Only two years passed where Cameron Ming wasn't roaming the bullpen at Hi Corbett Field.

For three years from 2015 to 2017, Ming took the mound as a member of the Arizona Wildcats pitching staff in every role imaginable. As a starter, a reliever, a closer — he did it all and even earned the opportunity to do it on the biggest stage the college game has to offer at the College World Series.

Following his collegiate career, Ming was selected in the 14th round of the 2017 Major League Baseball Draft by the Baltimore Orioles, kicking off a three-season career in professional baseball.

Now his baseball path has led him back to Tucson, back to the Hi Corbett bullpen, but this time as a coach. Ming joined the Wildcats coaching staff as an undergraduate manager for the 2020 season, kicking off what he hopes to be a long career in the coaching ranks.

"At some point during my playing career I expressed a desire to get into coaching," Ming said. "It's always something I had wanted to do, and I always felt like my biggest advantage was the mental side of my game because I was never physically overwhelming with velocity or anything; mentally I always felt like I had a lot of longevity in the game."

After his release from the Orioles, Ming called his former skipper, Arizona head coach Jay Johnson, to talk about joining the staff.

"Jay had told me he wanted me back to coach whenever my playing career was done," Ming said. "He told me that he hoped I played forever but whenever that day comes, we'd like to have you back. So I always knew there was interest from U of A and when the day came that I got released I gave Jay a call and told him I wanted to hop on board."

From there, the decision to return to Tucson was an easy one for Ming.

"There's not really much I don't love about Tucson; I love the college town feel and the local support where everyone is behind the U of A," he said. "My playing days here are some of the best of my life ... So to be able to come back and get a little piece of that again is super fun."

As a recent college athlete, Ming brought a unique perspective to the Wildcats coaching staff. So recent, in fact, that two players he called teammates as a junior in 2017 now call him coach: right-handed pitchers Zach Sherman and Preston Price.

Some could choose to see that as an awkward dynamic, but Ming and the staff view it as an asset. Being just two years removed from his collegiate playing days helps Ming relate to the pitchers he's tasked with guiding.

"He's very relatable. You think about it, for a lot of kids that are playing here he has stood in their shoes and he's done it on the big stage," Arizona associate head coach Nate Yeskie said. "He has some good information that he picked up along the way in his playing days and I think he's able to be very relatable with regards to how he gets that across to some of the players. What I like is that he's got good questions and he's still competitive as heck just like he was when he played."

While his first taste of coaching in 2020 was short-lived, the early returns were extremely promising. Under the guidance of Yeskie and Ming, the Wildcats pitching staff made strides in nearly every statistical metric including ERA, K/9 rate, and opponent batting average.

"As long as the jobs stay available, yes, coaching is for sure what I want to do," Ming said. "If I could stay at Arizona forever, I would. I just have to figure out what my cards are, so we'll see where the road takes me."