ASU baseball signs 10-year-old Thad Earle to Letter of Intent
Arizona State baseball head coach Willie Bloomquist has high hopes for his latest signing class, but one player in particular will make an instant impact on the program.
Thad Earle, 10, signed his National Letter of Intent with ASU on Monday. He was adopted by ASU baseball through the Team Impact organization, which matches children facing serious illness and disability with college sports teams.
Earle has neurofibromatosis, which refers to three different conditions involving the development of tumors that may affect the brain, spinal cord and the nerves that send signals between the brain and spinal cord and all other parts of the body. Due to this condition, Earle had his left eye removed in May 2021.
After getting matched with ASU this season, Earle has quickly developed a close relationship with Bloomquist and the players. He displayed rapid-fire wit in his introductory conference, immediately clarifying Bloomquist's comment that Earle joining was a "no-brainer."
"He doesn't mean no-brainer like no brains for me. He didn't mean it like that," Earle said.
Bloomquist decided for his team to join the organization because he knew how important it would be for his players to learn more about Earle's life and the adversity he goes through each day. It's also allowed the players to loosen up ahead of the long season in the spring.
"They get to see what he goes through on a daily basis and how he attacks each day with enthusiasm and attacks adversity the right way and comes out successful on an everyday grind," Bloomquist said. "He's the epitome on what it means to take challenges head on and our guys can learn every bit as much from him as he can from them."
Earle's inclusion has injected fun to the players as they've included activities such as football, wiffle ball and water balloon fights to the practice schedule. Earle was even challenged to hit first baseman Jacob Tobias during the water balloon fight, a moment he was proud of.
"Oh yeah, someone told me to splash some water on Tobi. I got him good," Earle said.
Along with Earle, Bloomquist has a lot to be proud of with his 2024-25 signing class. The 17-player group of high school players is currently ranked in the top 20 in the country and is the highest-ranked class in the current Pac-12.
While Bloomquist will have to wait before he sees those players on the field, he'll get to see how much Earle will impact his players' lives this season.
"We have a great time whenever Thad is around. Whether we have the privilege of having him around at the field or going to his school, we're honored to have him as a teammate and we really couldn't be happier," pitcher Tyler Meyer said.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona State baseball signs 10-year-old Thad Earle to Letter of Intent
