Nike Baseball Camp Stanford All-Star Sessions

Esquer succeeded Mark Marquess, who retired after 41 years at the helm of the program. Esquer played under Marquess on Stanford's 1987 national championship team, and served as an assistant on The Farm from 1991-96. Prior to taking over the reins at Stanford, Esquer spent the previous 18 seasons as the head coach at California, where he was the 2011 National Coach of the Year and led the Bears to five NCAA Regionals and the 2011 College World Series.

The 2024 season will be Esquer’s seventh in charge of the program, having guided Stanford to the 2018, 2022 and 2023 Pac-12 Conference championships, the inaugural 2022 Pac-12 Conference Tournament championship, five NCAA Regional appearances, four NCAA Super Regional appearances, and three consecutive College World Series appearances in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

In six seasons at the helm of Stanford, Esquer has amassed a 226-92 (.711) overall record - the highest winning percentage of any coach in Stanford baseball history. Esquer owns a career record of 751-559-2 through 24 seasons as a collegiate head coach. Included in the overall ledger is a 323-299 record in Pac-12 play, including an 105-41 mark while at Stanford.

Esquer has been named Pac-12 Coach of the Year four times in his career, earning the honor in 2018, 2022 and 2023 with Stanford, and in 2001 at California. The 2022 and 2023 ABCA West Region Coach of the Year won his 100th game as Stanford's head coach on March 4, 2021 as the Cardinal walked off with a 7-6 victory over San Francisco in 10 innings. His 300th career Pac-12 win came against USC on May 21, 2022 to claim sole possession of 2022 Pac-12 title, while his 700th career win came in a 5-4 triumph vs. Arizona on May 28, 2022 at the Pac-12 Tournament. Esquer added his 100th Pac-12 win at Stanford on May 7, 2023 as the Cardinal defeated No. 20 Arizona State 9-4 to sweep a three-game road series. In total as a head coach, Esquer has guided his teams to 10 postseason appearances and four College World Series berths.

Stanford made its third consecutive appearance in the College World Series in 2023, including its 19th in program history, finishing the year with a 44-20 overall record and a 23-7 mark in the Pac-12 to win the conference regular season championship for the second consecutive season. The Cardinal entered the postseason ranked No. 6 in the nation according to D1Baseball and won a regional featuring No. 25 Texas A&M, Cal State Fullerton and San Jose State to advance and host a super regional. The Cardinal won three consecutive elimination games in the regional, including defeating No. 25 Texas A&M twice, before winning two more against Texas in the super regional to punch a ticket to Omaha. The Cardinal hit .316 as a team (first in Pac-12 and 10th nationally) and averaged 8.36 runs per game while also leading the conference in home runs (117) and finishing second in slugging percentage (.539). On the pitching side, Stanford hurlers paced the Pac-12 in strikeouts per game (10.47) while registering a program-record 671 strikeouts to lead the Pac-12 and rank sixth in the nation. For the second consecutive season, Stanford cleaned up in the Pac-12 yearly award voting, capturing four of the five major Pac-12 yearly awards in addition to the batting champion in Tommy Troy. Esquer was named Coach of the Year, Alberto Rios won Player of the Year, Quinn Mathews earned Pitcher of the Year and Malcolm Moore took home Freshman of the Year.

Through 18 seasons at Cal, Esquer compiled a 525-467-2 (.529) overall record and mentored five MLB first-round selections. Conor Jackson was the first of the five first-round picks, selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2003 before Brandon Morrow was selected fifth overall by the Seattle Mariners in 2006. David Cooper (Toronto Blue Jays, 2008) and Brett Jackson (Chicago Cubs, 2009) followed before right-hander Daulton Jefferies was drafted in 2016 by the Oakland A's.

During his time at the helm of the Cardinal program, Esquer has seen three more players selected in the first round of an MLB draft, running the total to eight in his career. Nico Hoerner was drafted 24th overall by the Chicago Cubs in 2018, while Kris Bubic was selected 40th overall by the Kansas City Royals in that same draft. Most recently, Tommy Troy was selected 12th overall by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2023 MLB draft.

Through 24 seasons as a collegiate head coach in the Pac-12, Esquer has seen 19 of his players garner All-America honors, 22 named All-Region, three claim Conference Player, Pitcher, and Freshman of the Year, and two more earn Conference Defensive Player of the Year.

