University of Arizona lose numbers to local community colleges
                                                         
By Alexis Bergelt, March 2010
Staff Writer

Since 2008, more than seven University of Arizona players have transferred to instate community colleges, and they believe it is becoming a trend among Wildcat players.

Michael Planeta, a former Wildcat player, transferred to Mesa Community College in the spring of 2009. He says that he thinks players like him are leaving because coaches at the state universities don’t spend enough time developing their young players.
“They just focus on the seniority of players,” says Planeta. Former players believe this could be a contributing factor to the Wildcats going 13-14 last season.

Former player Mikey Ciombor, now a Paradise Valley Community College Puma, believes that this could be what is lacking in U of A’s training skills. He says that you need the best-trained players to win games, and they aren’t cutting it. Since Planeta and Ciombor’s transfers, there’s been five to join them at local community colleges, ultimately, they say, giving them the exposure they need for the pro scouts.

The most recent to join the PVCC Pumas is Kyle Stiner. Stiner transferred in spring 2010 from U of A to play baseball. Stiner said that the cause for his transfer was “a conflict with coaching.” Stiner commented that this was a personal problem.

In the 2010 pre-season rankings, Arizona does not rank high, so far. Ciombar believes that this is due to coaching mistakes. Ciombar is happy that he has moved to the PVCC Pumas because they are the top-ranked team in their division, and this will give him the exposure he needs to advance.

When the former players were asked if they would have chosen a different path when choosing a college in the first place to play baseball, two-thirds of them said they would. Michael Planeta said he enjoyed the university experience as a social environment but he would have gone straight to community college if he had known it would turn out this way. He would have gotten more experience and training at Mesa before the first season in college and would have learned more as a player.

University of Arizona has lost seven players. They are also losing the games that are costing them the high rankings this season.