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Arizona State added two more significant semester transfers, as a Sun Devils official confirmed freshman righthander Jason Jarvis had joined the program, as had former Louisiana State outfielder Jared Bogany.

Jarvis isn’t on the Sun Devils’ online roster, but a team official confirmed that he had enrolled in January and joined the program. He’s not yet eligible to play, as he awaits paperwork from the NCAA clearinghouse. Jarvis ranked as Arizona’s top high school talent in last year’s draft after teaming with Charles Brewer (now at UCLA) to lead Chaparral High to its fourth straight state title last spring. Jarvis also led the Arizona Firebirds to the Connie Mack World Series championship last summer, starring both as a hitter and as a pitcher. Jarvis had committed to San Diego out of high school, then instead enrolled at Chandler-Gilbert (Ariz.) JC for the fall semester before transferring in to Arizona State at the start of the spring semester.

The Sun Devils picked up another possible starter in Bogany, who just got his release from LSU earlier in the week. Bogany hit .319/.356/.393 last spring with the Tigers and was a 15th-round pick of the Pirates in 2005 but didn’t sign.

Bogany and Jarvis (if he’s cleared) join fellow semester transfers in projected Friday starter Brian Flores, a lefthander from New Mexico JC, and outfielder Matt Spencer, who transferred in this month from North Carolina.

If these transfers work out like expected, Murph is going to have a tough time finding AB’s for his outfielders (Tim Smith, Bogany, Sontag, Davis, Spencer, Leake, Williams, Petello, Jones) Thats a lot of outfielders with 10-12 ABs a game to spread out.

Posted by Jason | January 26, 2007 at 12:53 pm | Shortcut

It doesn’t look good for the Freshmen outfielders does it? On the bright side, I think your 10-12 ABs per game for the outfielders is low. This is one high-powered offense, and it seems to me it is more realiatic that ASU will get 6 ABs per game from each outfield spot. Then you figure one of these guys will DH (Davis again), there’s another 6 ABs per game. If the pitching by committee continues this year, and it probably will, there’s four or five pinch-hitting opportunities per game. At least Murph shouldn’t ever have the problem of looking down the bench in the ninth and not be able to find someone who can move a runner over.
Can you imagine if somehow ASU talks either Burgess or Jackson into honoring their committment to ASU rather than signing with the team that drafts them? It’ll never happen, but what if it did?

Posted by Dan Mattheis | January 26, 2007 at 7:57 pm | Shortcut

First of all, isn’t there something inherently wrong with completely shuffling your roster in the weeks just before the season starts. I can understand if a team loses players to JC’s, family hardship, or injuries…but we’re talking about Arizona State, a program that has a surplus of talent without needing to accomodate midterm transfers. It seems like the staff at ASU (and at any other large college) should recruit when necessary and work to develop their recruits. I cannot see the honor or workmanship in tossing aside kids that have been with the team and worked hard to earn a spot, in favor of players that arrive on a whim. While I disagree with their methods, I’ll be rooting for ASU this season due to personal reasons…I just hope that animosity and spite don’t overwhelm any chemistry created during the pre-season workouts. I also hope that the coaching staff is able to find a way to maximize the contributions from a roster stocked with talented players.

Posted by Ryan Leake | January 26, 2007 at 9:18 pm | Shortcut

Ryan,

In a perfect world, I agree with you 100%. As a fan without personal ties to the game, it’s easy to forget that another word for player is human being, and most of these kids don’t want anything else in life right now except for the opportunity to play. On the flip side, it is the nature of the game that they chose to get into. I suspect that you are related to Mike, so I can see where you are coming from. Remember though when you talk about “their methods” that this type of thing happens with great frequency at all programs. It’s not like Murph is doing anything new here, and it’s not like anyone is being “tossed” aside.” Mike is still exeriencing the opportunity of a lifetime in being part of a top-tier program, and he will still be able to contribute – on and off of the field.

Posted by Dan Mattheis | January 27, 2007 at 1:40 pm | Shortcut