career, Stadler’s selection was his second lifetime. In 2015, the Glenview, Illinois native was taken by the Chicago Cubs out of Glenbrook South High School in the 32nd round, 953rd overall in the 2015 MLB Draft.

Stadler instead chose to come to ASU, where he spent three years, collecting a lifetime 6.62 over 53 innings. He struck out 35 opposing hitters and walked 34 in his time with the Sun Devils.

The Blue Jays draftee pitched the most innings of any of his seasons in 2018 at 22.2 but finished with a 5.56 ERA in 13 appearances.

After 13 rounds passed between ASU picks, it only took four to get to the next one when senior lefty Eli Lingos was taken in the 22nd round, 673 overall by the Cleveland Indians.

What Gage Canning was to the hitters, Eli Lingos was to the pitchers over his final two seasons with ASU, a workhorse that consistently set a good example for those around him, quickly becoming the most reliable and consistent member of the staff.

Lingos, a native of Temecula, California and undrafted out of high school, started 42 games over his four-year career with the Sun Devils, finishing with a 17-18 record and a 4.21.

After pitching exclusively out of the bullpen as a freshman, he made the jump to starting in 2016 and had a career-best year in 2018, winning seven games, earning a 3.83 ERA and striking out 72 batters. Only three of his 15 appearances as a senior were less than five innings, including two of his last four.

Following Lingos, sophomore catcher Lyle Lin was the next ASU baseball player to hear his name called when the Houston Astros look the catcher with their 29th-round pick, 882 overall.

Lin was drafted out of JSerra Catholic back in 2016, the Seattle Mariners took him in the 16th round, 477th overall. At the time, he was the first Taiwanese-born player to be chosen in the MLB Draft, per The China Post.

A draft-eligible sophomore, it will be intriguing to see if Lin returns for his junior year or forgoes college and turns pro. With Sam Ferri expected to return from Tommy John surgery in the spring, the Taiwanese catcher’s time behind the plate would almost surely decrease, with Luke Leisenring in the mix as well.

In hiss first two years at ASU, Lin was an All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention selection both seasons with a career batting average of .302. He has started all 55 games since arriving on campus and boasts a career .390 slugging percentage.

The final Sun Devil to be selected was junior left-handed pitcher Connor Higgins, who went not too far after Lin to the Los Angeles Angels in the 30th round, 901st overall.

Undrafted out of high school, Higgins was selected by the Texas Rangers in the 35th round of the 2017 draft as a draft-eligible sophomore, but chose to return to the Sun Devils for his junior season.

After finishing 2017 as the ASU closer, with a 3.92 ERA, Higgins struggled in 2018, pitching in 23 games and giving up 19 earned runs in 26.2 innings, good for a 6.41 ERA. It is expected that Higgins will forgo his senior season and join the Angels organization.

Earlier in the draft, the Angels selected an ASU recruit, one of two that was drafted in the three days. Connor Van Scoyoc, the younger brother of current Sun Devil Spence Van Scoyoc was selected in the 11th round, 331st overall out of Thomas Jefferson High School.

Per Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register, the younger brother of Spencer intends to sign with the Angels, meaning ASU will be without at least one of it’s recruits in what Perfect Game ranks as the country’s 33rd recruiting class.

Also drafted was Tyler McKay, a JUCO commit out of Howard College. McKay pitched at Kansas State in 2017 before transferring to Howard and then committing to Arizona State. He was selected by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 16th round, 467th overall.

Rounding out the 2018 draft with ties to ASU are four players who previously donned the maroon and gold and one who never saw the field but spent time on the roster.

Liam Jenkins and Gio Lopez were both freshman on the 2016 roster, seeing three combined appearances and five runs allowed.

Jenkins, taken by the Indians in the 17th round (before Lingos) was selected out of the University of Louisville. He played at Wabash Valley College in 2017 before transferring, where he was drafted in the 40th round by the San Francisco Giants. In 14 appearances with the Cardinals, he went 1-1 with a 6.46 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 15. 1 innings.

Lopez was selected by the Miami Marlins in the 23rd round out of the University of Missouri. He spent his sophomore year at Central Arizona College before making the move to Mizzou, striking out 24 batters with CAC. With the Tigers, he collected a 3.86 in 14 appearances, striking out 17 over 14 innings of work.

The final two former Sun Devils were both with ASU as recently as 2017.

Andrew Shaps was notably dismissed from the 2017 squad in May of the season for “failure to buy into team culture.” After committing to play at Chico State, Shaps landed at William Jessup University, an NAIA school, where he served as an outfielder, then pitched due to a hand injury.

Shaps, a senior, was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 31st round as a pitcher and per Jessup Athletics, is the first ever player to be drafted out of their baseball program.

At ASU, Shaps played in 119 games and hit .307 with seven home runs and 45 RBI. While his time at Jessup was limited due to injury, he hit .453 in 17 games (29 hits sin 64 at-bats) with all of his at-bats coming in January and February.

Beginning in March, Shaps pitched for the Warriors and struck out 19 batters over 14.1 innings. He also pitched in 2015 as a freshman at ASU, appearing in 7 games with a 3.86 ERA. However, his time as a pitcher was also cut short due to an injury and served as a pinch runner.

The final former Sun Devil to be taken was Reagan Todd, who was selected in the 32nd round by the Colorado Rockies. When the 2018 ASU baseball roster was released in the fall of 2018, Todd was notably left off after pitching for the Sun Devils in 2016 and 2017. He had a lifetime 6.87 and 3-9 record in 35 games, striking out 62 batters in 77.1 innings.

Todd played his junior season at Colorado Mesa University, an NCAA D2 school, pitching 80 innings as a starter with a 3.60 ERA.

Lastly, Trevor Horn, who redshirted as a freshman in 2015, then played at Scottsdale Community College, was drafted out of UNLV in the 39th round by the San Francisco Giants. In 2018, Horn started 15 games for UNLV with a 5.96 ERA in 77 innings.

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