The personnel fallout from Jay Johnson’s departure from Arizona appears to have begun.
Jacob Berry, who made multiple All-America teams after his freshman year with the Wildcats, has entered the NCAA transfer portal, according to D1Baseball.com.
Berry batted .352 with a team-leading 17 home runs and 70 RBIs. The latter figure led the Pac-12, as did Berry’s 41 extra-base hits.
Berry, first baseman Branden Boissiere and outfielder Tyler Casagrande are among as many of 12 players who’ve entered the portal, per D1Baseball.com. That development was not unexpected.
The NCAA’s recent change enabling a one-time “free” transfer gave student-athletes a July 1 deadline to provide a written request to their current school. July 1 is Thursday.
Although D1Baseball’s Kendall Rogers suggested Berry could follow Johnson to LSU, entering the portal does not necessarily mean a player will transfer. Rather, it gives that player options.
Berry will be draft-eligible after next season and currently is projected to be a first-round selection. He grew up in Page and Queen Creek. His father, Perry, played at Louisiana-Lafayette.
Boissiere is draft eligible this year and is more likely than not to be selected in the July 11-13 MLB draft. Boissiere had a team-best .369 batting average as a fourth-year sophomore in 2021.
Casagrande, a part-time outfielder, batted .244 with one home run and seven RBIs in 41 at-bats.
Arizona has lost at least two members of its 2022 recruiting class: outfielder Justin Crawford and infielder Mikey Romero. Crawford announced he was reopening his recruitment. Romero committed to LSU.
UA athletic director Dave Heeke addressed the team in the wake of Johnson’s departure and is working on finding his replacement. Former Arizona pitching coach Nate Yeskie officially can be crossed off that list as he was announced as Texas A&M’s pitching coach Tuesday.
