Old faces in new places at Hoover

GLENDALE — Out of baseball with a pulled hamstring, Tito Cruz found himself once more on the Hoover High baseball field. Apparently, it was for a reason.

“I found myself at Hoover, just trying to stay in shape,” said Cruz, a 2002 Hoover graduate and former Tornadoes baseball standout who was named his alma mater’s new baseball coach on Thursday. “All this is new to me. I just kind of took it as it came.”

Cruz graduated from Hoover in 2002 after a senior season in which he was voted All-Area Player of the Year. The Tornadoes catcher, who had transferred from St. Francis, then took his game to Long Beach State before getting drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 34th round of the 2006 Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft. Most recently, he was playing for the St. George Roadrunners, an Independent League squad in Utah.

“I think the right choice was made,” said longtime former Hoover Coach Jim Delzell, who recently vacated the position and had input on the hiring process. “He’s got the right personality to work with our kids and he knows the game.”

Cruz, 23, was an assistant under Delzell in 2007, but other than that, he’s relatively young and inexperienced when it comes to being a head coach. Neither him nor Hoover Athletic Director Jack Van Patten feel that will be a hindrance, though.

“He has a lot more [life] experience than most 23 year olds,” Van Patten said. “Age is not a factor, he’s very mature.”

For Cruz, he believes the relationship he’s founded being an assistant, along with the knowledge and the respect the players have for him from his years inside the lines, will work wonders.

“I’ve already built a relationship with a lot of these kids,” he said. “I think the trust is there and they respect what I’ve done in my career.”

Cruz, who’s currently coaching a Connie Mack squad, found himself with not a whole lot to do after he pulled his hamstring and St. George released him.

He worked out at Hoover, trying to stay in shape and was taken aback to hear Delzell, who had coached him, stepped down from his position.

“It was kind of a surprise to me,” he said.

Still, he didn’t immediately vie for the vacant job.

“When the position opened up, I didn’t really think about it until people kept telling me, ‘You should do this,’” he said.