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The NCAA Baseball Tournament begins Friday, and for the first time since Chip Hale returned to his alma mater it won’t include Arizona.
The Wildcats had one of the worst seasons in school history, losing their most games in more than 30 years and failing to even reach the Big 12 tourney. It was a massive backslide from 2025, when the UA won 44 games and reached the College World Series.
Injuries played a huge role in the results, as did inexperience and a lack of production from veteran hitters. It was evident that a roster overhaul was needed, and so far seven players have announced their intentions to transfer with many more expected to do so when the NCAA transfer portal officially opens on Monday.
But rather than call it a rebuild, Hale considers what he’s undertaking this offseason a partial restart of the program and partial reset.
“I think we need to change some things,” Hale said Thursday. “Unfortunately, I had to let go of Toby (DeMello), our hitting coach. After five years I kind of wanted to flip it. He did a great job, we went to Omaha, and this year was just such a different down year for us on the offensive side, that I kind of wanted to flip the script and use Hi Corbett to our advantage.”
Hale said he’s looking for a sitting college hitting coach/offensive coordinator, one who can take advantage of the massive dimensions at Hi Corbett Field and employ a “low and hard” philosophy at the plate that hunts extra-base hits over home runs. Arizona hit 15 triples in 2026, which currently is tied for 41st in Division I, but last season its 36 3-baggers were seven more than any other team, and the Wildcats have been no worse than fifth nationally in that category since 2019.
“There’s more grass on this field than any field in the country, so let’s take advantage,” Hale said.
Hale wants to get that hire made as soon as possible, in order to have them be involved in recruiting hitters from the portal, and an announcement could come early next week.
“I’ve talked a number of people, and I have a pretty good idea, but we got to let the season end for these other teams,” Hale said. “He may still be coaching.”
That’s the restart part. The reset comes from getting back some of the key players who were lost before or during the 2025 season due to injury. That includes closer Tony Pluta, fellow reliever JT Drake and position players Easton Breyfogle and Gavin Triezenberg.
“And then also really important, reset through the portal and find some guys who have pitched important innings, and also fill some holes on the offensive side,” Hale said. “Obviously we feel like we need to be more athletic up the middle, especially, so we’ll look for some guys that can set the table a little bit for some of the guys we gave a lot of at bats to.”
Hale said his main offensive priority is to find a leadoff man who can “be a pest.” Arizona used six different batters in the No. 1 spot, most frequently Nate Novitske, compared to 2025 when Brendan Summerhill was locked into that role when healthy and the 2021 team had Donta’ Williams drawing walks and getting hit by pitches.
The Wildcats will also be looking for at least two potential weekend starting pitchers, with Hale saying he projects having room for seven portal additions with an emphasis on plug-and-play over depth.
“If you’re bringing them in, you’re not bringing them in to sit on the bench,” he said.
While Hale has a good idea of which players will be back next season, nothing is certain until the portal closes June 30. That means he’s got just over a month left to stress over potentially losing Smith Bailey to another program.
“All indications are that he wants to come back and be a Wildcat,” he said of Bailey, who was the Friday night starter as a sophomore and has started 31 games in two seasons including the Big 12 title game, regional final, Super Regional clincher and a World Series elimination game. “He wants to be a part of changing it and flipping the script for this thing. But again, I won’t be comfortable with anybody that’s here until June 30, and the portal closes.”
Bailey, who was pulled from his last start May 2 at Kansas because of shoulder discomfort but had a clean MRI, will not compete in summer ball. That eliminates the possibility of teammates on a summer team talking him into entering the portal.
First-year college position players combined for 204 starts for the UA in 2025, with first baseman Tony Lira the only Wildcat to play and start every game. He led the team in most offensive categories and will be part of the nucleus of next year’s team along with fellow underclassmen Cash Brennan, Caleb Danzeisen and Novitske. Finding the best position for those other three will be imperative, Hale said.
There’s also the incoming recruiting class, which Hale is very high on. Infielders Ayden Deome and Lyndon Lee could both contribute immediately, while catchers Cooper Kruk and Francisco Rivero will compete to back up or platoon with Beau Sylvester.
If there’s inspiration needed for what Arizona is hoping to accomplish next season look no further than UCLA. The Bruins went 19-33 in 2024 with a young, injury-plagued roster that missed the Pac-12 Tournament but a year later reached the College World Series and this season is the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tourney.
“I would hope that’s who we are, that’d be great,” Hale said.”I would take that, and that was part of our thinking when we went to the young group, like let’s let them make their mistakes now, let’s embrace the suck, let’s do all the things we talk about, and maybe three or four of these guys are our key contributors.”
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