Four Gila Valley baseball coaches share long history, friendship on and off diamond

When Judd Thrower, Richy Leon, Cesar Castillo and Jeff Phelps glance at one another from across the baseball diamond, it might evoke a bit of nostalgia.

The four Gila Valley Region coaches grew up playing together locally as rivals and or teammates at these very same facilities.

And though each left town to explore other opportunities that baseball presented to them, ironically, they returned to their roots one by one, reconnecting as friends and competitors.

Leon and Thrower took control of the programs at their alma maters, Kofa and Yuma High, while Castillo, a Yuma graduate, and Phelps, a Kofa product, hold the reins at San Luis.

"It's such a neat situation when you take a step back and look at it," Thrower said. "These are all Yuma prodigies giving back to a community that gave so much to us. We're all good friends, but we're also so competitive. We don't want to lose, and we especially don't want to lose to our friends."

Off the field, the competitive nature takes a backseat to the family relationships that they share.

Leon served in Thrower's wedding a few years ago, while Castillo and Leon are neighbors. Each of their wives are pregnant.

"We just have all these connections. It's something special that we have going here," Castillo said. "Of course we want to see our teams succeed, but outside of baseball we have nothing but good relationships."

When Leon was a senior at Kofa, Phelps was a freshman. The circumstances were the same in 1998 when the two helped Arizona State University to the College World Series final, losing to the University of Southern California.

They were also roommates during road trips that year.

"We used to give each other a lot of crap," Leon said. "We had some great memories. It was a lot of fun spending time with him being from the same high school."

Phelps added that Leon blazed a trail for other Yuma area prep baseball players.

"He kind of paved the way for me a little bit," said Phelps, a first-year assistant with the Sidewinders. "He went off to ASU and had success and that opened the door for a lot of kids here."

Castillo played with Thrower at Yuma High and Arizona Western College. Thrower ended up playing NCAA Division I college ball at the University of Texas-Arlington.

"Judd was one of the best hitters I had ever seen at the junior college level," Castillo said. "That's why Yuma High is such a good-hitting ballclub, I believe. He can really teach hitting."

Castillo eventually walked-on at ASU and made the team, joining Phelps and Leon, who was then a graduate assistant.

Castillo said he learned a lot from working with both players.

"There was no way I could compete with them. Talent-wise, they were just way above and beyond what I ever was as a hitter," said Castillo, now in his fourth year at San Luis and first as the head coach. "All I did was work hard. I watched how they played the game and it kind of rubbed off on me."

Castillo's work ethic helped him reach the professional ranks where he spent three seasons as a catcher in the Chicago White Sox farm system.

Although he and Leon never met prior to ASU, Castillo said he always looked up to him as a role model. He added that Leon's success is the reason he put in the extra effort to make himself a better player.

"Nothing came easy for him," said Leon, who had an opportunity to sign with the Colorado Rockies out of college, and played with the Yuma Bullfrogs and Valley Vipers of the Western Baseball League. "I know the walk-on situation at ASU is not that bright, so I'm very proud of what he did and I feel good that I had something to do with his accomplishments in one way, shape or form."

Phelps and Thrower have been competing against each other since before high school. As two of the top players in the city at the time, they were at the center of the Yuma-Kofa rivalry.

In the offseason, they were teammates on Babe Ruth all-star teams.

"Phelps was kind of the neighborhood guy that I went against all the time," Thrower said. "I was always battling him for top honors in the city."

Phelps went on to play professional baseball in the Philadelphia Phillies organization. He often worked with Castillo as his personal hitting instructor while both were in the minor leagues.

Leon knew Thrower from playing against his older brother Jake in high school on opposite ends of the Yuma-Kofa rivalry. They remained great friends in college, despite meeting as rivals again. Jake Thrower starred at the University of Arizona.

"It's really cool that we're all together and trying to do the same for these kids that was done for us," Leon said. "For me personally, there were a lot of people at this level I looked up to and I knew they affected my life. I think all of us are trying to do the same thing for our programs."

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Derrik Miller can be reached at dmiller@yumasun.com or 782-6520.