Zack MacPhee wasn’t exactly a bit player for the Bourne Braves last summer. He started at shortstop in each of Bourne’s playoff games and went 1-for-3 with a run scored in the Braves’ title-clinching win.
But in the summer, and the spring before that, MacPhee was kind of easy to miss.
He hit .270 for Arizona State’s College World Series team, batting ninth just as he did for Bourne. After a late arrival because of the CWS, MacPhee hit .146 in 30 games on the Cape.
These days, while you can’t give too much credence to a series against a cold-weather team that got out-scored 44-6, it’s a little easier to notice MacPhee.
He was the star of the Sun Devils’ season-opening series with Northern Illinois, hitting .727 with seven runs scored, eight RBI and six extra-base hits. He earned Pac-10 Player of the Week honors and National Player of the Week honors from several publications.
MacPhee lined up at second base for the Sun Devils and batted second. He’s part of a big and talented group of ASU sophomores, many of whom will make their way to the Cape this summer. MacPhee is expected back in Bourne.
He’ll be an interesting player to watch. He was a 22nd round pick out of high school, but on Baseball America’s list of top college prospects by class, he wasn’t among the top 50 sophomores.
Who knows if that will change by the time summer rolls around, but one thing’s for sure: if MacPhee does anything close to what he did on the opening weekend, he won’t be so easy to miss.
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