None of the six most prominent preseason college baseball polls places Arizona in its Top 25.
Are they all missing something?
They might be.
Chip Hale’s Wildcats — who open the 2023 season Friday against No. 2 Tennessee in the MLB Desert Invitational in Scottsdale — feature more substance than style. (Star outfielder Chase Davis is an exception, but if you could hit a baseball as far as he can, you’d stand and admire it too.)
Arizona didn’t make a bunch of splashy moves this offseason. Hale and his staff didn’t go about building their roster the same way that his predecessor did at LSU or his rival at ASU. The Tigers and Sun Devils each acquired about three times as many players as the Wildcats via the transfer portal. Some of LSU’s are bona fide superstars: Paul Skenes (Air Force) and Tommy White (North Carolina State). Jay Johnson’s Tigers are a deserving preseason No. 1.
Do the Wildcats deserve to be higher than 33rd, their best official ranking entering the season? I say they do. It isn’t a far-fetched idea.
D1Baseball.com, the authority on all things college baseball, put Arizona in its “Next 10.” Wrote D1’s Kendall Rogers: “There’s a lot of upside with this team — enough to where a trip to Omaha at the end of the year wouldn’t be considered some magical surprise.”
A lot has to happen between now and June for a College World Series berth to become a reality. But there’s a lot to like about the 2023 Wildcats.
Arizona baseball head coach Chip Hale discussed the Wildcats' upcoming 2023 season, offseason additions, and the season opener against Tennessee on Friday in the MLB Desert Invitational.
Internal improvement
Let’s start with Hale. It stands to reason that he’ll be a better manager in Year 2 on the job. So much was new for him last season. College baseball has a different rhythm than MLB. It took time for Hale to learn what Johnson, a college baseball lifer, already knew and regularly preached: Every game is the Super Bowl.
Hale said this week that veteran assistants Trip Couch and Dave Lawn “made it very clear that we just can’t punt any games.”
(The football metaphors were flowing during Arizona’s media-day press event Tuesday. Regarding the opener, Hale said: “You can’t go out there and just, on the opening kickoff, knock somebody over.” Related: Hale played quarterback in high school.)
“You have to try to find a way to win,” Hale said, “because the RPI pretty much controls the playoffs, where you go and the seedings.”
To Hale’s point: The Wildcats were a No. 2 seed last season playing in the Coral Gables Regional. They lost twice to Ole Miss, which went on to win the national championship.
The previous year, Arizona was the No. 5 overall seed. The Wildcats’ road to Omaha was Randolph Way. They played six postseason games at Hi Corbett Field, winning five, en route to the CWS. The 2012 national-title team followed the same path.
Why did the ’22 squad falter at times – maybe even underachieve a bit after a 9-1 start? The easy answer is pitching, and it isn’t wrong.
But Hale would cite a lack of depth, not only in the pitching staff but across the roster. Remember, Hale didn’t arrive until July. He and his staff had to scramble to keep the team together. As Hale put it this week, they had to add players in the fall “just so we had enough guys to play games.”
Depth isn’t expected to be an issue this season. It might even be a strength.
Arizona brought in a massive class of newcomers — 19 players in all, more than half the current roster. Seven are pitchers. Two others are listed as two-way players. And we’re not even counting left-hander Jackson Kent, who was on the team but ineligible last season. He already has made a strong impression.
As an illustration of the Wildcats’ newfound depth on the pitching side — the staff’s No. 1 personnel priority after a season-ending 22-6 loss to the Rebels — Hale said that two pitchers wouldn’t be available this weekend. He also said “we still feel real good about playing four games” in as many days. He went so far as to say the pitching depth is “a thousand times better.”
Defense and pitching
Second baseman Garen Caulfield offered a more measured assessment of the roster: “I feel like we’re gonna be a much better all-around team.”
Arizona’s fielding percentage improved from .967 to .972 in Year 1 under Hale. I would expect it to be even higher this season with Kiko Romero – D1Baseball’s second-ranked junior-college transfer – now playing first base and third baseman Tony Bullard not entering this season with a shoulder injury.
Arizona second baseman Garen Caulfield, left, believes the Wildcats will be 'a much better all-around team' in 2023. About half of Arizona's roster is new, but the Wildcats bring back plenty of experience.
Those two also should help offset the loss of elite hitters Daniel Susac and Tanner O’Tremba to pro baseball. As should new right fielder Emilio Corona, one of three transfers from Pima Community College, and freshman infielder/DH Mason White, who the coaches believe was the steal of the 2022 recruiting class from within the state. (White prepped at Salpointe Catholic.)
While much of the offensive depth is young, the Wildcats’ lineup is loaded with veterans. Bullard, center fielder Mac Bingham and shortstop Nik McClaughry all could easily be playing pro ball right now. Experience was one of the defining traits of one of the best teams Arizona faced last year: Texas State, featuring multiple fifth-year seniors, took two of three at Hi Corbett during the regular season and came within a half-inning of winning the Stanford Regional.
All of this sounds well and good, but I know what you’re thinking: The Wildcats will go only as far as their pitching takes them. I can’t argue with that.
Right-handers TJ Nichols and Anthony Susac, the first and second starters this weekend, need to perform better. Nichols has the tools to be a first-round pick. Susac — the second-highest-rated player in Arizona’s 2021 class, per Perfect Game — has revamped his body and his arsenal after a rough freshman season.
Both have star potential. Davis is already there. But stars don’t matter as much in baseball as in other sports.
The L.A. Angels have the two best players on the planet in Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani. They have finished below .500 in each of the five seasons the two have played together.
Give me depth over star power. Give me substance over style.
Arizona star infielder Garen Caulfield and consensus All-American outfielder Chase Davis talked about the Wildcats' offseason, noticeable newcomers and being inspired by the "Last Dance" documentary.
