Arizona State has long been known as a baseball school. From the days of Bobby Winkles, Rick Monday and Reggie Jackson to today — only two programs had more draftees than the Sun Devils' nine in 2015.
The legacy continued Tuesday when not a former player but a former coach, Pat Murphy, got the call to the big leagues. After the San Diego Padres fired manager Bud Black on Monday, Murphy, who was serving as the manager Padres' Triple-A affiliate, was quickly reported (first by FanDuel’s Will Carroll) as en route to San Diego to vie for the interim managerial position.
A day later, the news became official: Pat Murphy would become the 19th Sun Devil to don a Major League uniform in 2015.
It's difficult to tell which list is more impressive: the one of retired numbers that glisten the outfield walls of Phoenix Municipal Stadium or the one of 19 whose numbers currently glisten the back of Major League uniforms. The former includes the likes of Barry Bonds, Reggie Jackson, Paul Lo Duca. The latter: Dustin Pedroia, Jason Kipnis, Kole Calhoun.
Possibly, it's neither. Some might argue it's the list that encompasses the 37 names already covered, plus another 372, totaling an NCAA record 409 players taken in the first-year player draft since its inception in 1965. The first player taken in that inaugural 1965 draft? Fittingly, Arizona State center fielder Rick Monday, who went on to play 19 MLB seasons.
For the large part, ASU baseball can be divided into two eras: the Winkles-Brock era and the Murphy-Esmay era. In 55 seasons of Sun Devil baseball, there had only been four coaches. In 2015, Tracy Smith became the fifth.
The two eras could also be referenced as the "championship era" and the "non-championship era". The early years were defined by on-field success, cementing a legacy and setting the program up for what it has been since Jim Brock's death and thus retirement in 1994. In Bobby Winkles' 11 years at helm, ASU won 524 games and three of its five national championships. After an eight-year "drought" (in relative terms) Brock would lead the Sun Devils to two more titles, in 1977 and '81.
What Sun Devils might have considered a drought then doesn't compare to what the program has experienced since. Despite nine conference titles, 11 College World Series and 27 postseason berths since, the most prolific MLB talent farm hasn't won a championship in 34 years.
In that time, however, the program has produced 271 of its 409 players drafted. Much of that is thanks to newly-minted Major League manager Pat Murphy. Under his watch, ASU averaged nearly eight players drafted per year, including a program-record 15 in 2008.
If not for a "lack of institutional control" that forced ASU to vacate its 2007 season, Murphy would likely still be leading the Sun Devils. Of course, that's assuming another professional offer wouldn't have come along.
The 629-game winning manager was forced to resign after the 2009 season amid the aforementioned NCAA investigation.
It's been a story of redemption for both parties since. ASU cycled through its shortest-tenured head coach, Tim Esmay, who resigned after the 2014 season, the program's least successful season since 1992 and advanced to only one College World Series — in 2010, the season directly following Murphy's departure.
Murphy, though, was hardly hung out to dry after the split from ASU. He quickly found himself in professional baseball, in the San Diego Padres organization — some might say it was even a step up for the former college coach. The now-56-year-old quickly moved up the ranks, spending 2011 and 2012 managing the Padres’ short-season Single-A affiliate, the Eugene Emeralds, to a Northwest League-best 93-47 record over the two seasons. Just as Murphy turned his .688 ASU winning percentage into a pro-ball position, he turned his .664 winning percentage with the Emeralds into a promotion to the job he held up until he got the call Tuesday, managing the Padres’ Triple-A affiliate for the last two-plus seasons.
It’s difficult to determine how Murphy’s career would have transpired had he not been forced out at ASU, or where the Sun Devil baseball program would be today. Murphy’s 629 wins at ASU are second only to Brock’s even 1,100. Just six years after the split, ASU is nowhere near the powerhouse it was when Murphy left. ASU is still a perennial Pac-12 title contender, but the years of its three-coach empire of Winkles, Brock and Murphy are behind it. It’s now moved on to Tracy Smith, who the Sun Devils are hopeful can return the program to its (maroon and) golden era. Even the successes Smith saw at Indiana – two Big Ten titles and a College World Series appearance – would suffice for now.
Now, Murphy has progressed to bigger and better things. Having seen success at every level, the Milwaukee Brewers showed a now well-publicized interest in him to join Craig Counsell’s staff after they fired Ron Roenicke earlier this season. Turns out, the Padres had good reason for taking the rarely used measure of blocking Milwaukee’s request to interview their Triple-A skipper: They very well could have been grooming him for their own Major League staff.
Reach the reporter at ewebeck@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @EvanWebeck.
Like State Press Sports on Facebook and follow them on Twitter @statepresssport.
