When you talk to Mark Chandler about the baseball odyssey of two of his prodigies, Javier Medina and Cesar Salazar, you can hear the pain in his voice.
“I try to put myself in their position. Could I have done that at 17, been OK with this? I was a pretty emotional guy back then. I don’t know if I would’ve been able to handle it.”
Then talk to Medina, and you find out quickly — you know what? — he’s good. The right-handed pitcher is a chill dude. Respectful. Has a good perspective.
On the eve of the Major League Baseball draft, with his future in the balance, he’s cool. He’s calm. He’s good. His baseball future has been in the balance before.
It’s worked out.
Medina has committed to play at the UA next season, though his plans might change if he’s taken high enough in this week’s draft. The three-day event begins Monday.
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Medina says he isn’t putting much thought in to the draft — or, rather, the stress of it.
“You never know what’s going to happen,” he said. “People say ‘first round or second round,’ and you see yourself in the 39th. I’m going to hang out, go to practice and work out. And wait. If the phone rings I’ll, answer.”
That’s the thing about Medina – he’s always been there to answer the call.
If only someone hadn’t cut the cord.
Medina and Salazar, a catcher, were 18 games into Round 3 of an American baseball odyssey that originated in Hermosillo, Mexico. Chandler, their coach, was finally confident enough in their interpretation of Tucson Unified School District and Arizona Interscholastic Association rules to play them as seniors.
Then, TUSD and the AIA ruled Medina and Salazar ineligible.
Two years before, they’d left their lives behind, and moved to Arizona. After two seasons on the sidelines, precautionary measures to convince the AIA of the integrity of their decision to move to America, for high school and baseball — in that order — they thought for sure Year 3 would be the year.
Medina had his chances to leave, as a junior college early enrollee, with JC coaches salivating to get a wayward prospect on their roster and into games. After a loss to Nogales in the state semifinals last year, Medina went up to Chandler.
“He said, ‘I’m coming back and we’re going to start in two weeks,’ and these two said, ‘This is our team, we’re the captains, we’re gonna show people we’re gonna be good,’” Chandler recalled. “These guys were truly committed high school players, even though they knew they were going somewhere.”
And so was Sahuaro.
The Cougars were a surprise in 2015, 13-5 at the time of Medina and Salazar’s revoked status. Two key players — a pitcher and a catcher — were gone.
“You lose your heart and soul, and the kids know it,” Chandler said. It was already April, minutes before a pivotal game against Sabino, when a Sahuaro assistant principal pulled the plug after Chandler said the players’ visas weren’t accepted by the AIA.
The Cougars were in the middle of infield practice when they found out.
“Everyone was just shocked,” Chandler said.
Said Medina: “We played two-thirds of the season, and out of nowhere, we’re warming up and they tell us we can’t play. That was frustrating.
“We were in a nice run to make the playoffs — people didn’t have a lot of expectations for us — and we were doing well. We felt like we let the team down. We felt like the team needed us and all of it happened and we couldn’t do anything about it. We were just watching.”
They leaned on each other without a home for their skills. And skills they have. At the time of their ban, Medina was 4-0 with 62 strikeouts in 37 innings; Salazar was batting .613.
“We just kept saying to each other, ‘It’s just eight more games,’ ” Medina said. “We knew what it felt like not to play before, but to be playing, and then we couldn’t … that was hard.”
At the very least, they were seen.
Chandler arranged for Medina and Salazar, also a UA recruit, to work out for professional scouts. He told the kids, “You got the (short) end of the stick, but you guys have a future.”
There were weekly bullpen sessions; Medina threw in front of 15 to 20 scouts per week. Salazar took his hacks. They got the looks they needed.
Ultimately, if their skills were sharpened, didn’t they get all they really needed? What’s three days, a couple times a week, against a lineup that happens to be wearing a different colored jersey?
“We put ourselves in a good situation doing summer ball, fall ball,” Medina said. “It wasn’t as bad as people think — they think we couldn’t play at all. But the day the season was over, we played again for anyone who wanted us to play.”
That’s the thing. They have always been willing to play. In fact, that’s all they have ever wanted.
