Arizona Desert Swarm: All Posts by Jason Bartel

MLB Draft 2013: Brandon Dixon, Johnny Field, Konner Wade sign with MLB clubs

2013-06-14T03:44:03Z

Not shocking, but Brandon Dixon, Johnny Field, and Konner Wade have now all officially played their last game in an Arizona Wildcat uniform.

Dixon, who was drafted in the third round by the Los Angeles Dodgers with the 92nd overall pick signed to a $566,500 bonus. It appears the Dodgers are going to try and put him in left field. He never played the outfield in his time at U of A, but one thing's for sure, they drafted him for his bat, not his glove.

Got my first job and became a college dropout in the same day #Dodgers #Makingmoves
— Brandon Dixon (@BDixon_22) June 13, 2013

#Dodgers ink 3rd-rder Brandon Dixon for $566,500. Arizona 3B, game-winning hit in 2012 CWS, has raw power, could be LF. #mlbdraft
— Jim Callis (@jimcallisBA) June 14, 2013

Field, who went in the fifth round to the Tampa Bay Rays, signed a $250,000 bonus as the 158th overall pick. Field will also be switching positions as the Rays made sure he was announced as a second baseman during the draft process.

#Rays ink 5th-rder Johnny Field for $250k. Arizona OF will convert to 2B, has line-drive bat, most of value is bat, 2012 CWS champ #mlbdraft
— Jim Callis (@jimcallisBA) June 13, 2013

Off to Tampa ✈
— Johnny Field (@JohnnyField1) June 11, 2013

Konner Wade actually signed first out of the trio of Cats. Even though his draft stock dropped a ton this year, the Colorado Rockies picked him up in the seventh round with the 199th overall pick. Wade's bonus ended up being $198,500.

#Rockies sign 7th-rder Konner Wade for $198,500. Arizona RHP & 2012 CWS hero, stuff backed up this yr, solid FB & CH when at best. #mlbdraft
— Jim Callis (@jimcallisBA) June 10, 2013

So with these signings, there are still three Wildcats left unsigned, the most intriguing of them being James Farris. Farris was taken in the 15th round by the Houston Astros. If he comes back, he has a chance to greatly improve his draft stock for next year, and have the chance to lead a loaded Arizona team back to the College World Series.

Nick Cunningham (20th round, Baltimore Orioles) and Augey Bill (39th round, Baltimore Orioles) also remain unsigned.

Two other names for Wildcat fans to keep an eye on. Two incoming recruits from California were drafted in a weird spot in the draft. Vista HS product Billy Roth was taken in the 16th round by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Here's his scouting video:

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Also, Willie Calhoun from Benicia HS (CA) was drafted in the 17th round by the Tampa Bay Rays. Roth is more of an instant impact guy than Calhoun, but still need some help in the infield with Dixon going to the Dodgers and Joseph Maggi still looking to move to the outfield. Here's Calhoun's draft video:

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Last thing to keep in mind with possible recruits coming in. They'll see how much Brandon Dixon improved in 2013 from 2012 and how that turned out for him. And they'll know that Jackson Willeford, who was drafted in the 12th round by the Kansas City Royals last year still came to Tucson.

MLB Draft 2013: Konner Wade taken in seventh round by Colorado Rockies

2013-06-07T20:30:29Z

The Colorado Rockies picked Junior right-hander Konner Wade with the 199th overall pick in the seventh round of the 2013 MLB Draft. The last Wildcat to be picked by the Rockies was Steve Selsky, who was picked in the 34th round of the 2010 Draft. Selsky now currently plays for the Bakersfield Blaze in the Cincinnati Reds organization.

Konner struggled his junior year after having a great sophomore year, in which he was arguably the best pitcher in the 2012 tournament run for Arizona.

Wade will finally be leaving the state of Arizona after going to Chaparral HS in Scottsdale before heading south to Tucson for college ball. He was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 35th round of the 2010 draft.

He earned a weekend rotation spot halfway through his freshman year, and kept himself there for the rest of his three years, including being the Friday night starter this year.

"I expected a lot more out of myself and the way I performed....I feel like I wasn't as much of a leader as I should have been."

Two weeks ago, Wade left the door open to a possibility of returning. Being taken in the seventh round should mean that he will not be back for his senior year to redeem himself though.

The Rockies rookie league affiliate is the Grand Junction Rockies. The short-season single-A affiliate is the Tri-City Dust Devils in Pasco, WA.

