The Star's longtime columnist checks in with notes about the Mets' unlikely Opening Day starter (and his Tucson connection), the Wildcats' chances of winning the Pac-12 in tennis, and the most important hire the UA has made in a while:
Former Wildcat Tylor Megill was the New York Mets’ Opening Day starter on the mound.
Opening Day starter Tylor Megill highlights list of ex-Cats, locals in bigs
Six baseball players with Tucson DNA opened the season in the big leagues, with no one more unanticipated than New York Mets Opening Day starting pitcher Tylor Megill.
Megill was used almost strictly a reliever at Arizona in 2017 and 2018 — he had just four starts in 41 Wildcat games, with below-average ERAs of 5.54 and 4.68. But after the Mets drafted Megill in the eighth round, they turned him into a starter and worked on increasing his velocity.
Megill is now routinely clocked at 98-99 mph, using his 6-foot-7-inch, 230-pound frame to become a power pitcher. Recalled by the Mets midway through the 2021 season, Megill started all 18 games in which he appeared, striking out 1.2 batters per inning.
In his Opening Day assignment Thursday, Megill pitched five shutout innings, striking out six. He might be the leading player of the six Tucson-affiliated players to open the season on MLB rosters. The others:
• Diamondbacks reliever Mark Melancon, 37, who is the club’s closer, signed a two-year, $14 million contract after saving 39 games for San Diego last season.
• Cubs first baseman Alfonso Rivas, 25, a former Wildcat first baseman, who took advantage of expanded 28-man rosters to make Chicago’s Opening Day roster as a utility player. Rivas made his MLB debut last season, playing 18 games before breaking a finger and missing the final two months.
• Red Sox starting left fielder Alex Verdugo, a Sahuaro High School grad, is coming off his best MLB season, one in which he hit .289 with 13 homers for Boston.
• Red Sox starting first baseman Bobby Dalbec, a former All-Pac-12 pitcher/hitter at Arizona, begins his second season as Boston’s starting first baseman. He hit 25 homers last season.
• One of Andy Lopez’s final recruits at Arizona, Pirates shortstop Kevin Newman, is working to improve on last season’s .226 batting average.
Who’s next in line to reach the big leagues? Nine players from the UA or Tucson high schools opened the season in Triple-A last week.
They are:
• Donny Sands, catcher from Salpointe Catholic, starter for the Pirates’ Triple-A affiliate Lehigh Valley of the International League.
• Robert Refsnyder, MVP of Arizona’s 2012 national championship team, opened the year on the Red Sox’s Triple-A team at Worcester, Massachusetts. Refsnyder has played in 213 big-league games.
• Andre Jackson, a former Cienega High School and Utah Utes pitcher, is on the roster of the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate in Oklahoma City. Jackson was twice recalled by the Dodgers last year.
• Stefen Romero, who excelled at Sunnyside High School, Pima College and Oregon State, opened the season at the Dodgers’ OKC affiliate. Romero, who played the last five seasons in Japan, hit just .154 in an extended spring training evaluation by the Dodgers. Romero played for the Seattle Mariners for three seasons before moving to Japan.
• Kevin Ginkel, a former UA pitcher who appeared in relief 76 times for the D-backs the last three seasons, was assigned to Triple-A Reno last week.
• Former Catalina Foothills High School infielder Luis Gonzalez, who left the White Sox to sign with the A’s over the winter, opened the season with the Triple-A Sacramento RiverCats.
• Ex-Wildcats first baseman J.J. Matijevic, who has played four years in the minors, opens his fifth season with Sugar Land, the Triple-A club of the Houston Astros.
• Former UA center fielder Cal Stevenson, one of coach Jay Johnson‘s most important recruits, opened the season for the Durham Bulls, a Tampa Bay affiliate.
• Jared Oliva, an ex-Wildcats outfielder who played in 26 games for Pittsburgh the last two seasons, opened the season at Indianapolis, the Pirates’ Triple-A club.
