Kobe Kato comes from an island, but he doesn’t operate on one.
The Arizona second baseman, who’s from Hawaii, has been in the middle of the action all year for the Wildcats. In the Tucson Regional, he batted in the middle of the lineup — not necessarily where you’d expect a player with one home run to hit.
But UA coach Jay Johnson places great value on a player’s ability to take a quality at-bat — work the count, take balls, swing at strikes, move the offense along. That’s what Kato does regularly, no matter where he hits. He has batted in every spot except cleanup at least once this season.
“We put a lot of work in on the offensive side of the ball, the types of at-bats that we want to take, and nobody exhibits that as well as he does,” said Johnson, whose team faces Ole Miss in a Super Regional series starting Friday at Hi Corbett Field.
Johnson said Kato and Donta’ Williams are “tied for first” in terms of their offensive approach, and that’s about the highest compliment someone playing for Johnson could receive.
While Williams, who typically bats leadoff, leads the team with a .488 on-base percentage, Kato is right behind him at .460. Kato is batting .351, and his average hasn’t dipped below .330 since April 1.
“He just amazes me every AB,” Williams said. “The dude is unreal. I always learn something from him, whether it’s his approach, his ability to swing at the right pitch, take borderline pitches. He’s a phenomenal player. ... He’s leading our team.”
Kato approaches each at-bat and situation individually and said it doesn’t matter where he hits. The fourth-year sophomore batted fifth in the Tucson Regional and went 5 for 14 with a triple and five runs scored.
“It’s about what that at-bat is supposed to do for that particular spot, that moment, that inning,” Kato said. “It can change one through nine. ... So just being able to take your quality at-bat, while being present in that particular scenario, is what I’m trying to do.”
Rebels name Game 1 starter, prepare for ‘dry heat’
Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco announced right-hander Derek Diamond as the Rebels’ starter for Friday’s Tucson Super Regional opener. That presumably sets up lefty Doug Nikhazy, the team’s ace and Gold Spikes Award Semifinalist, for Saturday night’s game.
Diamond pitched twice during Ole Miss’ regional in Oxford, Mississippi. The sophomore drew the start in the team’s opener against Southeast Missouri, giving up two hits and an unearned run to go along with five strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings of work. Diamond then pitched two-thirds of an inning of scoreless relief on Monday in the team’s 12-9 clincher over Southern Miss.
This weekend’s Tucson weather forecast calls for temperatures well over 100 degrees. Bianco said he isn’t worried about it affecting the team’s performance.
“At our place, as soon as you walk out the door, you start to sweat,” Bianco said. “Here we’ve been out (at practice) an hour and a half and I barely sweat, but it’s over 100 degrees. And so it’s that dry heat that everybody talks about.”
Upon further review
Johnson didn’t have much success using the instant-replay system during the regional round, but he remains in favor of implementing it across the sport. He also noted that he might challenge a play late in a game even if he doesn’t think the call will be overturned.
“It’s like timeouts in basketball,” Johnson said. “You don’t take them to the locker room when the game’s over. You need to use them.”
The Pac-12 doesn’t have instant replay for baseball. Johnson said he learned over the weekend that there are “a lot of close plays” and “if it’s not indisputable, it’s not going to get overturned.”
The other challenge is taking emotion out of the equation. Players will make a cupping motion, putting their hands over the ears, to urge coaches to ask for a replay review, whether it’s warranted or not. Arizona’s starter in the regional opener, Chase Silseth, did that on a pickoff attempt at first. The call was safe, and it was upheld.
“I love it when our guys are doing it; they’re fighting for their team,” Johnson said. “The player that’s right there knows whether he was safe or out.
“(But) is there an emotional attachment? Like, hey, we need this guy to be out — or is he actually out? There’s some gray area in that, so you’ve got to read that as best you can.”
UA connection
There’s a connection between Arizona and a current Ole Miss player, but you have to cross over into another sport to find it.
John Rhys Plumlee is a part-time outfielder for the Rebels. He’s also a quarterback on the football team.
In 2019, Plumlee played under former UA head coach Rich Rodriguez, who served as Ole Miss’ offensive coordinator that season. Plumlee earned Freshman All-America recognition after passing for 910 yards, rushing for 1,023 and accounting for 16 touchdowns.
Rodriguez, who coached at Arizona from 2012-17, is currently the offensive coordinator at Louisiana-Monroe.