College Stats:

Year	ERA	W	L	App	GS	CG	SHO	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	2B	3B	HR	Opp BA	WP	HBP
2011	3.21	3	0	17	8	0	0	61.2	56	23	22	19	28	10	1	3	.251	4	5
2012	3.96	11	3	21	19	6	1	136.1	121	72	60	37	105	19	5	4	.237	1	24
2013	4.30	5	6	15	15	1	0	104.2	120	63	50	24	64	11	8	5	.290	7	14

MLB Draft 2013: Tampa Bay Rays: Johnny Field selected in fifth round

2013-06-07T19:29:45Z

With the 158th overall pick, the Tampa Bay Rays selected Junior outfielder Johnny Field.

The Rays made sure to list him as a second baseman though, which is not surprising at all.

Field played outfield all three years in Tucson after going to high school at Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas, NV.

But he definitely does not project as a big league outfielder, and it appears the Rays will be trying him out at second base.

2B! Haha atta boy @johnnyfield1 !
— Mathew Troupe (@MathewTroupe) June 7, 2013

Unlike Brandon Dixon, Johnny Field was a three-year starter for the Wildcats, winning the PAC-12 batting title in 2012, and being a Golden Spikes semifinalist in 2013. Field has been great all three years for the Wildcats, and should transition to second base very quickly.

Field will follow in the footsteps of former teammate Joey Rickard to the Rays. Rickard was drafted in the ninth round of the 2012 draft by Tampa Bay.

The Rays have a rookie league affiliate in Port Charlotte, FL as well as affiliates in the Princeton Rays and the Hudson Valley Renegades.

College Stats:

Year	Avg.	GP	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SLG%	BB	HBP	SO	OB%	SB	ATT	A	E
2011	.297	52	46	175	35	52	15	5	3	32	.491	17	5	22	.368	4	6	2	3
2012	.370	65	65	257	72	95	18	7	3	44	.529	43	11	28	.476	11	19	10	2
2013	.347	55	55	222	58	77	11	7	5	39	.527	25	7	22	.424	16	22	0	3

MLB Draft 2013: Los Angeles Dodgers: Brandon Dixon selected with 92nd Overall Pick

2013-06-07T18:03:15Z

So off to the Dodgers for Brandon Dixon.

Dixon was taken in the third round by LA, 92nd overall in the 2013 MLB Draft.

So excited to see what God has in store as a Dodger#startedfromthebottom
— Brandon Dixon (@BDixon_22) June 7, 2013

This is the first time since 2008 that a Wildcat has been drafted in the first three rounds. That 2008 draft class had two first-rounders in Daniel Schlereth (No. 26 to the Arizona Diamondbacks) and Ryan Perry (No. 21 to the Detroit Tigers).

A year ago, there is no way anyone would have expected Dixon to go so high. But an off-season full of laser eye surgery and a ton of hard work turned him into the PAC-12 batting champ, finishing the year with a .369 batting average, 51 RBI, 57 runs scored and 30 stolen bases.

In 2012, he split time with Joseph Maggi at first base, hitting just .245 in 155 at-bats.

But in the College World Series, he hit a game-winning double, which seemed to have jump started his baseball career.

The Dodgers have a Rookie League affiliate in Glendale in the AZL Dodgers, but also have a short-season affiliate with the Ogden Raptors, and their Low-A affiliate is the Great Lakes Loons. As the third round pick, I would expect Dixon to start in Ogden.

College Stats:

Year	Avg.	GP	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SLG%	BB	HBP	SO	OB%	SB	ATT	A	E
2011	.200	13	1	10	1	2	0	0	0	1	.200	2	0	6	.333	0	0	1	0
2012	.245	62	38	155	30	38	9	0	1	14	.323	12	7	34	.326	8	12	26	3
2013	.369	55	55	214	57	79	13	5	6	51	.561	21	12	35	.443	30	37	83	15

Arizona Stadium Videos and Pictures

2013-06-06T17:29:01Z

Arizona Stadium Videos and Pictures

Updates on the artificial turf and Lowell-Stevens football facility

MLB Draft: Checking in on 2012 Arizona Wildcats Draftees

2013-06-05T20:53:27Z

With the 2013 MLB Draft this week, and no Arizona baseball Super Regional appearance this year, here's a look at how the stars from the 2012 Wildcats are doing in the Minor Leagues this year:

Kurt Heyer: Palm Beach Cardinals (St. Louis Cardinals High-A affiliate)

In the 2012 MLB Draft, Kurt Heyer was selected in the 6th round by the St. Louis Cardinals. He went on to pitch in two games each for the Rookie League GCL Cardinals, and Short-season A Batavia Muckdogs.

Heyer started this year in Low-A with the Peoria Chiefs, where he went 3-2 with a 3.40 ERA in 8 starts. Today, he was actually named to the Midwest League All-Star team even though he does not currently pitch in the MWL.

Thanks to everyone for the wishes. I hope to keep throwing low strikes #palmbeach #redbirds
— Kurt Wolfgang Heyer (@KurtHeyer) May 26, 2013

On May 29th, he made his first start with the Palm Beach Cardinals, where he gave up just two earned runs over six innings. He followed that up with a three inning start where he gave up four earned runs.

