We’re about to get a glimpse of what a Chip Hale-coached Arizona baseball team looks like.
The Wildcats are set to participate in the Vamos a Tucson Mexican Baseball Fiesta at Kino Stadium. The tournament begins Thursday night; the UA will play in the final game Sunday evening against Obregón.
The exhibition game will serve as practice No. 3 for the Wildcats. The first full-squad practice under Hale is Friday. The first-year coach has gotten a sneak preview over the past several weeks via individual workouts. He likes what he has seen so far.
“The culture here is fantastic,” Hale said Wednesday. “I didn’t assume anything different, because they had gone to Omaha. It’s a bunch of good people.”
Many of the players who helped Arizona win the Pac-12 and reach the College World Series this past season are back. They include catcher Daniel Susac, the reigning Pac-12 Freshman of the year, whose cousin, Anthony, a freshman right-hander, is slated to start for the Wildcats against Obregón.
Hale discussed the roster, some of his coaching philosophies and the opportunity that awaits his team in an interview with the Star. The conversation has been lightly edited.
Would it be fair to say that starting pitching might be the strength of the team?
A: “I believe that. If you look at the guys who are coming back, that’s probably our strength to start the season. But l really feel like the hitters, especially the outfielders, are guys just sort of awaiting their turn. Now they’re going to get a chance to do it.
“It’s hard in baseball to play once every four or five games and be productive. So if you look at some of their numbers, whether it’s Mac (Bingham), whether it’s ‘Casa’ (Tyler Casagrande), (Tanner) O’Tremba, Blake Paugh, they just don’t have enough (at-bats) to say, ‘Hey, they can consistently be good.’ If we can get them in there and be consistent with their playing time, I think they can put up some big numbers.”
Why did you add lefty reliever Holden Christian from the transfer portal?
A: “We lost a lefty, Riley Cooper. Holden fills that spot where he can come in and pitch in big innings, hopefully late. Hopefully he’s closing a lot of games out for us. He’s experienced in that role.”
What is your philosophy regarding high-leverage situations and when you might use your best reliever?
A: “If you’re talking about the seventh, eighth or ninth inning, he’s got to be ready to pitch — whenever we feel like the big part of their lineup’s coming up. If we’re thinking that biggest inning of the game is gonna be the third or fourth thing, then we’re probably not a very good team.”
What about offensively? What do you want to see from guys up at the plate?
A: “One thing we’ve worked on hard so far in the individual phase is, we want to put the ball in play. We want to make the other team play. We don’t want to be a high-strikeout team. If anything, we want to be a high-walk team. We’re gonna see a lot of pitches. We will have good strike-zone recognition.
“I think we’re gonna have some guys with some big-time power. But we’ll see. We haven’t gotten into that phase where we’re facing pitchers. The hitters tell you who they are when they get a chance to face these pitchers.”
What’s your stance on analytics? You have a lot of technology at your disposal.
A: “The analytics are great for teaching — when we do bullpens as pitchers, when guys are in the cage, when they’re taking batting practice, when they’re taking ground balls and we put the different cameras on them that can slow everything down. The Blast (Motion) for the hitters, the Rapsodo for the pitchers.
“Once we get in between the lines for a game, yeah, we’ll know all those analytics. We don’t want players to be concerned with those analytics when they’re playing the game.
“During practice, it’s fine. If they want to know what their spin rate is in a bullpen, that’s OK, because we can learn from that — where we should pitch because of our spin rate, how good our spin rate is on a certain breaking balls, which one I should use in the game. But if we’re worrying about those things during real competition, we’re going to be in trouble.
“Decision-wise for me, I always say I want to have an educated gut. I always go off my gut feeling. But if you don’t have the education of what the numbers say, what the spray charts say on defense for their team ...”
Do you expect to do a lot of shifting on defense?
A: “We’ll try to shift as much as we can by what the spray charts that we have on the other team say. But I think that college teams will be more apt to try to beat a shift. When you talk about professional players, they’re looking at certain numbers they have to achieve. At the college level, the coach is going to control a lot more, whether it’s push bunting or (asking the batter) to try to hit the ball the other way.”
What is the value for your team to play in the Mexican Baseball Fiesta?
A: “First of all, it’s the third full practice for us as a team. And it’s an awesome atmosphere. I think these kids are going to be shocked when they get over there. You’re playing great competition. Any of the Mexican League teams are going to be good competition for us.
“Being out there as a team, with Arizona across your chest, the A on your hat, is always exciting. But now all of a sudden you’re in an atmosphere with, hopefully, 5,000, 6,000 people.”
What do you think you might learn about your players from being in that environment?
A: “I have no expectations. All you can do in this game is impress me. I would never hold anything (against anyone). If you strike out two or three times, so what? It’s OK.
“But how you handle yourself, how you keep your head up and keep fighting, that’s important to me. Because we are nowhere near ready to play in a competitive game yet.”
Inside pitch
Although they lost Ryan Holgate and Donta’ Williams to the MLB draft, outfield remains the Wildcats’ deepest position group. One player who has been an outfielder, Casagrande, is getting looks at second base, a position that’s “wide open,” Hale said. The other candidates to play second are junior-college transfers Garen Caulfield and Luis Tuero and returnee Jack Grant.
The successor to Branden Boissiere at first base is expected to be JC transfer Noah Turley. Turley batted .417 with 22 home runs in 52 games at Yavapai College this past season.
Hale said Daniel Susac could get some time at first base next season to give him a break from catching while still keeping his bat in the lineup. Susac also would be available to catch in that scenario.
Walk-on Drew Calloway has shown promise in bullpen sessions. Calloway, a 6-5 left-hander from Sabino High School, joined the team this summer after attending Arizona State as a student his freshman year.
Volunteer assistant Toby DeMello will serve as Arizona’s primary hitting instructor and will coach third base. Hale said he would have coached third if the Wildcats’ home dugout were on that side. DeMello’s duties also include coaching the catchers and running Arizona’s camps.
Undergraduate assistant Brian Anderson is helping Trip Couch coach the outfielders. Anderson also will coach first base. Anderson, a Tucson native and former Wildcat, was selected in the first round of the 2003 draft by the Chicago White Sox. He appeared in 355 MLB games from 2005-09.
Arizona will face Air Force in an exhibition game Oct. 24 at Hi Corbett Field. The game is not expected to be open to the public. The UA will face UNLV in another exhibition Oct. 30 in Las Vegas.
