TEMPE – Sun Devil Baseball "officially" signed 10-year-old Thaddeus (Thad) Earle for the 2024-25 season. He signed his National Letter of Intent (NLI) to join the program in front of over 30 media members where he also addressed them with his new head coach, Willie Bloomquist for the first time.
 
Thad has neurofibromatosis, which refers to different conditions involving the development of tumors that may affect the brain, spinal cord, and the nerves that send signals between the brain, spinal cord and all other body parts. He had his left eye removed in May of 2021 because of a brain tumor and has dealt with two brain tumors in his short life.
 
He enjoys playing Pokemon on his Nintendo and would refer to himself as Auggie from the book Wonder because he also has one eye. 
 
Thad was paired with Sun Devil Baseball through the Team Impact organization which matches children facing serious illness and disability with college sports teams. This creates long-term, life-changing experiences for not only the children but also the team and everyone involved.  
 
"They get to aspire, see what he goes through on a daily basis and see how he attacks each day with enthusiasm and attacks the adversity," Bloomquist said. "He's the epitome of what it means to take challenges head-on."
 
Because of his neurofibromatosis, Thad needs to get MRI scans once every three months. 
 
Jess Earle, Thad's mom, talks about how she tries to make his life as normal as she can because he is still a kid. Earle goes to school, plays on his Nintendo and now loves that he has a whole team of big brothers to look up to and throw a baseball with. 
 
His mom Jess mentioned that his routine is nothing out of the ordinary. He wakes up, takes his medicine, and plays with his switch for a while before he needs to eat breakfast, take some more vitamins and pills to head off to school. 
 
Bloomquist believes Thad is the perfect fit for the team and mentioned it was a "no-brainer" for them. 
 
"I'm grateful and happy to see that our guys are taking that step to do things and be bigger than just baseball players," Bloomquist said. "That's what's important."
 
Tyler Meyer, a redshirt sophomore, sat alongside Earle at his press conference per his request. 
"We have a great time whenever Thad's around," Meyer said. "We have the privilege of having him at the field, going to his school and bringing him around Muni. We're honored to have him as a teammate officially now and we really couldn't be more happy." 
 
Thad enjoys spending time with Meyer he said. "He's cool," is how he described him. 
 
Thad received a jersey with the number nine but said he would have preferred to be number one because "it's the best." On the field, he wants to play catcher because he thinks it is easier. He also said he is very excited to hang out with the guys on the team and can't wait to pick on "Toby" (Jacob Tobias).
 
Thad thinks that addressing the media in the future will be easier because he already did it once. He also said his friends at school are proud of him for being a part of the ASU Baseball team. 
 
"I'm very proud to be a Sun Devil," Thad said when asked about what it means to be a part of this team.