ASU baseball’s 2026 season: the good, the bad and what’s next

The ending will linger.

The frustration. The near misses. The opportunities that slipped away. The gut punch of a second straight regional exit.

For a program that entered 2026 with Super Regional and Omaha aspirations, anything short of a deeper postseason run feels incomplete. Arizona State expected more from itself, and that reality should not be ignored.

But focusing solely on the final result risks overlooking what was, in many ways, one of the program’s most significant seasons in a decade.

SEASON ACCOLADES

In an era of unprecedented parity, roster turnover and NIL-driven uncertainty across college baseball, ASU took another meaningful step forward. The Sun Devils finished 39-21, their best record since 2016, and earned consecutive NCAA Tournament berths for the first time since 2015 and 2016. They also improved to 19-11 in Big 12 play, finishing third after placing fifth a year ago. The only teams ahead of them were Kansas and West Virginia, both of which are currently hosting Super Regionals.

Landon Hairston delivered one of the best seasons ever by a Sun Devil. He broke ASU’s single-season home run record with 28, won Big 12 Player of the Year and emerged as a Golden Spikes Award contender. Hairston also led the nation with a 1.366 OPS while batting .400, becoming the third consecutive Sun Devil to reach the mark, following Matt King in 2025 and Kien Vu in 2024.

ASU set a program record with 119 home runs and, for the first time in school history, featured three 20-home run hitters in the same season. Hairston, Nu’u Contrades and Dean Toigo all reached the milestone.

The growth extended beyond the batter’s box. Under pitching coach Jeremy Accardo, ASU led the Big 12 in strikeouts for a second straight season. Cole Carlon finished fourth in the nation with 133 strikeouts.

THE GOOD

There were plenty of signs throughout the spring that the Sun Devils were capable of making a deeper postseason run. They run-ruled then-No. 13 Oklahoma 15-3, swept a St. John’s team that has since advanced to a Super Regional and opened Big 12 play by taking down preseason conference favorite TCU. 

The following weekend, ASU went to Manhattan and took two of three from a Kansas State team that spent much of the season among the nation’s most explosive offenses.

The Sun Devils lost just two conference series all year, and neither came on the road. Arguably their most impressive series win came in Orlando, where they took two of three from UCF behind strong pitching performances. The Knights ultimately finished just one spot behind ASU in the Big 12 standings.

A sweep of Baylor at home, ASU’s only series sweep of the season, came the week before the UCF series victory and likely marked the Sun Devils’ most complete two-week stretch of the year.

Lost in the ending was just how resilient this ASU team was. The Sun Devils repeatedly fought back from deficits, absorbed bad losses and weathered moments that could have easily snowballed into something bigger. Instead, they consistently responded, and that resilience was a major reason they kept winning series throughout the season.

The numbers backed it up. ASU hit .315 as a team, ranked sixth nationally with 119 home runs, finished 10th in runs scored with 505 and placed second in the country with 682 strikeouts on the mound. Few teams in the nation matched the Sun Devils’ combination of offensive firepower and swing-and-miss pitching.

Two postseason wins also stood out. ASU’s 10-2 win over Cincinnati sent the Sun Devils to the semifinals, highlighted by Hairston’s record-setting 28th home run. ASU also knocked out host Nebraska in the Lincoln Regional, winning 11-8 in two offensive statements.

Still, it is impossible to discuss the season without revisiting the opportunities that slipped away.

THE BAD

ASU never quite secured the wins that would have separated it from the rest of the conference and elevated it from regional contender to host candidate.

The challenge was there. Willie Bloomquist deliberately built a difficult nonconference schedule, highlighted by two games against Oklahoma and the Texas Amergy Series, which featured then-No. 4 Mississippi State, No. 20 Tennessee and No. 23 Texas A&M.

Instead, ASU dropped four straight games during that stretch. The skid began with a blown ninth-inning lead in a 4-3 loss to Oklahoma and continued against three SEC opponents. Bloomquist viewed those games as a measuring stick for where the program needed to be. ASU improved significantly, but never fully reached that level.

A home series against No. 17 West Virginia offered another chance to make a statement. After a dominant 14-4 run-rule win in the opener, powered by two Hairston home runs, ASU dropped the next two games and was outscored 22-12. The series exposed issues that resurfaced throughout the season, including inconsistent production against elite pitching and lingering questions on the mound.

Then came the losses that haunted ASU’s NCAA Tournament resume. Midweek defeats to UNLV, Arizona and New Mexico State within a two-week span became major anchors on the Sun Devils’ RPI. Combined with four Quad 4 losses, they played a significant role in ASU landing as a No. 3 seed despite its strong overall record.

