Plus, some scheduling news
Arizona had all three of its starting pitchers, as well as its closer, taken in the MLB Draft earlier this month. But none of its draft-eligible position players were selected, and to this point none have opted to sign free agent deals to begin their pro careers, which means for those with eligibility they’re expected back for 2025.
Topping that list is second baseman Garen Caulfield, who is set to return for a fourth season.
“Garen was down here three days ago, we sat down and talked and he’s back,” UA coach Chip Hale said Thursday. “He’s excited to be back. It gives us another veteran hitter who obviously had a fantastic year last year. And we’ve learned in college baseball, old wins.”
Caulfield hit .310 with five home runs and 42 RBI this past season, all career highs. And with another year to add to his career numbers, he’s on pace to finish in the top 10 in school history in several categories.
His 178 hits are 77 away from 10th place on the career list, and another 15 doubles (he had 19 in 2024) would put him into a tie for 9th in UA history.
Arizona is set to return eight of nine starting position players, only needing to replace right fielder Emilio Corona. The top two candidates for that spot are Samford transfer Aaron Walton and recent Delta College commit Dom Rodriguez, who hit .354 with 12 homers and 62 RBI in junior college and is batting .340 with 6 homers and 40 RBI in the Northwoods summer wood-bat league.
Top prospect expected to stick with Arizona
Besides the four players from the 2024 roster who were drafted, Arizona also saw top incoming freshman Mason Russell go in the 20th round to the Cincinnati Reds. The left-handed pitcher, who was considered a top-100 draft prospect, has until Aug. 1 to sign or the Reds lose his draft rights and he won’t be eligible to be picked again until 2027.
Hale said Russell is on campus, taking summer classes and working out, a strong indicator that the Reds aren’t going to be able to match his signing bonus asking price, which is likely seven figures.
“For now he’s a Wildcat,” Hale said.
If Russell comes it will mean Arizona will get its entire recruiting class to campus for the first time under Hale. Last year righty Blake Wolters, who went in the second round to the Kansas City Royals, signed for $2.8 million, and in 2022 shortstop Demetrio Crisantes got $425,000 from the Arizona Diamondbacks.
“We want guys to play professional baseball, there’s no doubt about it,” Hale said. “We just don’t want to sell themselves short, sign for too little a number, because there’s a lot of analytics. There’s a lot of statistics that show if you sign for a certain amount of money you have a really good chance to make the big leagues. So we try to get them to make their number that they submit to the major league teams high enough where it’s fair for everybody.”
2025 schedule update
Arizona has completed its nonconference schedule, which will include a pair of tournaments in Texas and two weekend series at Hi Corbett Field. Hale said those will be against San Diego, whom the Wildcats visited last season, and the final weekend before the start of Big 12 play will be against Pepperdine.
There will also be a smattering of one-off midweek games, both home and away, with the road games likely to be tacked on to the front or back of a road trip. The Big 12 is expected to release the conference slate in the fall.
As for those two tournaments, the Shriners Children’s College Showdown in Arlington Feb. 14-16 and the Astros Foundation College Classic Feb. 28-March 2 in Houston, Arizona is going to load up on ranked opponents.
It knows its opponents for the latter, opening against College World Series runner-up Texas A&M and also facing Mississippi State and reigning national champion Tennessee. In Arlington it will play three games from the quartet of Clemson, Louisville, Ole Miss and Texas.
Baseball America recently put out a way-too-early Top 25 for 2025, which has Arizona at No. 20. It also has Clemson at No. 4, A&M at No. 5, Tennessee at No. 7, Mississippi State at No. 15 and Texas at No. 19.
Arizona had the No. 1 nonconference strength of schedule in 2024 and could challenge for that again in 2025, even though Hale said it isn’t as necessary to do that with the SOS that will come from playing in the Big 12.
“Obviously I think RPI will be helped a lot more by our conference this year” he said. “I think that’s what kind of the SEC has always felt like, they don’t have to play much outside their conference, because they get so such a bump in league play. We feel like that’s going to help. But I just feel like recruiting-wise and student-athlete experience-wise, to go play in these tournaments against the best teams and players in the country, is a really cool thing for the kids. And again, it’s just gonna make you better for league play.”
Wildcats return to Mexican Baseball Fiesta
The UA will once agains participate in the Mexican Baseball Fiesta at Tucson’s Kino Stadium, a 4-day event that will feature the Wildcats and six teams from the Mexican Winter Baseball League. Arizona will face Hermosillo, whom it beat 3-1 last year, on Oct. 3.
“As long we this is played we’d love to be in it,” said Hale, who played two seasons in the Mexican Winter League during his pro career. “It’s become sort of a chance to help us as a coaching staff see what we’ve got. It helped us a lot last year.”
Arizona’s other fall exhibition games will be at Hi Corbett against Pima College and Central Arizona, with dates TBA.