Arizona coach Chip Hale and his staff emphasized quality over quantity in their second recruiting class.
The Wildcats signed 14 players Wednesday for 2023 — five fewer than the school announced last year. All 10 players who are still in high school are ranked in the top 500 nationally by Perfect Game. The other four are from the junior-college ranks.
“It takes a special kid to come here,” Hale said. “Not only the kid, but the whole family.
“Last year we signed a bunch more. But we felt like this year this class is really talented.”
The UA again zeroed in on local players. Eight are from the state of Arizona, including four from the Tucson area: third baseman Andrew Cain and pitchers Alessandro Castro, Owen Kramkowski and Jaeden Swanberg.
“We have really good baseball in Arizona,” Hale said. “Did we get all of them? No. That just shows you how good our state is (at) producing baseball players.”
Two of the Tucson products, Castro and Swanberg, are attending Pima Community College. The UA has enhanced its relationship with Pima since Hale arrived last summer. Three members of the 2022 class played for the Aztecs. Former UA standout Brian Anderson, who coached for the Wildcats last season, is now an assistant at Pima.
“They do a great job over there,” Hale said. “Not only a Pima, but all the Arizona JCs — Yavapai, Central.”
Trip Couch, the Wildcats’ recruiting coordinator, told Hale that the quality of junior-college baseball in Arizona is on par with California, where previous UA coaches recruited heavily.
“Arizona has become the spot now,” Hale said. “Maybe it’s because of COVID. They shut it down for two years over there; we kept playing. But there’s a ton of guys here.”
Hale said he and his staff wanted to keep the ’23 class a little smaller to “leave some room” for later additions. Those players could come from junior colleges next spring or the NCAA transfer portal next summer.
Another difference between this year’s class and last year’s is that the UA staff was able to see every player in person. Unlike the ’22 class, only a handful were committed to Arizona before Hale got here.
“Every kid in this class we had eyes on, and more than one coach had eyes on them,” Hale said. “Which is a nice thing. That gives you a lot more comfort in what you’re bringing in and what you’re expecting.”
One common theme — something that isn’t likely to change — is the preponderance of pitchers in the class. It features nine hurlers — including the top-rated player in the class, right-hander Blake Wolters of Mahomet, Illinois — and five position players.
“You’re always looking for arms,” Hale said. “As you guys saw last year’s, that’s probably where we fell short.”
Inside pitch
As of now, USC and UCLA will join the Big Ten in the summer of 2024. Will Arizona continue to schedule them? “No,” Hale said. “They’re great programs, and I expect USC to get back up there with Andy (Stankiewicz) coaching the team now. If we’re going to play them again, it’ll take some years, let’s put it that way.”
Hale said he found the news of USC and UCLA’s departures “disappointing.” “But we have to move on, and we understand what rules sports,” Hale said. “That’s just the way it goes. I think we’re gonna be fine. Talking to (the UA) administration, we’re very excited about the future and what our media deal’s going to be.”
Unless it expands, the conference will be left with nine teams that play baseball. That would reduce the league’s regular-season schedule from 30 to 24 games. Hale doesn’t mind the idea of a longer run-up to conference play and said it could create “a chance to maybe go someplace that’s pretty cool for the kids” such as Miami or Florida State.
Hale is a fan of the new Pac-12 Tournament format. The event now features nine teams and pool play before the semifinals and championship game. “You’re guaranteed two games, and the most you have to play is four,” Hale said. “Which is great. When we went into the head coaches’ meeting, we tried to find some format that was going to give you a chance to win a couple games and help your RPI and then also not kill you for the next week.”
Hale is hopeful that a rule proposal will pass that increases the number of paid, full-time baseball coaches from three to four — or even five. Toby DeMello is Arizona’s hitting coach, catching coach and third-base coach. But all his compensation comes from camps, and he can’t recruit.
Pitching coach Dave Lawn will undergo hip-replacement surgery later this month, Hale said.
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