With starter Ryan Campos being recently drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the MLB and commit Nick Montgomery signing with the Atlanta Braves, ASU may have found its answer for the vacancy at catcher.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Arizona State posted on X that Manny Garza’s transfer from Rice is official and he has signed with the Sun Devils.
Time to welcome some of our newest Sun Devils ????
Manning the backstop out of the RGV, say hello to @emmanuelgarza34!#ForksUp /// #O2V pic.twitter.com/sJxLh0aRSm
— Sun Devil Baseball (@ASU_Baseball) August 1, 2024
The Texas native was a three-year starter at Rio Grande City High School. A .430 career hitter in high school, he helped the Rattlers to an 18-7 season as he was able to be teammates with his brother Eduardo who played at Tennessee Tech.
Beginning his collegiate journey, Manny committed and signed to Rice and suffered an injury early into his freshman year. While he did miss 30 games of the 2022 season, he came back with a vengeance with a .385 average, nine RBIs and two home runs in 22 games (19 starts).
His sophomore season saw his numbers take a dip despite him playing more than double the games he did the year before. In 53 games (51 starts), he hit .282, had 12 doubles, one homer and 26 RBIs. Garza led all Conference USA catchers in throwing out 22 opposing runners attempting to steal bases.
His third year as an Owl was the season where he produced more power, but his average ticked down to .269. He doubled his career total of home runs (6), and matched his RBI output from a year before (26). With his quick reaction time and accuracy skills, he caught 19 runners stealing to be the AAC leader last season.
Garza entered the transfer portal and is going to represent the Sun Devils after leaving his home state of Texas.
On the current 2025 roster, sophomore Brody Briggs and graduate student Josiah Cromwick were the two catchers listed before the addition of Garza. With Campos playing the majority of the games, Briggs has yet to make his ASU debut and Cromwick started just six games last year.
It will be interesting with who will be the Day 1 starter for the Sun Devils behind the plate, but Garza has the defensive skillset, a reliable bat and experience to be a worthy candidate.
ASU baseball locks in Louisiana transfer Jack Martinez, committed for his senior year
*Get the BEST Phoenix sports insider information, and exclusive content. SIGN UP HEREÂ to unlock our premium content!*
Reporter Alec Cipollini covers ASU Athletics, the Phoenix Mercury and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @AlecCipollini