Florida is the worst place to get shower sweats #godhelpme
— Kurt Wolfgang Heyer (@KurtHeyer) June 2, 2013

Alex Mejia: Palm Beach Cardinals (St. Louis Cardinals High-A affiliate)

Yes, Mejia and Heyer are still teammates. Right after it was announced Heyer was being promoted, the Cardinals moved Mejia up as well to reunite the former Wildcats in Florida.

My buddy Alex Mejia is coming to join me. I guess there are just some people you can't get away from #bff
— Kurt Wolfgang Heyer (@KurtHeyer) May 28, 2013

Mejia was drafted in the fourth round by the Cardinals in 2012, where he went straight to Batavia. In 23 games, he batted just .250 and struck out 13 times before suffering a torn ACL on July 30th.

2013 has been more successful so far for Mejia. In Peoria, he played in 40 games, batted .281, and drove in 13 runs. He also picked up two triples, which came in the same game on May 12th at the Quad City River Bandits. Two weeks later, he was promoted to Palm Beach.

In High-A, he has played in six games so far, but has only picked up one hit.

Robert Refsnyder: Tampa Yankees (New York Yankees High-A affiliate)

Refsnyder was drafted in the fifth round by the Yankees in 2012 after catching the final out of the college baseball season. He was assigned to Low-A Charleston, where he hit .241 in 46 games.

He started 2013 on the same club, but spent just 13 games there as he started the year hitting .370! He was then promoted to High-A Tampa. In 42 games in Tampa, he is batting .294, but his on-base percentage is .412 thanks to 27 walks and six hit-by-pitches.

Seth Mejias-Brean: Dayton Dragons (Cincinnati Reds Low-A affiliate)

Mejias-Brean was drafted in the 8th round of the 2012 Draft by the Reds, but has not seen quite as many promotions as some of his Wildcat teammates have.

After the draft, Mejias-Brean was sent to Rookie League Billings Mustangs, where he hit .313 and eight home runs in 46 games. This year, he has been with the Dayton Dragons all year, but has seen his batting average drop to .249, and the power numbers are not there this year either.

Joey Rickard: Bowling Green Hot Rods (Tampa Bay Rays Low-A affiliate)

Rickard has definitely seen the least amount of success out of the Wildcats' draft class of 2012. After being drafted in the ninth round by the Tampa Bay Rays, he was sent to the Short-season Hudson Valley Renegades. In Hudson Valley, he hit .279 in 47 games, and stole 11 bases.

In 2013 at Bowling Green, he has hit just .238, but has driven in 28 runs, and has a .359 on-base percentage thanks to his 29 walks drawn. He primarily plays right field, but has seen action at all the outfield spots.

So for the most part, these guys are seeing some kind of success in the minors. Heyer, Mejia and Refsnyder are definitely putting up the best stats so far, but that's to be expected from them.

The 2013 MLB Draft will see another group of Arizona Juniors picked up by teams including Brandon Dixon, Konner Wade, Johnny Field and possibly James Farris. The deal with how the draft works now is if a guy is drafted in the first ten rounds, he will most likely go pro. But after the tenth round, there is no room to negotiate a deal, and all the salaries are slotted, so it behooves players to come back for their senior year if they are not drafted in the first ten rounds. Dixon will most certainly go in the first ten rounds, and I expect Konner Wade and Johnny Field to go that high as well. Farris I don't think will, which would be great if he came back for his senior season.

Arizona Baseball: Three Wildcats named to 2013 PAC-12 all-conference baseball team

2013-05-29T23:15:41Z

Brandon Dixon, Johnny Field, and Kevin Newman were all named to the PAC-12's all-conference baseball team on Wednesday. Trent Gilbert also earned an honorable mention.

Dixon, who has also been named a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, an award given to the national collegiate player of the year, joins Arizona State's Michael Benjamin as the only third basemen on the all-conference team.

Brandon won the PAC-12 batting title in 2013, a year after Johnny Field also brought the award to Tucson, hitting .369 for the year. "He deserves it" said Andy Lopez.

"It's really cool" said Field. "Yeah, he's one of my best buds...he worked his butt off in the offseason, all fall, and really found himself this year as a player and put all of his tools together and no one deserves it more than him."

"He's the epitome of what you want" said Lopez.

Dixon had just 10 total at-bats his freshman year, and split time with Joseph Maggi at first base last year. This year, he started all 55 games at third base, drove in 51 runs and scored 57 of his own.

"The more opportunities you get the more comfortable you get." said Dixon.

"Some programs fit certain people" he continued. "I knew this program fit me even though I wasn't getting the playing time I wanted. But I knew the players that were ahead of me at that time were better than me....I didn't feel like I was getting treated unfairly."

