2017 Perfect Game High School Preview Index
No. 4 Chaparral Firebirds (Scottsdale, Ariz.)
State Association/League: Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) D-I /5A Northeast Valley League
Head Coach: Sam Messina (7th year as head coach)
2016 Results: 24-10 overall, 7-3 Section III; AIA Division I state final four
Key Losses: LHP/1B/OF Alex Segal (Wichita State); OF Dylan Cole; CIF Harrison Jones; PF Dylan Cole
Top Returning Players: Sr. CIF Jacob Gonzalez (Texas Christian); S. OF/1B Blake Paugh (Arizona); Sr. RHP Casey Candiotti (St. Mary’s); Sr. MIF Ian McMillan (Yavapai College); Sr. RHP/1B Colby Davis (Yavapai College); Sr. OF Gianni Tomasi; Sr. OF Tyler Stokes (NW Florida State College); Sr. MIF/RHP Drew Wayland; Sr. LHP Ryan Jimerson; Sr. RHP/1B Ben Kirke (Grand Canyon); Jr. OF/RHP Griffin Hampton
Notable Matchups: Feb. 22-25 vs. Scottsdale Invitational Tournament; March 11-15 vs. Best of the West Tournament; March 30-April 24 vs. Power Point/Region opponents
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THE ARIZONA INTERSCHOLASTIC ASSOCIATION (AIA) SEEDS ITS 16-TEAM Division I (large school) playoffs 1 through 16, stages eight play-in games, four first-round playoff games and six consolation bracket contests. It’s a format that provides a team that loses in one of the early rounds a bit of a safety net and gives them a second chance at reaching the championship game.
In 2016, No. 6-seeded Hamilton High School incurred a semifinal loss to No. 5 Mountain Ridge, went down and beat No. 4 Sandra Day O’Connor in the consolation bracket final, and then bounced back up and gained revenge on Mountain Ridge with a 12-3 triumph that claimed the state championship.
Armed with a roster that included only three prominent seniors but what seemed like a battalion of rising junior prospects (class of 2017), the No. 14-seeded Chaparral High School Firebirds were almost able to match Hamilton’s efforts.
The ‘Birds lost a first-round game to Hamilton that sent them tumbling into the losers’ bracket, but wins over No. 7 Campo Verde and No. 8 Mountain Pointe followed; the train was ultimately derailed in a final-four loss to O’Connor.
More than eight months have passed, and those difference-making Chaparral juniors – all 10 of them – are getting ready to embark on what they hope will be very memorable senior campaigns. They return a year older and a year wiser, with much of that wisdom gained during their foray into the AIA Division I final-four last spring.
“I really think, looking back, the learning curve really started for these kids last year during our run in the state playoffs,” veteran head coach Sam Messina told Perfect Game during a recent telephone conversation. “… We lost a game to Hamilton where they came back on us, but the way our guys responded the next day and the day after that, that was the thing I was most proud about. I think those kinds of experiences will carry us into this year.”
One thing is certain: The Firebirds are not coming into the 2017 season flying beneath any radars. When they open the regular-season on Feb. 22 at home against Mesa Skyline High School and all-to-familiar senior right-hander Boyd Vander Kooi, they’ll do so as the No. 4 team in the Perfect Game High School Preseason National Top 50 Rankings.
It’s a solid, experienced and very talented collection of players who live in the cities in Phoenix’s East Valley, and who are more than happy to follow the lead of senior corner-infielder Jacob Gonzalez.
The 18-year-old Gonzalez is an alumnus of the 2016 Perfect Game All-American Classic, the 2016 PG National Showcase and more than a dozen PG WWBA tournaments while playing for his uncle Rex Gonzalez and AZ T-Rex Rawlings Baseball; he is ranked No. 43 nationally and has signed with Texas Christian. As a Chaparral junior in 2016, Gonzalez slashed .400/.536/.685 with team-highs of seven home runs and 43 RBI.
“It’s an awesome experience getting to come here and play with your buddies from your school, the guys you get to see every day,” Gonzalez told PG when asked about the high school baseball experience before a Chaparral game last March. “It’s a little bit different from travel ball in the fact that you play one or two games a week, and you have a lot more energy.
“Your whole school comes and supports you and it’s a pretty cool experience,” he said. “You’re representing your school every day and that’s just a pretty cool thing to do.”
Outfielder/first baseman Blake Paugh (No. 208-ranked, Arizona signee), outfielder Tyler Stokes (top-500, NW Florida St. College), outfielder and two-sport standout Gianni Tomasi (t-500, uncommitted) and right-hander Casey Candiotti (t-1000, St. Mary’s) are among the seemingly endless list of impact seniors on the roster. Tomasi hit .369 with a team-high 13 doubles and Stokes hit .372 and tied for the team lead with four stolen bases in 2016.