• Seth Mejias-Brean, a former Cienega High and UA third baseman, is now a bench coach for the Tacoma Rainiers, the Triple-A club of the Seattle Mariners. Mejias-Brean, a key part of Arizona’s 2012 national championship team, is also listed on the roster and could also be activated if needed by Tacoma.
Lamonte Hunley headed to hometown's Hall of Fame
Arizona’s 1984 All-Pac-10 linebacker Lamonte Hunley will be inducted into the Petersburg Sports Hall of Fame on April 23 in his Virginia hometown. A three-year starter from 1982-84, Hunley led the Pac-10 in tackles in 1984 and then played two seasons with the Indianapolis Colts before returning to Tucson to become a success in the athletic equipment business. Lamonte’s older brother, Arizona 1982 and 1983 consensus All-American linebacker Ricky Hunley, now the UA’s defensive line coach, was inducted into Petersburg’s inaugural class in 2015.
Tucson's Mack Rhoades, Arizona's Dave Heeke sign ink extensions
You can probably discard any potential theme of Rincon/University High and UA grad Mack Rhoades someday returning to Tucson to be the athletic director at his alma mater. Rhoades last week signed a 10-year contract extension to be Baylor’s athletic director through 2032, at which time he would be 66. Combined with Arizona AD Dave Heeke’s productive work in pulling the Wildcat athletic department out of a ditch in the last year — Heeke was just approved for a contract extension through 2025 — Arizona’s athletic operation has not only survived the clumsy Rich Rodriguez-Kevin Sumlin-Sean Miller exits, but taken a few steps forward.
Dan Pohl celebrates anniversary
This is the 40th anniversary of Dan Pohl’s remarkable Masters debut, 1982, in which the the standout Arizona golfer, 1973-77, tied Craig Stadler for the lead at the 18th hole and ultimately lost in a Sunday playoff. Since Pohl’s Arizona and PGA Tour days, he has returned to his hometown of Mount Pleasant, Michigan, and designed a golf course — The Pohl Cat — at which he is the director of golf. Pohl’s golf career peaked in 1986, when he won the NEC World Series of Golf and the Byron Nelson Colonial Invitational.
Boise State guard Devonaire Doutrive (11) shoots over Memphis guard Landers Nolley II (3) during the first half of the 2021 NIT.
Ex-Cat Devonaire Doutrive turns pro
Combo guard Devonaire Doutrive, who was ranked as high as No. 70 nationally when he signed to play basketball with Arizona for the 2018-19 season, declared last week that he will enter the upcoming NBA Draft. Good luck with that. Doutrive’s four years in college basketball were bumpy, to say the least. He left Arizona after three games in 2019-20, averaging 6.3 points. He transferred to Boise State where he started just nine games in a year and a half, averaging 8.9 points. He left BSU’s team after seven games last season.
Sabino's Kiya Dorroh on the move
Also on the move is Sabino High School’s 2018 state championship guard Kiya Dorroh, who left Missouri last month after averaging 8.6 minutes per game as a freshman. Dorroh announced she will transfer to Colorado State. Her key teammates from the ’18 Sabercats championship team have had mixed success. Kamryn Doty, who averaged 12.9 points at Sabino in 2018, enrolled at Elon University last fall but did not play due to injury.
Kiya Dorroh
Also, Kam’Ren Rhodes, daughter of Sabino’s 2018 coach Harold Rhodes, has committed to play for the Dayton Flyers. After the ’18 season, Dorroh, Doty and Rhodes all transferred to the Phoenix-based Compass Preps organization.
Ex-Cat Grant Jerrett is home safe
Grant Jerrett, a top-25 basketball recruit to Arizona in 2012, left the Wildcats after one season to enter the NBA Draft. He was the 40th overall selection but played in just eight NBA games. Jerrett has been a journeyman in the EuroLeague, playing in Serbia, Turkey, China and Germany. Jerrett, a 6-foot-11 stretch-the-court power forward, began this season with Avtodor Saratov of the Russian Pro League. After Russia invaded Ukraine, Jerrett, 28, left the team and was able to safely get back to California.
