FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — If this Arizona baseball season has been a rollercoaster, Chris Barraza is the guy sitting in the front with his arms thrust into the air and his mouth agape.
He has enjoyed the ride, no doubt. But it’s a bit scary too.
That’s because Barraza is a late-inning, high-leverage reliever for the Wildcats. The job comes with a ton of pressure. Every mistake is magnified. And Barraza has made plenty this season.
But during this late-season run that has propelled Arizona into the NCAA Tournament — the UA faces TCU in the second game of the Fayetteville Regional on Friday night — Barraza has found something. The Wildcats wouldn’t be here if he hadn’t pulled off a great escape against Oregon State in the Pac-12 Tournament. It was a must-win game. They all are this time of year.
Barraza pitched into and out of a first-and-third, no-out jam in the ninth inning against the Beavers. Arizona won it on a walk-off in the bottom of the ninth.
It was exactly what the Wildcats needed. But no one needed it more than Barraza, who had been on the wrong side of similar scenarios far too many times this season.
“I've had my ups and downs,” said Barraza, a graduate of Sahuarita High School who began his college career at New Mexico State. “I was glad I was able to bounce back and not make the same mistakes in the tournament that I did in the season.”
Barraza took the loss in a pair of walk-off defeats at OSU in late April. He got a second chance in the Pac-12 Tournament. It’s been a theme for the fifth-year senior.
Barraza wanted to go to Arizona. It didn’t work out initially. Now he’s playing a key role for his hometown team.
In what was maybe the most important game of the regular season, Barraza blew a late lead against Stanford. The coaching staff kept him in the game. He recorded the final out in a 21-20 victory that recalibrated the Wildcats’ GPS after they had veered off the road to Omaha.
“They still trusted me,” Barraza said. “I had a second chance to bounce back. It wasn't easy. ...
“I believe I’ve got good stuff. Sometimes I let that get away from me. But it was one of those outings where, hey, I'm gonna get another chance. And just give them what I got to give. If they hit it, tip my cap to them.”
Arizona's Chris Barraza and the pitching corps get in their band work just before first pitch against West Virginia in the Wildcats' home opener at Hi Corbett Field in February.
New role, responsibilities
For most of this season, Arizona mixed and matched in the late innings. Barraza offered a mid-90s fastball that was effective up in the zone; Trevor Long had a sinker/slider mix.
“And it really wasn't working out,” UA coach Chip Hale said. “So we decided on Chris and let him go with it.”
Not only was closing new to Barraza, so was being a reliever in general. He was a starter at Sahuarita and became one at NMSU, where he played from 2019-21.
Barraza had to get used to pitching every other day, or even on back-to-back days. Making it even more challenging, his arm didn’t feel quite right during the 2022 season. Barraza’s velocity vacillated. So he spent the offseason working with strength coach Jim Krumpos to build his body. Barraza’s fastball has peaked at 98 mph this year, and he hasn’t experienced the mysterious dips that plagued him a year ago.
Physically, Barraza was where he wanted to be. But being a late-inning reliever required a mental adjustment that perhaps only game experience could cultivate.
“Last year, he was used in multiple different situations,” said Barraza’s father, Chris Barraza Sr. “This year, he’s being used in high-pressure, clutch, do-or-die situations. With that comes stress.
“This is all new to him. ... Coming in as a reliever was a big culture shock. Coming into those situations is just another layer of that.”
The younger Barraza handled it well for the most part early in the season. He had a 3.46 ERA entering April.
Then the first blowup happened. Barraza failed to record an out in the seventh inning against Oregon on April 1. He was charged with three runs. The Ducks, who trailed 10-0 through two innings, rallied for a 13-11 victory.
Barraza surrendered only one run in his next six outings. After Long pitched a clean eighth in the April 28 series opener at OSU, preserving a 1-0 lead, Barraza came in to close.
He faced only two batters, allowing a single and a four-pitch walk. Both runners came around to score in a 2-1 setback.
Two days later, Arizona had another ninth-inning lead, this time 10-8. Barraza again got the call. He again struggled. The Beavers scored three runs to win 11-10.
Barraza usually isn’t all that talkative after a game, especially if it’s a loss. But on this particular Sunday, he called his dad shortly after returning to the team hotel. They spoke for 30-45 minutes.
“That was definitely something new,” the elder Barraza said. “That’s not like him. It was more like a comfort thing. He just wanted to talk. It was a little bit of baseball (and) a lot of things other than baseball.
“I got off the phone with him, and it seemed like he was at peace with what happened and he was ready to move on.”
Arizona reliever Chris Barraza on the team's the approach to the NCAA Tournament now that the Wildcats have made it (video by Michael Lev / Arizona Daily Star)
Overcoming doubt
Just about everyone in baseball agrees: The last three outs are the hardest to get.
When your side doesn’t get them, it’s easy to blame one person: The closer.
This UA team isn’t one to point fingers, although it easily could have given how potent the offense has been and how erratically the pitchers have performed.
After consecutive back-to-back breakdowns vs. the Beavers, Barraza blamed himself.
“He just felt like he let the team down,” his father said. “They rely on him to get those outs, and he failed.
“I told him that day: ‘You’re gonna fail. It’s baseball. You’re gonna fail more than you succeed. If you get down on yourself and start doubting yourself, you’re never going to accomplish anything.’ ”
Barraza’s teammates and coaches conveyed a similar mantra: Stay with it. Keep your head up.
The Stanford game, two weeks later, was like a rollercoaster ride where the cars fly off the track. Arizona had an 18-11 lead through 7½ innings. Barraza needed one more strike to end it in the ninth. Instead, he allowed a tying three-run homer to Alberto Rios, the Pac-12 Player of the Year.
The Wildcats answered with three runs in the 10th. Barraza retired the first two batters in the bottom half. Then he allowed three straight hits, scoring two runs.
With the tying run on third, Barraza struck out Carter Graham on three pitches. It wasn’t pristine, but Barraza got the job done.
Ten days later, he blanked the Beavers over 1⅔ maximum-stress innings, stranding a pair of runners at third base.
“When we talked to him after the game, you could see the relief on his face,” Barraza’s father said. “He had this huge monkey taken off of his back. It was just a matter of him building that confidence.”
In the Pac-12 Tournament championship game, Barraza retired all four batters he faced — vs. the same Oregon team against whom he couldn’t get an out in April.
“It's hard to forgive and forget,” Barraza said. “But at the same time, I'm gonna get another chance. So I can't really dwell on the past.”
