The Arizona State baseball team’s freshman class is ranked third nationally by Collegiate Baseball.
This ranking would have been higher if the Sun Devils did not lose a handful of players in the top rounds of the MLB Draft. Of the 16 Sun Devils featured in the 2012 freshman class, six of them were players drafted in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.
ASU trails only Vanderbilt and UCLA in the rankings. Stanford has the third best Pac-12 class and the Cardinal is ranked 6th in the NCAA. Rival Arizona is ranked as the 20th overall class and Oregon, USC and California round out the bottom of the top-25. The rankings are based on players who enroll at school for the fall semester. It does not include athletes who committed to play college baseball and opted to sign a pro contract.
Despite all the adversity the ASU baseball team handled in the past two years, recruiting coordinator Ken Knutson was still able to attract some top-notch talent to Tempe, including five Arizona natives and four from California.
Two of the newest Sun Devils are a part of the baseball legacy. Pitcher David Graybill is the grandson of former ASU three-sport letterman Dave Graybill Sr and son of Dave Graybill Jr. who pitched for the Sun Devils from 1982-84. Graybill Sr. is one of seven three-sport athletes in ASU athletics history. Also infielder Emilio Torrez is the younger brother of former Sun Devils Raoul and Riccio Torrez. Both Raoul and Riccio signed professional contracts with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Rays, respectively.
ASU’s class features seven pitchers and nine position players. The Sun Devils begin fall practice on October 22 and then will play the annual Halloween Dress-Up Game on October 31 at Packard Stadium.
