Student managers have been in the spotlight with McNeese State’s Amir Khan stealing the show in the NCAA tournament, and it’s about time they get a share of the limelight.
Student managers across college sports put in the work to help their teams operate and get better but are only paid hourly with no opportunity for scholarships. ASU softball manager Hayden Corrado knows better than most all the work that goes into managing the Sun Devils.
“It’s been something that I’ve had to figure out,” Corrado said in a phone interview. “It’s not that it gets in the way of homework because it doesn’t. It’s just that I plan poorly, and to be like, “Oh shoot, I have homework I need to do.” I have very poor time management skills.”
It’s hard to blame Corrado for struggling to stay on top of all his work when considering his day-to-day tasks. During the week, he is tasked with helping the softball team shagging flyballs or doing whatever head coach Megan Bartlett needs done. What truly sets Corrado apart is his knack for all things softball statistics.
“I can talk to the coaches about my formulas, show them how I got these specific numbers, and they’re not really wondering how I got this number,” Corrado said. “My number for wRC+ isn’t just some random number. I can tell them exactly how I’m getting it, and I think that’s something that they appreciate is not only having the data but also knowing how they got the numbers.”
Each home game, Corrado sits behind home plate with a tablet ready to record the result of each pitch. Corrado’s technology allows him to track everything from launch angle to bat speed to exit velocity. His road to being ASU softball’s statistics guy started when Corrado transferred to ASU.
Originally from Tucson, Arizona, Corrado started his college career at Purdue University as an engineering major. A year later, he was moving back to the desert to attend ASU. Part of that decision was undoubtedly because junior outfielder Yannixa Acuña is his best friend.
Coming back to Arizona led Corrado to write about Sun Devil softball for The State Press, ASU’s student newspaper. Corrado used his engineering and math background to break down softball stats for stories, leading to an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.
“I impressed the head coach, Coach B, just kind of with my knowledge of baseball advanced stats and kind of just the analytics stuff,” Corrado said. “Because they didn’t have anybody who really did that in-house, they talked about it and decided that it’d be nice to have somebody there who could get them that data instead of some company that they pay.”
Corrado joined the softball team midway through the season last year. It meant he had to give up writing for the student newspaper but meant he could be a part of his best friend’s team. Now, Corrado is a vital part of the team and helps the Sun Devils learn more about their game.
“I have trend graphs that I sent to coaches that have batting average, like batting average trends, strikeout percentage trends and wRC+ trends,” Corrado said. “On top of that, I’ll just talk to the coaches, just kind of every now and then about like some lineup ideas I have, or just some just kind of observations that I’ve been making on how things are going for certain players.”
Corrado doesn’t get much recognition for what he does. His profile on the Sun Devil Athletics site only has his name, picture and position. That isn’t unique to Corrado, as none of the team’s graduate assistants or directors have the same format.
While Corrado works with statistics, it is hard to fathom the work the rest of the team’s student staff does. It is easy to imagine the softball team would struggle to keep up with its weekly tasks without Corrado and the three graduate assistants.
What is clear is that a soft-spoken student manager like him won’t see a spotlight even 10% as bright as the one Khan is under now. This is surely the case because Corrado most likely won’t become a viral sensation if ASU makes the Women’s College World Series.
Even a little more recognition would go a long way for ASU fans to see how hard Corrado and other students work to keep their favorite teams running. I’m not asking for Corrado to become the next TikTok trend but I am asking the University to acknowledge the work its student managers put in.
Most ASU students don’t do half the amount of work Corrado does. It’s a struggle to stay on top of managing a softball team while maintaining grades, but it’s a struggle that should be recognized and respected.