A shortstop at Stanford from 1984-87, Esquer was a starter on the Cardinal's 1987 College World Series championship team. He earned all-tournament honors after hitting .350 with six RBIs in Omaha. He also earned All-Pac-10 Southern Division honors as a senior, batting .318 with 41 RBIs and 16 stolen bases. Esquer went on to play professional baseball for four seasons with the Baltimore Orioles, California Angels and Milwaukee Brewers.

Following his playing career, Esquer spent six seasons as an assistant under Coach Marquess. His time as an assistant with the Cardinal included five NCAA Regional appearances and a fifth-place finish at the 1995 College World Series. In three seasons as the top assistant at Pepperdine from 1997-99, Esquer was the program's chief recruiting coordinator as well as hitting instructor, infield coach and handler of the third base coaching duties.

Esquer was a three-sport star and class valedictorian at Palma High School in Salinas, Calif. He was tabbed the "Athlete of the Year" at Palma High School after being named team captain and MVP in baseball, football and basketball. Esquer earned a bachelor's degree in economics and a master's degree in sociology from Stanford in 1987. He and his wife, Lynn, have a daughter, Gabrielle, and son, Xavier.

As Stanford baseball and head coach Mark Marquess' top lieutenant for 37 seasons, Stotz was regarded throughout all levels of baseball as one of the finest coaches, recruiters and persons the game has seen. Throughout his career at Stanford (11 years as Associate Head Coach), he gained national recognition as one of the top recruiters and talent evaluators in the country. He was named the first recipient of the ABCA/Baseball America Assistant Coach of the Year Award and was selected as the top recruiter in the nation by his coaching peers.

Comprising one of the longer coaching tandems in the country, Marquess and Stotz teamed up to lead the Cardinal to a pair of College World Series titles (1987, 1988), 3 national runner-ups, 14 appearances in Omaha, 6 NCAA Super Regional triumphs, 17 NCAA Regional titles and 12 conference crowns. Overall, the Cardinal went to 28 NCAA Regionals and won 1,495 games with Stotz on board. Out of 37 years with Stotz on board, the Stanford Baseball Program produced an amazing 36 winning seasons!

During Stotz’s time at Stanford, he orchestrated the recruitment and development of 174 professional draft picks, including 25 first-round selections in his last 26 years of coaching. One of the more notable facts is that of those 174 draft picks, 91 of them were not drafted out of high school. Under his tenure, Stanford had eight players sign for bonuses of 2 million dollars, with Mark Appel garnering the top bonus of 6.35 million dollars. In the last fifteen years of his coaching career, players out of Stanford University signed professional baseball bonuses totaling over 53 million dollars, including an astounding 8.6 million dollars in the 2013 draft class. 66 of Stotz’s former Stanford Baseball players have logged time in the Major Leagues.

A 1975 graduate of Stanford University with a degree in economics, Stotz began his coaching career as an assistant at Consumnes River College in 1976 after playing two years of collegiate baseball (1974 and 1975) at Stanford and two at Sacramento City College (1972 and 1973).

Eager, who serves as pitching coach and recruiting coordinator, has helped Stanford to a combined 226-92 (.711) overall record during his time on The Farm. Over that span, the Cardinal has won a trio of Pac-12 titles in 2018, 2022 and 2023, captured the inaugural 2022 Pac-12 Conference Tournament championship, has made five NCAA Regional appearances, four NCAA Super Regional appearances, and three consecutive College World Series appearances in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Most recently, Stanford made its third consecutive appearance in the College World Series in 2023, including its 19th in program history, finishing the year with a 44-20 overall record and a 23-7 mark in the Pac-12 to win the conference regular season championship for the second consecutive season. The Cardinal entered the postseason ranked No. 6 in the nation according to D1Baseball and won a regional featuring No. 25 Texas A&M, Cal State Fullerton and San Jose State to advance and host a super regional. The Cardinal won three consecutive elimination games in the regional, including defeating No. 25 Texas A&M twice, before winning two more against Texas in the super regional to punch a ticket to Omaha. Stanford hurlers paced the Pac-12 in strikeouts per game (10.47) while registering a program-record 671 strikeouts to lead the Pac-12 and rank sixth in the nation. For the third consecutive season, Stanford was home to the Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year, as Quinn Mathews earned the honor to help Stanford capture four of the five major year-end awards.