Cats poised to win Pac-12 men's tennis title
Arizona men’s tennis coach Clancy Shields used Friday’s Senior Day victory over Utah to move a step closer to the UA’s first-ever Pac-12 championship. The 5-0 Wildcats complete the league season this week at Oregon and Washington, two non-contenders. Only 5-1 USC, which completes its Pac-12 season at UCLA, has a chance to overhaul Arizona. The importance of winning a Pac-12 title is twofold for Shields and the Wildcats: 1, it would be historical; 2, it would probably give Arizona enough overall clout to be one of 16 schools awarded home-court advantage in the first two rounds of next month’s NCAA championships.
Former UA golfers on minor-league tours
When Arizona won the Pac-12 men’s golf championship last spring, it wasn’t a fluke. The UA’s three leading players from that team — Trevor Werbylo, Pac-12 Player of the Year Brad Reeves, and Sierra Vista’s Briggs Duce, are now fully qualified on the PGA Tour’s minor-league tours. Werbylo is on the Korn Ferry Tour, and last week in California Reeves and Duce finished tied for fifth to earn PGA Tour Canada playing privileges for the season.
Joe McLean specializes in financial advice
Arizona junior center Christian Koloko and perhaps even sophomore guard Dalen Terry might be wise to have a conference with ex-Wildcat guard Joe McLean (1993-96) before making a decision to leave/stay in college basketball another season. McLean, an executive at San Francisco-based Intersect Capital, is one of the most prominent financial advisors for NBA players. He was a guest on CNBC last week. Topic: Early entrees to the NBA Draft. “These players are living out their dreams,” said McLean. “If you watch a draft, you’ll see a lot of people celebrating along with the athletes. Many of them have your best interests at heart, but many of them also have expectations that you’ll help them financially. Empower your friends and family to get jobs, don’t give them one. Seek advice from experts and people who have been there. Honor your mother with a financial plan, not just a new house. My clients have to save a minimum of 40% of every dollar they earn in their first contract; 60% of their second contract; and 80% of their third. If someone doesn’t buy into that idea, then the relationship probably won’t work.”
Arizona head coach Caitlin Lowe talks to the home plate umpire after Washington batter Angie Yellen was hit by a pitch to load the bases during an April 2 game.
Last place is new space for Wildcats
In her first season as Arizona’s softball coach, Caitlin Lowe’s team fell into last place, 1-9, after Friday’s loss at Oregon State. It was not only Arizona’s first loss at OSU since 2013 but puts the Wildcats in position to finish in last place for the first time in conference history, 1987-2022. Only one Arizona team over that period — the 9-15 club of 2013 — had a losing Pac-12 record. It finished seventh among nine teams. The potentially positive news: Arizona completes its league season against Oregon, Utah, Cal and Stanford. Through Friday, all four of those teams had losing records in Pac-12 competition.
My two cents: UA facing critical hire
The Arizona athletic department is in the search process of hiring a Director of Compliance/Eligibility. It is a position that has become one of the most critical and in-demand jobs in college sports. Also, one of the most challenging.
In the school’s 2020 salary database, the UA’s director of athletic compliance was paid $122,000. That seems below the job’s importance; every UA assistant football coach and assistant basketball coach makes more than double the compliance director’s salary of 2020.
The UA’s job description says its new compliance chief must monitor recruiting issues, eligibility issues and “manage the transfer process for incoming and outgoing students.” And all the other stuff that falls between the cracks in a department with about 500 student-athletes.
I examined the rosters of all 18 Arizona sports, and although the student-by-student background data wasn’t available on each athlete, I counted 63 transfers. That’s roughly 12% overall. And that’s just the incoming transfers. That’s a lot of paperwork.
Pac-12 schools have manned their compliance departments differently. UCLA and USC both have 11 full-time compliance officials. ASU and Utah have seven. Arizona’s new hire would give the school six compliance employees.
In recent years, college athletes have basically been granted free agency, eligible to transfer without penalty. American-born athletes have been given freedom to make money — unlimited income — from their name, image and likeness. And now, beginning next fall, the UA plans to pay up to $5,980 per athlete, per year, for academic performance — especially to those showing progress toward graduation.
Following the rules has never been more complicated.