The final missed opportunity came against Oklahoma State. With a chance to strengthen its case for a top No. 2 seed and keep faint regional host hopes alive, ASU lost two of three at home, including a game in which it squandered a 6-3 ninth-inning lead.

Even in postseason play, the same pattern continued. A 7-3 loss to West Virginia ended ASU’s Big 12 Tournament run, and two extra-inning losses to Ole Miss ended the season in Lincoln. Time and again, ASU proved it belonged. What it couldn’t consistently do was deliver the hit that changed the outcome.

That reality defined the season’s edge between very good and great.

WHAT’S NEXT?

It is hard to view the upcoming offseason as anything but a turning point, one that could determine whether ASU continues its upward trajectory or slips back toward inconsistency under Bloomquist.

That uncertainty starts with what is leaving. For a second straight year, ASU faces a massive roster overhaul. In 2025, nine players were selected in the first 10 rounds of the MLB Draft, along with key departures like Jacob Tobias. This offseason could look much the same.

Among the notable departures or expected departures are Cole Carlon, Kole Klecker, Colin Linder, Nu’u Contrades, PJ Moutzouridis, Dean Toigo, Dominic Longo, Derek Schaefer, Alex Overbay, Colby Guy, Matt Polk, Sean Fitzpatrick, Jaxysn Durst, Ryan Darrah, Cooper Clouser and Ky McGary.

That group includes the entire starting rotation, multiple high-leverage relievers, the team’s second- and fourth-leading hitters in OPS and a significant portion of its young position-player depth.

Bloomquist has repeatedly stressed the importance of age and experience, which helps explain why several younger contributors have sought opportunities elsewhere as another transfer cycle approaches. ASU successfully rebuilt through the portal last year with the No. 13-ranked transfer class according to D1Baseball, but matching or exceeding that impact may be necessary simply to maintain momentum.

That is why retaining Landon Hairston is the program’s top priority.

Hairston produced one of the greatest offensive seasons in ASU history and established himself as one of the best hitters in college baseball. As an Arizona native and a longtime recruiting target of the staff, he represents both production and continuity.

NIL will play a major role, but there should be little debate about his value. The question is whether ASU can assemble the resources necessary to keep him.

Last season, Carlon, Contrades and Hairston formed the core of the roster. This year, that foundation shrinks considerably, with Hairston, Taylor Penn and potentially Dominic Smaldino emerging as the program’s clearest building blocks. Without Hairston, the outlook changes dramatically.

His departure would also increase pressure on Bloomquist. The ASU coach received a two-year extension before the season, but another step backward could intensify scrutiny as the next contract decision approaches.

On the field, pitching remains the clear portal priority. Offense has rarely been the issue under Bloomquist, but postseason success depends on reliable arms. Carlon was clearly a tier above the rest of the staff, and replacing that production is now the program’s biggest challenge.

Ironically, some of ASU’s most inconsistent pitchers delivered its biggest postseason outs. Still, the season was defined by volatility. Several sophomore arms expected to take a leap never did, while injuries, including Wyatt Halvorson’s Tommy John surgery, further thinned the group.

Depth was supposed to be a strength, and the strikeout numbers supported that claim. Consistency never followed. ASU finished near the bottom of the Big 12 in walks, and the lack of a dependable Saturday starter remained a season-long issue.

Accardo has proven he can develop elite swing-and-miss stuff. Command remains the next hurdle.

Looking ahead, ASU will lean on a group of returning sophomores and juniors expected to take larger roles. Even so, the Sun Devils must rebuild an entire rotation while finding more dependable late-inning options.

Offensively, the blueprint has worked. Despite significant roster turnover, ASU has fielded elite offenses in back-to-back seasons. The challenge has been producing timely hits against elite competition in the season’s biggest moments.

That creates a difficult evaluation process. ASU cannot recruit for “clutch,” but repeated struggles in high-leverage situations against top opponents suggest there is still something missing from the formula.

The portal strategy is expected to remain familiar: Arizona ties, Power Four talent coming off injuries or down years and players with untapped upside. But Kansas and West Virginia showed another path this season, building around proven JUCO, Division II and Group of Five talent. Those players often arrive with more experience, fewer question marks and something to prove.

Whether ASU adjusts its approach or continues refining its current model will help define what comes next.

In many ways, this offseason is not just about replacing talent. It is about deciding what kind of roster ASU wants to be.