Stanford made its second consecutive appearance in the College World Series in 2022, finishing the year with a 47-18 overall record and a 21-9 mark in the Pac-12 to win both the Pac-12 regular season and inaugural Pac-12 Tournament championships. Stanford, which entered the College World Series ranked No. 1 in the nation according to Collegiate Baseball, finished the year ranked No. 5 in the D1Baseball poll. On the pitching side, Stanford led the Pac-12 in shutouts (9) and ranked third in ERA (4.23). Stanford's 47 wins were the eighth-most in program history, while the nine shutouts ranked fifth. The Cardinal placed eight on All-Pac-12 teams, including Alex Williams, Quinn Mathews and Braden Montgomery from the pitching staff, and secured four of the five major Pac-12 yearly awards - with Williams winning Pitcher of the Year and Montgomery taking home Freshman of the Year.

In Eager's second season on The Farm, Stanford's 2019 pitching staff registered a 3.62 ERA as the Cardinal finished 45-14 – good for the fifth-best winning percentage (.763) in program history. The Cardinal finished the season having reached a Super Regional for the 11th time in program history, including the first berth since 2014. Stanford pitchers issued a league-low 182 walks and Jack Little set the all-time program record in saves with 28 for his career.

Eager led Stanford to a 2.83 ERA in 2018, marking the 11th-lowest clip in team history and second-lowest in the nation. Two of Eager’s starting pitchers – right-hander Tristan Beck and left-hander Kris Bubic – were drafted in the opening four rounds of the 2018 MLB Draft, while Little tied a program record with 16 saves and finished with a 0.60 ERA, 58 strikeouts and eight walks across 45.1 innings.

Prior to coming to Stanford, Eager also oversaw the pitching staff for Esquer at Cal for two seasons, including working with the 2016 first-round selection of the Oakland Athletics, Daulton Jefferies. Eager held the same role at Cal Poly for three seasons, where the Mustangs had seven pitchers drafted, and posted the lowest ERA in the school's Division I history (3.05) in 2014 en route to a Division I program-record 47 wins and No. 1 seed at the NCAA Regionals.

Before his promotion to pitching coach, Eager spent two seasons as the Director of Operations for his alma mater, Cal Poly, where he pitched in 2006 and 2007. The Visalia, Calif. native finished his sophomore season with the Mustangs in 2007 with an 11-3 ledger, notching a 3.43 ERA with 99 strikeouts in 126 innings of work on his way to first-team All-Big West Conference accolades.

A fifth-round draft pick in 2007, Eager spent four years in the St. Louis Cardinals organization. He reached as high as Double-A and posted a 15-21 record during his professional career.

A three-year varsity letterman, Eager was a first-team All-Central California Conference selection as a senior at Merced High School. He was also a second-team all-conference choice as a junior and helped the Bears to a CIF Sac-Joaquin Section title as a sophomore in 2002.

Eager earned a bachelor of science degree in business management from the University of Phoenix in May of 2012 after studying business administration at Cal Poly.

Eager and his wife, Jenna, have three sons, Trey, Blake and Beau.

Rodriguez most recently helped guide Stanford to its third consecutive appearance in the College World Series in 2023, including its 19th in program history, finishing the year with a 44-20 overall record and a 23-7 mark in the Pac-12 to win the conference regular season championship for the second consecutive season. The Cardinal entered the postseason ranked No. 6 in the nation according to D1Baseball and won a regional featuring No. 25 Texas A&M, Cal State Fullerton and San Jose State to advance and host a super regional. The Cardinal won three consecutive elimination games in the regional, including defeating No. 25 Texas A&M twice, before winning two more against Texas in the super regional to punch a ticket to Omaha. The Cardinal hit .316 as a team (first in Pac-12 and 10th nationally) and averaged 8.36 runs per game while also leading the conference in home runs (117) and finishing second in slugging percentage (.539). For the second consecutive season, Stanford cleaned up in the Pac-12 yearly award voting, capturing four of the five major Pac-12 yearly awards in addition to the batting champion in Tommy Troy. Among those lauded, Alberto Rios won Player of the Year, and catcher Malcolm Moore took home Freshman of the Year as a unanimous Freshman All-American.