Four of the top five pitchers in terms of innings pitched are back for Messina, including (all seniors) Candiotti (39 1/3), right-hander Colby Davis (31 2/3), right-hander Drew Wayland (24 1/3) and left-hander Ryan Jimerson (24 1/3).
“It’s a good group – we’re very senior dominated – and they’re good kids. They know how to work and they know how to compete,” Messina said. “It’s their team, and like I told them the other day when we were starting to get ready for things, I said, ‘You take ownership of this. This is your program.’
“I feel very comfortable with this group of seniors that we have because they’re just good kids and they’re very blessed to be good baseball players as well.”
The presence of the seniors Gonzalez and Candiotti certainly lends a unique dynamic to the team, giving the Firebirds a very professional feel in their dugout and in the stands. Jacob Gonzalez is the son of former 19-year big-leaguer Luis Gonzalez, one of the many heroes of the Arizona Diamondbacks’ 2001 World Series Championship; Casey Candiotti is the son of former 16-year MLB right-hander and renowned knuckle-baller Tom Candiotti.
The men can be found at most of the Firebirds’ February and March games when their jobs with the Diamondbacks don't keep them away. Luis Gonzalez is a senior adviser to the President and CEO while Tom Candiotti is an analyst on the Dbacks’ radio network.
“From a selfish point of view, you do feel good that they trust their sons in your care, and that you’re going to treat them right and you’re going to take care of them; I’m honored that that’s the case, there’s no doubt,” Messina said of the two dads. “And those two young men, in particular – Jacob and Casey – they’re much better kids than they are even players; they’re terrific individuals.”
Additionally, junior outfielder/right-hander Griffin Hampton is the son of the 16-year big-league veteran left-hander Mike Hampton. The younger Hampton hit .339 in 25 games as a sophomore last spring, but is willing to defer to the seniors this spring before he becomes a team leader in 2018.
In another interesting twist, Rex Gonzalez – Luis’ brother and Jacob’s uncle – will serve as Chaparral’s hitting coach this spring. Rex Gonzalez will be taking over the managing duties of the powerhouse Dbacks Scout Team travel ball program this summer while keeping T-Rex Rawlings Baseball alive for underclass players.
At least nine of these Firebirds’ players were on T-Rex Baseball squads this past summer. That number includes Gonzalez, Jimerson, Paugh, Tomasi and Ben Kirke, all of whom were on the T-Rex team that won the prestigious 17u PG World Series national championship in Mesa in July; Skyline’s Vander Kooi was named the event’s Most Valuable Pitcher throwing for T-Rex Rawlings.
John Flores, who served as the pitching coach at the University of Utah in the late 1990s and early 2000s, will be the team’s pitching coach.
Chaparral High School opened in the fall of 1972 but didn’t play its first varsity baseball schedule until the spring of 1974; the program wasted no time in establishing itself under the direction of legendary head coach Jerry Dawson.
He was the only baseball coach the school had until his retirement at the end of the 2010 campaign after 37 years and eight AIA state championships. Messina, Dawson’s long-time assistant coach, took over in 2011 and promptly led the Firebirds to AIA state titles in 2011 and 2012.
During his recent conversation with PG, Messina admitted that he found winning ballgames to be a lot of fun but the thing he enjoys the most is simply being around young people. He gets as much satisfaction out of his job as a math teacher as he does from his coaching gig and feels both his players and his students deserve his best effort at all times.
He called the teaching and coaching experiences “special” because he’s been put in a position where he can share his knowledge and wisdom, and then is able to sit back and watch those young people develop and expand their horizons. Here, in early February, he’s able to do that in the classroom. And, very soon, he’ll be back out on the field guiding a very talented and experienced team through a difficult schedule as it seeks yet another Arizona state championship.
AIA Division I teams play in early regular-season tournaments before moving on to 18 “Power-Point” games that ultimately determine whether a team qualifies for the state playoffs. The Firebirds face the other four teams from the Northeast Valley League – Arcadia, North Canyon, Notre Dame and Paradise Valley – in their final 11 Power Point games March 30-April 24. Fasten those seat belts.
“You don’t ever try to get too focused on your results and I believe that if (the players) go out and they work hard each day and do what they’re supposed to do, I think (a deep run into the playoffs) will come,” Messina said. “There are expectations and I think we all understand what those are, and I believe our guys and our coaching staff are ready to meet those expectations.
“I’ve been here for a while and we’ve had some excellent teams in the past, and I think this team has the makings of that,” he concluded. “I would expect us to have a very competitive, very good year, and it’s exciting; we’re looking forward to it.”