Consistency would help young Arizona baseball team cash in as Big 12 play begins

It might prove elusive for the better part of the season.

Not only is Arizona playing four or even five freshmen in a given game, but their lineup also often includes sophomores who had minimal experience before this year.

The performance of one of the freshmen, shortstop Cash Brennan, exemplifies the Wildcats’ scattershot results.

In last Friday’s win over Fresno State, Brennan made one of the best plays you’ll ever see. In the third inning, he ranged far to his right to field a groundball hit by the Bulldogs’ Brady Hewitt. Brennan had no choice but to leap into the air to get the throw off to first base. It nipped Hewitt by a fraction of a second.

Fast-forward to Tuesday night at Arizona State. In the bottom of the seventh, Brennan fielded a routine grounder hit by Brody Briggs but threw slightly wide of first for an error. That enabled the Sun Devils to tack on another run in a 10-4 victory over the Wildcats.

“You can't overcome mistakes when you're playing ... against good clubs who are going to play the game right,” said UA coach Chip Hale, whose team faces Utah in the Big 12 opener Friday in Salt Lake City.

“There's exciting stuff that's happening. But a prime example is: two-out walk, wild-pitch him to second, (Brennan’s) throwing error scores him. Those type of things are not going to lead to winning baseball in our conference.”

Hale and his staff are excited about Brennan’s upside. Hale lauded not only his athletic ability but his makeup.

“Obviously, you want the future to be now, but it's not,” Hale said. “There's going to be some ugly baseball, and we knew that. But he has the right temperament and mentality for it. He accepts coaching really well. If you get on him, he's fine with it, where some guys sort of curl up.

“He comes harder. And I think in the end — I’m hoping by the end of this year; I'm not hoping it's next year or his junior year —this guy's going to be a heck of a ballplayer.”

Brennan appears to have passed Mathis Meurant on the depth chart (or at least will be the strong side of a left-right platoon). The two battled in the preseason to succeed Mason White, who hit the second-most home runs in UA history before being selected in the fourth round of last year’s MLB Draft.

Although they have different frames — Brennan is listed at 6-foot-4, while White is 5-11 — the two shortstops have a critical common trait, according to UA hitting coach Toby DeMello.

“You have confidence to the point of arrogance, and you gotta flirt with that line,” DeMello said. “It's important. Mason and I have a really good relationship. We also banter, we argue, because of that. He's confident, and Cash has that same ... it's like, right there.

“He’s a wild mustang, man. I think he's got a chance to be really, really good. He's gonna make some crazy plays. He's gonna make some mistakes.”

Brennan is one of four freshmen playing regularly, along with first baseman Tony Lira, infielder Nate Novitske and outfielder Caleb Danzeisen. Arizona’s regular center fielder is sophomore Carson McEntire, who appeared in 26 games (11 starts) at Oregon State last year. One of the Wildcats’ two catchers is sophomore Roman Meyers, who redshirted as a freshman at Long Beach State and spent last season at a junior college.

“You gotta trust your development process with them,” DeMello said. “Unfortunately, when you’re playing (so many young players), you’re going to take those growing pains at times. To see the progression, sometimes they gotta make mistakes. They gotta learn from them.

“We just have to stay the course. If you focus on the right things, the winning eventually comes.”

More elbow issues

Injuries continue to mount for the UA pitching staff.

Left-hander Mason Russell is the latest to be sidelined because of an elbow issue, in his case, a strained UCL. Right-handers Tony Pluta and Nolan Straniero are out for the season because of UCL tears.

Russell, the highest-ranked prospect in Arizona’s 2024 signing class, has been plagued by injuries since arriving on campus. Russell pitched well in three relief appearances this season (2.25 ERA), but his velocity was down.

Although multiple pitchers have gotten hurt since fall — including right-handers Garrett Hicks, who’s back, and JT Drake, who’s nearing a return — Hale doesn’t believe it has anything to do with Arizona’s throwing program. It remained basically the same after Sean Kenny took over for John DeRouin as pitching coach in late December.

Hale attributed Pluta and Hicks’ injuries to an accumulation of innings over the past few seasons. Straniero felt something in his elbow and tried to push through it.

“(He) didn't let anybody know,” Hale said. “That's a tough one, because I think we could have saved him before surgery and done another rehab and he would have been really helpful at the end of the year.”

The injuries have depleted Arizona’s bullpen depth and made midweek games particularly challenging. The Wildcats might have used Hicks and/or another veteran at the end of Tuesday’s game. Instead, they pitched freshmen Benton Hickman and Jack Lafflam. They combined to allow three runs (two earned) as the Sun Devils pulled away.

“We have to make decisions based on, No. 1, their health; that's the most important thing in my mind,” Hale said. “And then what's best for the team and the weekend. So if we get into a situation where we're pitching guys that haven't pitched a whole lot, you'll know that it's probably because we need to save (the veterans) for the weekend.”

Why not Geile?

Five UA position players have yet to play in a game this season. One of them, second-year outfielder Gunner Geile, made 16 starts in 2025.

Geile was supposed to redshirt last season, but he was pressed into duty when Brendan Summerhill got hurt. Geile and Hale agreed before this season that if Geile wasn’t playing regularly, he would use his redshirt this year.

Geile remains on track to do that, although Hale said Geile was close to being inserted into the lineup Tuesday when left fielder Andrew Cain was experiencing pain in his hand.

“If he's not able to play, you may be pushed into action here,” Hale told Geile. “We have to do what we have to do.”

Cain ended up playing through it. TJ Adams typically has been the first player off the bench in Arizona’s injury-depleted outfield. Beau Sylvester, a primary catcher, and Jackson Forbes, a primary infielder, have also started in left.

Inside pitch

– DeMello believes second baseman Tyler Bickers, who’s batting .207, has been the victim of bad luck. Bickers has a team-high 26.3% line-drive rate, per D1Baseball, while his BABIP (batting average on balls in play) of .263 is among the lowest. Bickers has drawn eight walks and has a .395 on-base percentage.

– Utah opened its new stadium, America First Ballpark, last Friday with a victory over Grand Canyon. The 3,000-seat stadium features views of the Wasatch Mountains. It also has an all-turf field, which the Wildcats planned to test during practice Thursday.

– Utah is one of two Big 12 teams with fewer home runs than Arizona. The UA has 11, UCF has eight and Utah has seven. The Utes have excelled on the mound, posting a 3.78 ERA that ranks third in the conference. Friday starter Colter McAnelly has a 2.70 ERA and 22 strikeouts in 20 innings.

– The Big 12 has approved the use of tablets in the dugout. They were supposed to be available Tuesday, but ASU’s weren’t working. Same-day video and ball-and-strike calls are not accessible during games.