The Arizona State baseball program had seven players on Opening Day major league baseball rosters, best of any school in the Big 12.
That group is headlined by Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Merrill Kelly and Detroit Tigers first baseman Spencer Torkelson.
Torkelson, the first overall pick in the 2020 draft, was 3-for-6 in two games entering Saturday, both games against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Torkelson, 25, slugged a home run in a 5-4 Opening Day loss and walked four times in that game.
Kelly, 36, picked up his first win of the season Friday night against the Chicago Cubs. He pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing just three hits and one run. He's a product of Desert Mountain High.
The other former Sun Devils are Austin Barnes, Los Angeles (NL); Ryan Burr, Toronto; Alec Marsh, Kansas City; Trevor Williams, Washington; and Gage Workman, Chicago (NL).
The University of Arizona has five players, in addition to a manager, Terry Francona: Tylor Megill, New York (NL); Andrew Nardi, Miami; Kevin Newman, Los Angeles (AL); Rob Refsnyder, Boston; and Austin Wells, New York (AL).
Texas Tech tallied the third-most with five while Houston, TCU and West Virginia had four. Kansas' all-time leading hitter, Rob Thomson, returns to Philadelphia as the manager after directing the Phillies to their third consecutive postseason to give the conference two Big 12 alumni managers.
All 14 Big 12 baseball programs are represented on major league rosters, The Cincinnati Reds lead the league with four Big 12 alums.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona State baseball boasts seven alumni on MLB Opening Day rosters
