The Star's longtime columnist writes about Mark Melancon's longevity in the big leagues, explains why Adia Barnes deserved consideration for coach of the year and recommends a new book about Steve Kerr.
Ageless Melancon highlights list of ex-Cats,locals in MLB
San Diego Padres relief pitcher Mark Melancon pitches during a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks Thursday, April 1, 2021, on opening day in San Diego. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)
Early in spring training, San Diego Padres reliever Mark Melancon, his wife, Mary, and three kids drove to Tucson from the Peoria Sports Complex to the UA campus, his alma mater. After a day in Tucson, Melancon posed for a photograph at the Button Salmon memorial outside Arizona Stadium.
Melancon was part of the early success of coach Andy Lopez’s Wildcats, 2004-06, before becoming the Yankees’ ninth-round draft pick in June 2006. How did that work out?
On Thursday, a few days after he turned 36, Melancon earned a save in the Padres’ Opening Day victory over the Diamondbacks, the 206th save of his career. Melancon, who earned save No. 207 Friday, has been paid $78 million and has another year remaining on his contract. And don’t forget he has pitched in three All-Star Games.
Melancon’s longevity is rare, and although it’s unlikely he will stretch his MLB career more than another year or two, only seven Tucson-connected major-leaguers played longer in the big leagues:
18 years: UA pitcher Trevor Hoffman, a Hall of Famer.
17 years: UA outfielder Kenny Lofton, who played in six All-Star Games.
16 years: UA first baseman J.T. Snow, a six-time Gold Glove winner,
15 years: UA pitcher Scott Erickson.
14 years: Palo Verde High school product Andy Hassler, a pitcher; Tucson High/UA’s Ron Hassey, a catcher; and CDO grad Ian Kinsler, a second baseman;
13 years: Melancon and Sabino High School product J.J. Hardy, a two-time All-Star shortstop.
Melancon is one of five Tucson or UA players to open the 2021 season on MLB rosters.
The others:
Bobby Dalbec, a former UA third baseman, has become the Red Sox starting first baseman. Dalbec hit seven home runs in spring training. This will be his first full season in the big leagues.
Alex Verdugo, a former Sahuaro High School outfielder, is the Red Sox starting center fielder. Verdugo hit .308 hitting in the middle of Boston’s batting order in the truncated 2020 season.
Kevin Newman, a former UA shortstop, had a terrific spring training, leading all of MLB with a .606 batting average (for players with at least 10 at-bats.) Newman went 20 for 33 for the Pirates. This is his fourth year in the big leagues.
Kevin Ginkel, a former UA pitcher, is one of the key pitchers in the Diamondbacks bullpen, his third year in the majors.
Cienega High School grad Nick Gonzales, the No. 7 overall pick in last year’s MLB draft, will open the season in the minor leagues. Gonzales played in 15 spring training games for Pittsburgh, hitting .214 with one homer.
Rincon ends Catalina Foothills’ win streak at 110
It didn’t seem like much, if anything, could match Arizona men’s tennis team sweeping UCLA and USC last weekend at the Robson Tennis Center.
Coach Clancy Shields’ Wildcats had gone 2-102 against the Trojans and 2-72 against the Bruins in history. Get this: the No. 17 Wildcats play at Stanford on Sunday; they are 2-72 lifetime against the Cardinal.
But on March 25, the Rincon/University High School boys tennis team also scored a significant upset, beating Catalina Foothills 5-4 to break the Falcons’ 110-match winning streak. Coach Jeff Bloomberg’s Falcons have won six consecutive state championships and might’ve stretched it to seven had not the 2020 season been stopped by COVID-19.
Foothills, which is replacing its two leading players from 2020, opened the season beating Rincon, but in the rematch the Rangers’ William Barrett, Kieran Black and Miika Lagat won singles matches. Barrett, Black, Lagat and George Parra won in doubles.
Lagat? Miika is the son of four-time Olympic distance-runner Bernard Lagat, now the interim cross country and distance-running coach at Arizona. Miika is coached by long-time Tucson tennis instructor Evan Phillips, who stepped away from coaching for a year, adhering to COVID-19 restrictions. Now he and Lagat work together in the morning before Rincon’s hybrid-class schedule begins at 12:10p.m.
“I’ve coached Miika for about seven years,” said Phillips. “When he gave up soccer and focused more on tennis, his game started to really develop.
“Unfortunately, not being able to play and be coached consistently over the past year has been tough on him, but he is a very determined young man with a great work ethic. I would be surprised if he didn’t get to the college level over the next three years.”
Rincon and Foothills play a third match Tuesday at Foothills. Should be intense.
Jim Rosborough’s connection pays off 30 years later
Pima College assistant Jim Rosborough, in white shirt, has 1,000 career wins.
Pima College assistant women’s basketball coach Jim Rosborough coached in his 1,000th career victory Friday, a victory over Cochise College. That covers a 50-year career that began at the Corkery School in Chicago and included Final Fours at Iowa and Arizona, and a post-UA career in the UA women’s tennis program and as Todd Holthaus’ assistant at PCC.
Earlier in the week, Rosborough reconnected with former UA basketball player Cliff Johns, a walk-on guard on the Wildcats’ 1993 Pac-10 championship team. Rosborough helped to get a recruiting commitment from Johns' niece, Mateyha Aberle, a talented shooting guard at Holbrook High School. John’s son, Quinn Atazhoon, is a freshman guard on the PCC men’s basketball team from Gallup High School in New Mexico.
This connection began in the fall of 1992, when Rosborough spoke to a group of Native American basketball players at the UA Rec Center. He stayed to watch their games and noticed Johns, a senior architecture major, had terrific shooting skills. A day later he was on Lute Olson‘s roster.
