Although he was the starting right fielder as a sophomore, Mingus Union High School baseball player Justin Tanner’s junior season was likely not going to be the breakout season in which he led the team in some key statistics.
Tanner might have still turned in the same numbers, but given the senior-heavy talent on the Marauders’ roster at the start of the year, they also might have gone unnoticed. What he ended up with was impossible to ignore.
Tanner had a Grand Canyon Region-leading 1.07 ERA and team-leading five wins on the mound en route to a First Team All-Grand Canyon Region pitching selection in 2018.
“It’s huge. He gets first team all-region as a pitcher as a junior, it completely changes the whole dynamic for the next year,” Mingus head coach Erick Quesada said. “I’m beyond excited to have him on our staff and everything on our team next year. The sky’s the limit for his true potential, and hopefully he still rides with me and I can get him to places he’s only dreamed of.”
Tanner’s ERA was sixth best in all of Conference 4A as well, in close to 33 innings of work. After the departure of a handful of those seniors, who would have gotten starts on the bump, Tanner became Mingus’ ace. He led them to victory against five region foes: Bradshaw Mountain High School, Flagstaff High School, Mohave High School, Coconino High School and Prescott High School.
Three were complete games. One of them was against Prescott, a shutout in a pitcher’s duel against the Badgers’ ace, senior Kody Jones, that Mingus won 1-0.
“I feel like I played pretty good. There are some parts of my game I could have worked on obviously, but I feel like it was an overall success,” Tanner said. “I feel like I could’ve worked on 0-2 counts, 2-0 counts.”
With only 26 strikeouts against 147 batters faced, he had a defense that made the plays behind him. The Marauders had two First Team All-Grand Canyon Region position player selections in senior Jordan Huey, who played outfield and first base as well as pitched, and senior shortstop Skylar Waynick. Senior Tyre Kim, who played catcher and second base, and junior Chris Mathe, who played second and third base, earned Second Team honors. Senior Justin Link caught during most of the second half of the year, and earned an Honorable Mention pick.
“Usually when they hit the ball it wasn’t very hard it was either a pop up or a grounder and I was able to trust my defense,” said Tanner, who also played outfield.
Tanner moved up to bat in the clean up spot, and made the most of it. His .411 batting average was second on the team, to Huey’s .500. He led the team in RBI [28] — third most in the region — and tied with Huey for most runs scored [27] on the team.
“[His performance was] massive. He would set the tone for pitching and then he’d come in, and it wasn’t unlikely that he hit a two-run double or something like that,” Quesada said. “It’s just how he is, he’s a competitor and he’s a gamer, and he’s an all-around great baseball player and a great person.”
Tanner, who also plays on the Marauders golf team in the fall, was unsure if he would play travel ball over the summer, but was certain he will work during the offseason to improve on those numbers for his final year wearing the red and white.
“I kind of expected it,” Tanner said. “I expect myself to do better and improve and work over the summer and do my best to get better.”
The only difference is that since he will be a senior, he will be counted on to put up those numbers.
