ASU Baseball: Brewers agree to deal with Sun Devil signee Caden Vire, don’t sign Will Rogers

The 2021 MLB Draft made things a bit tougher first-year head coach Willie Bloomquist. Arizona State signees Caden Vire and Will Rogers — both drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers — were the only remaining players with Sun Devil ties that hadn’t reached deals with their professional teams heading into Sunday’s deadline to do so.

Vire, the talented prep lefty pitcher from the state of Washington, signed with the Brewers, while it appears Rogers did not. That means eight of the nine Sun Devil players picked (five from the roster last season and four signees from the 2021) are headed to the professional level.

Vire’s signing is a big blow to the Sun Devil pitching staff. Arizona State had already lost a plethora of talent from last year’s staff in Cooper Benson, Erik Tolman, Justin Fall and Tyler Thornton as well as junior college signee Mat Olsen to the draft.

On the brighter side, Rogers presumed arrival to Tempe is big for the team’s catching depth. Outside of Nate Baez, the team didn’t have another catcher on its current roster. Now with Rogers, a talented recruit from Minnesota that has spent time in USA Baseball’s development program, it makes life a bit easier for the Sun Devil staff.

Nevertheless, Bloomquist recently mentioned that the roster is left with a few unexpected holes following the draft and it’s likely the new staff will be busy in the transfer market.