ASU’s Bishop named Pac-12 Player of the Week for 3rd time in 4 weeks
Apr 1, 2019, 4:58 PM | Updated: 5:09 pm
Last summer five Arizona State baseball players played in the Cape Cod Baseball League, including Connor Higgins (left) and Hunter Bishop (center). (Photo by Fabian Ardaya/Sun Devil Source)
(Photo by Fabian Ardaya/Sun Devil Source)
With a 25-1 record and a ranking of No. 5 in the latest USA Today Coaches Poll, ASU baseball has gotten off to one of the best starts in program history.
One big reason for this has been the stellar play of center fielder Hunter Bishop.
Bishop on Monday was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week for the second consecutive week and the third time in four weeks. He is the first Sun Devil to win back-to-back player of the week honors since Ike Davis in 2008.
During ASU’s weekend series against rival Arizona, Bishop went 4-10 with two home runs, a double, eight runs scored and two stolen bases. All this was done despite the fact that the Wildcats were trying to pitch around him, as he also drew six walks in those three games.
There is a reason that Arizona was so conservative in pitching to Bishop, and that is because he has been perhaps the best player in all of college baseball this season. Bishop is slashing an absurd .424/.558/1.040 with a NCAA-leading 16 home runs and 44 runs scored in 26 games. He also leads the nation in total bases with 103 and is sixth in RBIs with 40.
Bishop has seen his stock rise tremendously as a result of this, and has started to climb up draft boards very quickly. According to Fangraphs, he is the No. 13 draft prospect for 2019.
The junior will look to defend his crown again this week, as the Sun Devils play host to Long Beach State on Tuesday and then travel to Los Angeles to take on USC over the weekend.
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