July 22, 2008

St. Petersburg, Fla. - Brooks Conrad became the 90th Sun Devil to play Major League Baseball when he started at third base for the Oakland Athletics yesterday against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Conrad becomes the second former Sun Devil to make his big league debut this season, joining Jeff Larish, who debuted for the Detroit Tigers in May. Conrad was called up by the A's on Monday afternoon and was in the starting lineup that day for the game against the Rays.

Conrad joins Larish (Detroit Tigers), Dustin Pedroia (Boston Red Sox), Paul Lo Duca (Washington Nationals), Ian Kinsler (Texas Rangers), Willie Bloomquist (Seattle Mariners, Dennis Sarfate (Baltimore Orioles), Travis Buck (Oakland A's) and Andre Ethier (Los Angeles Dodgers) as former Arizona State University student-athletes who have played in the Majors this season.

Conrad batted .313 from 1999 to 2001 at ASU, hitting 15 home runs and driving in 130 runs. He was an eighth round pick of the Houston Astros in the 2001 Major League Baseball Draft. He was a two-time First Team All-Pac-10 selection, helping lead the Devils to a share of the 2000 Pac-10 Championship.