Catcher Adonys Guzman’s arm, presence — and bat — have been assets for Arizona Wildcats

Arizona catcher Adonys Guzman grew up in the Bronx, New York. His dad ran a pizza shop near Yankee Stadium. So, naturally, Guzman was a big fan of baseball’s most famous club.

Asked to list his favorite Yankees, Guzman rattled off multiple names: Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada.

But as much as he admired Posada and — gasp! — Boston Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek for “the passion and the grittiness they played with,” Guzman’s favorite backstop of all time is Yadier Molina.

“He was a great catch-and-throw guy,” Guzman said of the former St. Louis Cardinal and future Hall of Famer. “That’s something I feel like I do really well. Yadier Molina is definitely my guy.”

Guzman has had a Molina-like influence on the surging Wildcats, who have won eight in a row entering this weekend’s nonconference series vs. Louisiana Tech at Hi Corbett Field.

Guzman has played stellar defense. He has provided leadership. And he has performed better as a hitter than his previous numbers suggested he would.

“His defense has always been electric,” said pitching coach Kevin Vance, who recruited Guzman to Arizona from Boston College after BC coach Mike Gambino took the Penn State job in July. “His arm is incredible. He can throw guys out with the best of them.

“What’s really stuck out is his at-bats. He’s having pro at-bats, really good discipline, drawing walks, taking his hits when they give it to him, has had some clutch hits. He’s been an on-base machine.”

Guzman, who has started 20 of 31 games, is batting .304 with a .424 on-base percentage that’s second best among UA regulars. He has yet to hit a home run. However, like fellow catcher Blake McDonald, Guzman has more walks (15) than strikeouts (12).

Guzman hit just .239 in a similar sample size as a freshman at BC last year.

“We felt like, looking at his swing, that … Toby could help him, and that’s really come true,” UA coach Chip Hale said, referring to hitting coach Toby DeMello.

“When he gets to two strikes, he knows how to shorten up. He knows how to put the ball in play.”

Guzman was Perfect Game’s 48th-ranked prep player in the class of 2022 coming out of the Brunswick School in Greenwich, Connecticut. Baseball America ranked him 165th (including college players) and gave his arm an 80 grade — the highest available on the 20-80 baseball scouting scale. BA wrote that Guzman “has the best arm of any catcher in the country.” The publication gave him a 70 grade as a fielder.

Guzman has the fastest “pop time” — the time it takes a catcher to receive the ball and deliver it to a base on steal attempts — in the country, according to the UA’s analytics department. Although he has thrown out only 13.3% of would-be base stealers, Guzman’s reputation and cannon for an arm have negated the opposition’s running game. Opponents have attempted only 15 steals against Guzman — less than one per game.

Guzman also has only one error and one passed ball.

“We’d all seen him on the circuit,” Hale said. “We knew the defense was off the charts.”

Guzman has been a catcher since his Little League days when the father of his best friend suggested he “throw on some gear” after noting Guzman’s sturdy, stocky build. He’s currently listed at 5-10, 221 pounds.

“I love it,” Guzman said. “I love to throw, and I’m always a part of something in the game.”

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Guzman doesn’t call pitches, and he takes no credit for the success of Arizona’s pitching staff. “That’s all them,” he said.

But Vance said Guzman is “an easy guy to throw to,” and the sophomore is a budding team leader. He approaches that role in his own way.

“I just try to keep things loose,” Guzman said. “Obviously, this is a very stressful game, especially when things aren’t going our way like it was early in the year. I just try to … have good vibes and just spread that to the team as much as I can.

“Obviously, there’s a certain level of concentration I go into the games with. But I like to joke around and be goofy with the guys and just have fun because this is a kid’s game.”

Bulldogged determination

This weekend represents Arizona’s Pac-12 “bye.” But the Wildcats know they can’t treat the Louisiana Tech series that way despite recently establishing themselves as legitimate contenders to make the NCAA Tournament.

“It really doesn’t feel like a bye week to us,” Hale said. “We’re gonna continue to play as hard as we can and win as many games as we can. We put ourselves behind the eight ball early in the year by not winning some of the games that were close. So we can’t really take a week off.”

Louisiana Tech is 26-9 and 6-3 in Conference USA — the same league record as No. 15 Dallas Baptist. The Bulldogs rank 74th in RPI, per WarrenNolan.com. Arizona (18-13, 10-5 Pac-12) is 41st.

“I feel like this could be a really big series for us,” Guzman said. “As Coach (Hale) mentioned to us during the weekend, good teams come out and play good baseball every single day. That’s what we’re trying to focus on now.”

Inside pitch

BA’s latest NCAA Tournament projection has Arizona as a No. 3 seed playing in the Orlando Regional hosted by future Big 12 foe UCF.

The Wildcats rank first nationally in walks allowed per nine innings (2.59) and third in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.57). The UA staff has yielded just one walk while striking out 27 hitters in the past three games.

Arizona has struck out nine or fewer times in nine consecutive games. The Wildcats fanned 10 or more times in 10 of their first 22 contests.

Bazzana has 18, second most in the country. Bazzana also leads the Pac-12 in batting average (.466), OBP (.608) and slugging percentage (1.060).

Arizona’s Cam Walty (2.70) and Jackson Kent (2.79) rank third and fourth, respectively, in the league in ERA. Walty is tied for first in wins (five). Clark Candiotti ranks second in strikeouts (57).

Candiotti will follow Kent in the rotation vs. Louisiana Tech. Candiotti and Walty switched spots at Cal to give Candiotti an extra day to recover from an illness.