Prior to coming to Stanford, Rodriguez spent the previous three seasons with UCLA as the Director of Baseball Operations. A student-athlete for the Bruins from 2009-11, Rodriguez played six seasons as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Atlanta Braves organizations (2011-16).

A native of Lomita, Calif., Rodriguez played 147 games at catcher with UCLA, making 137 starts across three seasons. He finished his career with a .215 batting average and compiled 10 home runs and 64 RBIs while serving as catcher for future first-round picks Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer. During his three seasons, the Bruins pitching staff owned a 3.33 ERA with over 1,700 strikeouts. In 2010, Rodriguez was a member of the United States Collegiate National team.

Rodriguez was selected in the 15th round of the 2011 MLB Draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks, and made it as high as Double-A with both the Diamondbacks and the Braves. He hit .221 in his professional career, collecting four home runs and 79 RBIs. Rodriguez had one of his best seasons in 2014 when he was promoted to Double-A Mobile and hit .267 with a .352 slugging percentage while scoring 11 runs in 60 games for the BayBears.

Rodriguez and his wife, Claire, were married in 2021. The couple welcomed a daughter, Mia, in 2023.

Most recently, Stanford made its third consecutive appearance in the College World Series in 2023, including its 19th in program history, finishing the year with a 44-20 overall record and a 23-7 mark in the Pac-12 to win the conference regular season championship for the second consecutive season. The Cardinal entered the postseason ranked No. 6 in the nation according to D1Baseball and won a regional featuring No. 25 Texas A&M, Cal State Fullerton and San Jose State to advance and host a super regional. The Cardinal won three consecutive elimination games in the regional, including defeating No. 25 Texas A&M twice, before winning two more against Texas in the super regional to punch a ticket to Omaha. The Cardinal hit .316 as a team (first in Pac-12 and 10th nationally) and averaged 8.36 runs per game while also leading the conference in home runs (117) and finishing second in slugging percentage (.539). For the second consecutive season, Stanford cleaned up in the Pac-12 yearly award voting, capturing four of the five major Pac-12 yearly awards in addition to the batting champion in Tommy Troy. Among those lauded, outfielder Alberto Rios won Player of the Year, and catcher Malcolm Moore took home Freshman of the Year. Helping develop Rios as an outfielder, Mercurio saw the junior selected 79th overall in the third round by the Los Angeles Angels during the 2023 MLB Draft. Fellow outfielder Eddie Park would also be drafted, selected in the eighth round by the Chicago White Sox.

In his first season on The Farm, Mercurio helped guide Stanford to its second consecutive College World Series berth after finishing the year with a 47-18 overall record and a 21-9 mark in the Pac-12 to win both the Pac-12 regular season and inaugural Pac-12 Tournament championships. Stanford, which entered the College World Series ranked No. 1 in the nation according to Collegiate Baseball, finished the year ranked No. 5 in the D1Baseball poll. Stanford led all teams in postseason home runs, connecting for 23 of its program-record 118 long balls during the 10-game postseason run. The Cardinal ranked second in the Pac-12 in average (.309) and led the Conference in slugging (.536) and home runs (118) while hitting 71 in the last 27 games overall.

Mercurio came to Stanford after spending the previous two years as a volunteer assistant coach with San José State. Prior to his time with the Spartans, Mercurio played four seasons with the Florence Y'alls of the Frontier League. The Vallejo, Calif. native joined the Y'alls after graduating from SJSU in 2015, and ultimately returned to the team for nine games in 2021 while coaching with San José State.

Mercurio, a 2013 All-WAC selection while patrolling center field for the Spartans, was named a San José State Scholar-Athlete in addition to receiving 2012 Academic All-WAC honors.

Mercurio graduated from SJSU with a bachelor's degree in communication studies and was a member of San José State's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA).

On the professional level, Mercurio played in 246 games for the Y'alls, batting .293 with six homers and 51 RBIs during the 2017 season to help lead Florence to a division pennant and a berth in the Frontier League Championship. Through five seasons of professional baseball, Mercurio batted .282 with 12 home runs and 114 RBIs.

Mercurio graduated from Serra High School in 2011 and was first team All-League and All-County as both a junior and senior while competing for the Padres.