"I definitely enjoyed the opportunity."

"I'm very blessed to have him in our program for the last few years. Good guy. Good player too. He's going to have a bright future in pro ball" Lopez said.

Johnny Field ended up finishing fifth in the PAC-12 batting race this year with a .347 batting average, and was one of four outfielders selected to the all-conference team. He hit .370 in 2012 and .297 in 2011.

Kevin Newman was one of three freshmen selected, joining Arizona State's Ryan Kellogg, and PAC-12 Freshman of the Year Andrew Moore from Oregon State. Newman hit .336, and started every single game at shortstop for his freshman year. He, Zach Gibbons, and Scott Kingery were the three freshmen that started 30+ games for the Wildcats in 2013.

"This freshman class is going to be really special" said Field. "They came in....and they did a great job, handling themselves the right way and competing really hard."

Sophomore second baseman Trent Gilbert earned an honorable mention with his .344 average, 49 RBI, and 45 runs scored.

No pitchers from the Wildcats made it, which is not how the season was supposed to shake out.

"It was a little different than I anticipated" said head coach Andy Lopez.

You can find all of the PAC-12 baseball postseason awards here.

Arizona Baseball: Wildcats left out of NCAA Baseball Tournament Field of 64

2013-05-27T16:36:59Z

In a not so surprising turn of events, the Wildcats with their 34-21 record were not included in the 2013 NCAA Tournament field.

"I'm always disappointed" said head coach Andy Lopez.

"I take full responsibility for failing them so to speak. Life's not fair sometimes."

"It is what it is" said Brandon Dixon. "I don't know how it works, it's an unfortunate situation for us."

"Not making it to our goal is obviously disappointing" Konner Wade continued.

"It's a tough moment for all of us" added Johnny Field. "We thought down the stretch we might have played well enough to sneak in there."

Field continued, "We'll come back stronger from this, everyone from the seniors to the freshmen....we'll move on from this and we'll be fine. There's no reason to look back and beat yourself up now that it's over with."

Only four PAC-12 teams made the cut, which is sort of surprising. Oregon State obtained the No. 3 National Seed, with Oregon grabbing the No. 8 slot. UCLA will also host a regional and is essentially the No. 12 National Seed. Arizona State will travel to Fullerton as the 2 seed to take on No. 5 National Seed Cal State Fullerton. The Sun Devils will face the New Mexico Lobos before having to play either the Titans or Columbia, a team Arizona split a two-game series with early in the year.

No Stanford even after they took two-of-three from UCLA this past weekend.

"We were up all last night looking into it....we thought that at least five would get in, maybe six" said Field. "It's weird seeing only four teams get in this year."

The one conference in question is the SEC, which got nine teams in the postseason field. Andy Lopez had some strong thoughts on the difference between the SEC and the PAC-12. He was the head coach at Florida from 1995-2001 before coming to U of A.

"Here's the reality of it: I lived in the Southeastern Conference seven years, and in the Southeastern Conference you get rewarded for an average year, aka Florida, and in the west coast, you don't get rewarded, you get punished. There's no way four teams from the PAC-12, shouldn't happen, come on." said Andy Lopez. "There's seven national championships in the conference" among the head coaches.

The PAC-12 also ranked third in terms of conference RPI, behind the SEC and the ACC.

"I knew when I was in the SEC, if you had an average year, you got rewarded. You can't have an average year on the west coast, you get punished."

"I really do wish the Pacific 12 were given a little more respect, and I'm not saying just in baseball." Lopez went on to talk about how Oregon won the PAC-12 basketball tournament and ended up being a 12 seed in the tournament. "Pacific 12 just does not get a lot of respect....I know the impression that was in the SEC in terms of the PAC-12, in terms of baseball, in terms of west coast."

Andy Lopez on the three factors of why the Wildcats didn't get in: "1. We're on the west coast. 2. We threw away the Stanford series. 3. We're in the PAC-12."

"Florida lost nine of their last eleven conference games. Are you kidding me? If we had lost nine of our last eleven conference games you guys would have been tearing this place down (Hi Corbett) and turning it into a Wal-Mart."

"Three series, obviously, now that it's shaken down killed us." Auburn cancelling Arizona's trip to face the Tigers after the SEC expanded to include Missouri and Texas A&M, which forced the Wildcats to host Coppin State. "And then Washington and Stanford."

The weird thing: this year's team has 34 wins in the regular season. Last year's: 38. Four wins is really the difference between hosting a regional and being out of the tournament? Really?

"I don't know, I thought 34 wins would be enough. 34 wins in the SEC you're probably hosting. 34 wins in the PAC, hey, have a nice time at your summer camps."

For the complete bracket, you can find it right now over at PerfectGame.Org