Brad Cesmat
Roch Cholowsky came onto my radar back in 2020 through a text from Hamilton High School quarterback coach Jeremy Kitamura. “Hey, you should stop by a practice sometime to see Roch, he’s special.” It only took a few throws from the kid before I said, “Wow”. At that point, Jeremy said to me, “he’s one of the elite baseball prospects in the country”. Fast-forward to this morning at Trophy Bar in Chandler, where an overflow crowd was there to see Cholowsky selected as the top pick in the Major League Baseball Draft by the Chicago White Sox.
2026 MLB No. 1 Pick Roch Cholowsky staying where his feet are at
Pretty cool that Roch is a 1-1 player for Arizona. Auston Matthews was a 1-1 kid from Arizona in the 2016 NHL Draft. I am sure I’m missing some names and am expecting to get crushed by some of you for forgetting…
The Cardinals would be smart to hire Jody Jackson as their new play-by-play voice. She’s done NFL sideline reporting nationally(the pic above). She knows football and has covered the Cardinals for years. She’s done football play-by-play and is highly regarded within the Arizona broadcast and corporate community. Her longtime hard work around the Cardinals should make her a strong consideration…
Hey, it’s almost the start of YOUR Super Cardinals training camp, and here’s a shocker: the quarterback room has controversy, turmoil, and frustration. As sure as the sun rises, YOUR hometown heroes on the gridiron have an unhappy quarterback. I’ve learned over my 32 years here in the Valley that July and August shows will include lengthy questions about Cardinal quarterbacks(as will November, December, January, February, March, etc). Every so often, they actually figure it out for a few years(Jake Plummer, Kurt Warner, Carson Palmer). I wouldn’t put Kyler Murray in that class of “figuring it out”. When you’re a 1-1 in the NFL Draft, you don’t have a 38-48 record and fatigue the fan base for the final three years. I was a fan of Josh McCown and his grit, but by that point, I had grown tired of the turnstile going round and round with no end in sight. Matt Leinart walked into a media availability in Flagstaff, and I was listening to a guy who sounded like football was kinda, sorta, something to do…He didn’t last…When I interviewed Kurt Warner and mentioned how the Cardinals took him off the scrap heap of the New York Giants, he bristled (as he should’ve), which showed me he wanted to compete. There was no question who the quarterback was going to be. Fans made it through the Derek Anderson, Kevin Kolb, John Skelton, Ryan Lindley, and Brian Hoyer era to get to Carson Palmer. Since then, we’ve been “treated” to seasons with Josh Rosen and then Murray. If you are defending the local pro football team for this room, then I would say you’re getting a check from the team in some capacity or are a die-hard fan… and you’ve DIED HARD many times…
All four of our kids played youth soccer, three of them played club, and one of them went on to play in college. My wife coached club girls, so my lens on soccer is pretty good. The money grab of Club sports is as bad as it’s ever been. A dad sent me a text this morning: “I’m at a club basketball tournament in Anaheim, spending $1,500 for 3, maybe 4 games.” This is not normal behavior, but in the world of club sports, it is the way of doing business. Making money off parents is nothing new in the club sports world; it’s just now been amplified by FOMO (Fear of missing out). I’ve been advising parents on this “sh&t show” for a while now. Some of them have blown up their marriages, estranged from the kid, 2nd-mortgaged the house to pay for club travel/dues, specialty training, speed training, and are basically consumed (Crazy) with holding their teenage kids’ hands through sports, but not really caring one lick about grades or whether the kid even likes the sport. When a parent leads with, “We are only open for Power 4 offers,” then I know they are 1-1 on the crazy side. Doesn’t matter what I show or say; they don’t care. Most of them flame out…
Dropping in on a screening of “The Odyssey” on Monday. I’m a fan of Matt Damon, not so much of a fan of the movie’s 2:52 runtime(though Oppenheimer ran 3:00).
There comes a point where a pro sports franchise needs to blow up the current model and start a new era. Great franchises don’t stay down for long; they may have a dip, but they can bounce right back to contenders. I’ve already gone down the path of the Suns and the post-Booker era, but this rant is about the Diamondbacks. Ken Kendrick and Derrick Hall have been steady in keeping a playoff-contending team on the field, and I 
appreciate that. In most MLB cities, you only get bites at the Apple every so often. We had a World Series team here just three years ago, and the last two have been in postseason contention down to the final days of the regular season. But the product has grown stale. When I watch Jake McCarthy in Colorado, I wonder why he was the odd man out. I see Ketel Marte jog to first base on a ground ball out or the endless hope of Pavin Smith coming through, which never happened. I’m guessing there’s a frequent-flyer program coming out of Reno. We have seen more call-ups and send-downs than I can remember. Guys like Tawa, Troy, Waldschmidt, Groover, Jose Fernandez, and Del Castillo have shown their wares to other major league teams. Is this management’s way to put together something major by the trade deadline? You can go down the path of injuries and bad luck for only so long before fans start to wonder what the future will look like. If you’re a fan of the Angels, you’ve had an owner who simply doesn’t care about winning. How else do you let Ohtani out the door and waste Mike Trout’s best years? In San Diego, you have sooooo much money tied up in Machado and Tatis, and the Padres are closer to last than first in the NL West. I’d like to see a reset here, and I don’t believe that the manager is the reason. The fact is that Torey was dealt this deck of cards by the GM, who’s had his share of hits and misses. Look at the St. Louis Cardinals as an example of what MIGHT need to happen here in Arizona. John Mozeliak was viewed as one of the best in the business for 18 years as the GM and President of Baseball Operations for the Cardinals. He built a franchise that posted 15 consecutive winning seasons and then stepped away, only to come up for air with the Angels recently. Perhaps a new architect is needed? …
