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:
Opening Day starter Tylor Megill highlights list of ex-Cats, locals in bigsSix 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.
• 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. • One of Andy Lopez’s final recruits at Arizona, Pirates shortstop Kevin Newman, is working to improve on last season’s .226 batting average. • 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.
• 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. Tucson's Mack Rhoades, Arizona's Dave Heeke sign ink extensionsYou 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.
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. Joe McLean specializes in financial adviceArizona junior center Christian Koloko and perhaps even sophomore guard Dalen Terry might be wise to have a conference with ex-Wildcat guard Joe McLean 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.
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