With the 2022 Arizona Baseball still a long way away at this point, the Wildcats enter the year as the preseason ranked No. 14 team by Baseball America.
The 2021 season just ended recently and already preparations are being made by the Arizona Baseball team as recently hired head coach Chip Hale continues to adjust to being the head coach.
On the job for about a month so far, and Hale has had to continue to rebuild the roster. Previous head coach Jay Johnson didn’t transition to LSU the smoothest, and a few players didn’t take it well initially.
Arizona Wildcats
Since then, the Wildcats have had some good news, bringing back a few crucial pieces from last years’ roster including Garrett Irvin, Daniel Susac, and Tyler Casagrande among others.
While some experts are anticipating that Arizona Baseball will be in rebuild mode somewhat, others are still expecting the Cats to be fairly competitive.
Releasing their first preseason ranking ahead of the 2022 season, Baseball America has the Wildcats No. 14, where they also join fellow Pac-12 schools Stanford (5), Oregon State (13), and UCLA (22).
Perhaps a bit generous, however, Hale is inheriting some solid pieces for next year, and the biggest challenge for him will just be continuing to develop his players, as well as learning the ropes in recruiting.
So far, Hale has added a few experienced coaches like retaining longtime Arizona assistant Dave Lawn and hiring Trip Couch from South Carolina.
Well, now he has added Toby DeMello from Sacramento State and Will Gaines from the San Diego Padres.
Help us welcome Assistant Coach @TobyDemello to Tucson! 🌵⚾ #BearDown
— Arizona Baseball (@ArizonaBaseball) July 22, 2021
All the additions should go a long way for Hale and the Wildcats, and it will be interesting to see how this team performs next season.
Overall, Arizona should have enough talent to compete, although we don’t expect the Wildcats to be as dominant as they were last year.