Johns is now the project manager for development at Fort Defiance, part of the Navajo Nation.
G League could prove to be attractive to Akinjo, who will test NBA waters
Arizona All-Pac-12 point guard James Akinjo announced he will enter the NBA draft process last week. He has until July 19 to opt out and return for his junior season at Arizona. Increased pay in the NBA’s G League, a developmental “minor league” of pro basketball, has made that option more appealing. It changed its salary structure, going from previous salary maximums of $35,000 to $125,000 and now as much as $500,000. Akinjo finds himself in a situation similar to Arizona’s 2001 Final Four power forward Michael Wright, who opted to skip his senior year because, he said, “I’m not going to grow two or three inches taller if I stick around one more year.” Akinjo’s size — he is generously listed at 6 feet, 1 inch, will be a big factor in his NBA draft value.
Alyssa Denham joins elite club
Arizona's Alyssa Denham (22) cranks up a pitch against Oregon State in their Pac-12 game at Hillenbrand Stadium, Tucson, Ariz., March 26, 2021.
When UA senior Alyssa Denham pitched her third no-hitter for the Wildcats in Thursday’s victory over Stanford, it put her on a list with some of the school’s most distinguished names. Only Alicia Hollowell, Susie Parra, Jennie Finch and Taryne Mowatt pitched more complete-game no-hitters for Mike Candrea‘s program. One thing that seems to get lost in the UA’s long history of softball excellence is that Hollowell pitched 15 complete-game no-hitters, far more than runners-up Parra and Finch, both with eight. …
Rincon grad Chris Rastatter works Final Four
Rincon High School grad Chris Rastatter officiated the Baylor-Houston game in Saturday’s Final Four. He is one of 11 referees so honored; they are selected on a merit. Rastatter was also on a Final Four crew in 2017, but worked at the scorer’s table as an observer, not as a game official. Rastatter probably wasn’t awed. Of the 70 games he worked this season he called three UCLA games, including a Bruins loss at Ohio State, two Baylor games and three Gonzaga games. …
Tucson connections abound in spring college football season
Few football fans around the country have paid much attention to the ongoing FCS season, which includes NAU and Big Sky Conference power Weber State. The Lumberjacks, 1-2, who play a six-game schedule, start former CDO High School player Jonas Leader at right guard and Cienega High School grad Terrell Hayward at receiver and as a kick returner. Weber State, ranked No. 2 nationally, is led defensively by Preston Smith, the grandson of former Arizona head coach Larry Smith and his wife, Cheryl, who lives in Tucson. Smith intercepted two passes in a 28-23 victory over NAU last week. …
Ex-Cat Brenda Frese is national coach of the year
Northern Arizona wide receiver Terrell Hayward (27) in the first half during an NCAA college football game against Arizona, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2019, in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
Former Arizona women’s basketball player Brenda Frese, Class of ’92, was voted the AP’s national women’s basketball coach of the year last week. She also won in 2002. Frese’s Maryland team went 26-3, won the Big Ten with a 17-1 record and reached the Sweet 16. She got eight of the 30 votes, one ahead of Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer and NC State’s Wes Moore. I think Arizona’s Adia Barnes would’ve won that award had the Wildcats beaten ASU in the regular-season finale. I also think she would’ve won the award if the AP had waited until next week to hold the vote. Frese is a solid pick — her Maryland team replaced all five starters from last year — but her Terrapins haven’t had a season worse than 26-8 in more than 10 years. Timing and national attention are the two factors that swing those national awards; Barnes’ impressive rebuild at UA didn’t attract enough eyes until it reached the Final Four.
Add three to list of Tucson of champs
Andy Trouard added the 3,000 to two national cross country titles.
In my research of Tucson athletes who won individual championships, I failed to examine NCAA men’s gymnastics, which was discontinued at Arizona about 50 years ago. Big miss.
In 1968, when the NCAA championships were held at Bear Down Gym, Tucson High grad Pat Arnold, a UA senior, won the still rings championship, triggering a long career as a successful gymnastics coach in Tucson. Five years later, Palo Verde High School grad Jon Aitken won the 1973 NCAA gymnastics championship on the horizontal bars. He was a senior at New Mexico.
I also omitted Andy Trouard of Salpointe Catholic, who won the 2018 NCAA Indoor championship at 3,000 meters. Trouard, who was a multi-time All-American at NAU, is training for the 2021 United States Olympic Trials.
Arnold, Aitken and Trouard join an impressive list of 11 Tucson NCAA champions that include UA swimmer Lacey Nymeyer John of Mountain View, Cal swimmer Caitlin Leverenz of Sahuaro, UA long jumper Vance Johnson of Cholla, ASU wrestlers Eric Larkin and Eddie Urbano of Sunnyside, Iowa State wrestler Nate Gallick of Sunnyside, Penn State wrestler Roman Bravo-Young of Sunnyside and ASU shot putter Turner Washington of CDO.
My two cents: New biography on ex-Cat Kerr a comprehensive page-turner
Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr during the NBA basketball team's media day in San Francisco Monday, Sept. 30, 2019.
I got a pleasant surprise in the mail a few days ago: an early proof of Scott Howard-Cooper’s new book, “Steve Kerr: A Life.”
It is a comprehensive account of Kerr’s life from his boyhood days in Beirut, Lebaaon and as a high school ballplayer at Pacific Palisades, California, through his compelling, an out-of-nowhere star on Lute Olson’s 1988 Final Four team at Arizona, to his well-documented NBA career as a Chicago Bulls, San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors champion.
Kerr’s book is 314 pages. I read all 314 in two nights. It was absorbing. Howard-Cooper, who has written for the Los Angeles Times, ESPN.com and NBA.com, was thorough in his research and reporting. The book, published by Harper-Collins, will be available through Amazon on June 15.
