Texas baseball commit Tucker has hopes for Mountain Pointe, beyond

PHOENIX – Carson Tucker has big plans.

Mountain Pointe’s junior shortstop has already decided the University of Texas will be the next stop in his baseball career.

But first things first.

“My future goals are winning a state championship for my high school, then going on and winning a national championship at Texas, and then hopefully getting a chance to be a big league all-star and Hall of Famer,” Tucker said.

Tucker gives much of the credit for his success to his coaches at Mountain Pointe, who return the praise.

“I think (Tucker) is the best infielder I’ve seen in a long time,” Mountain Pointe coach Matt Denny said. “Just his tempo and control of his body. He’s kinda always been in the right spot at the right time. That’s what makes him unique for us. He rarely makes errors and he does a good job at the middle of the infield. He’s very competitive and hates to lose.

“He’s obviously a super-talented player. He’s not really a vocal leader, but when we ask him to do things, he does it in a quiet way. That’s one of the things he’s trying to work on, but he does a really good job for us as he sets the tone at the top of the lineup for us.”

In 27 games this spring, Tucker is batting .437.

Assistant coach J.J. Sferra describes Tucker as a “jack of all trades.”

“He’s a really good defender, a really good hitter who will hit for average, and he will hit for power,” he said. “He’s a really good baserunner, he steals a lot of bases. Every facet of the game that teams need to win games on a day-in and day-out basis, he does.”

Tucker met the Texas coaches last summer while playing for USA Baseball and Area Codes in Chicago.

He picked Texas because of the history of success they had in making it to multiple College World Series.

“The recruiting process was awesome,” Tucker said. “I loved getting to know different things about the top schools in the nation, and Texas just stood out to me and it clicked perfectly for me.”

“I think he’s going to kill it,” said Denny, who has coached Mountain Pointe baseball since 2016. “There is nothing I can see that’s not going to have him being successful (at Texas). He’s one of the top players in the country.”

Denny knows talent. Before his move to Mountain Pointe, Denny had a legendary coaching career at Greenway High School, where he posted a 205-76 record. He won a state championship in 2014, and in 2013 he won 29 straight games. In 2014, he won the Arizona Baseball Coaches Association Coach of the Year award.

Eight of Denny’s players have been drafted by MLB teams. He also is on the USA Baseball task force used to identify and select national team players.

“(Tucker) makes coaching very easy,” said Sferra, who has been coaching at Mountain Pointe for eight years after playing for Arizona State. “He’s probably one of the more talented guys I’ve coached at Mountain Pointe. When you have talent like that it makes our job easy. When you have a good kid and talent it just works.”

Although he is young, Tucker has had success his whole life, including winning a gold medal for the 12U baseball team in Taiwan.

Teammate Joey Cammarata thinks that although Tucker is quiet, he leads his team by his play.

“Tucker being at the top of the lineup makes us dangerous, and defensively he is special. His defense sets him apart from everyone else in the country,” Cammarata said.

Despite being quiet, he is a good teammate and player, Cammarata said.

“Carson is goofy and funny,” he said. “He’s a good friend and I love playing baseball with him.”

Tucker likes athletes who have energetic personalities and are big time performers.

“Javier Baez,” he said. “I like to bring energy to the game. He’s flashy but he gets the job done, gets the crowd into it. I like that.”

He also admires Murray State basketball star Ja Morant.

“Ja Morant didn’t go to a big-time basketball school in Murray State but he’s obviously going top-three in the draft,” Tucker said. “He’s showing everyone up. He dominates even though he’s an underdog. He grinds and gets everyone involved.”