Former Arizona baseball star Alfonso Rivas to make MLB debut with Cubs

The Arizona Wildcats have produced another major league baseball player.

Alfonso Rivas III, a member of the UA’s 2016 College World Series squad, has been called up by the Chicago Cubs. He is not in the starting lineup for the Cubs’ game Saturday night at the rival Chicago White Sox, but when he makes his first appearance he’ll be the third former Wildcat to make his MLB debut this season.

The 24-year-old Rivas, a left-handed hitting first baseman, was hitting .284 with four home runs and 32 RBI in 58 games for Triple-A Iowa. He was a fourth-round pick of the Oakland Athletics in the 2018 MLB Draft before getting traded to the Cubs in 2020.

Rivas played for the UA from 2016-18, hitting .323 with 15 homers during his career. As a freshman in 2016 he appeared in 55 games, making 47 starts in the field and 18 appearances as a relief pitcher, recording two saves during the Wildcats’ run to the CWS championship series.

The other ex-UA players to make their big league debuts this year are pitchers Tyler Megill (New York Mets) and Konner Wade (Baltimore Orioles). Megill is 1-3 with a 4.07 ERA in 12 starts for the Mets since getting called up in late June, while Wade has made five appearances over two stints with the Orioles.