TUCSON, Ariz. — Arizona Baseball head coach Chip Hale proudly announced on Thursday the promotion of Toby DeMello to assistant coach after two successful seasons with the Wildcats.

DeMello, who previously served two seasons as the program's volunteer assistant coach, helped shape one of the most prolific offenses in school history during the 2023 season. In addition to his previous duties overseeing the Wildcats hitters and catchers, DeMello will take on new recruiting responsibilities in his expanded role.

"Coach DeMello has been a tremendous asset for our program the past two seasons and I am incredibly excited about the opportunity to expand his role on our staff," Hale said. "Across two years in Tucson he has proven himself to be one of the great young coaches in our sport and I'm excited to watch his continued growth. Our hitters and catchers thrived under coach DeMello's guidance and his tireless work ethic should bring similar results to our recruiting efforts moving forward. We have built one of the best coaching staffs in America for players looking to compete for championships and develop their game for the next level."

Last year, with direction from DeMello, the Arizona lineup evolved into one of the most feared units in the entire country. The 2023 Wildcats posted a .316 batting average and scored 8.5 runs per game, two marks that ranked 12th among all 295 Division I programs. Arizona also ranked among the Top 30 programs in the nation in doubles per game (2nd), triples (2nd), triples per game (2nd), doubles (3rd), slugging percentage (6th), hits (12th), runs (17th), and home runs (27th).

In addition to the national ranks, the 2023 Arizona offense rewrote the program's record books numerous times. The Wildcats broke into the school's top five leaderboards with 98 home runs (2nd), a .549 slugging percentage (4th), 1,186 total bases (4th), and 151 doubles (5th).

Among the three All-Americans that DeMello has guided while at Arizona are Chase Davis and Kiko Romero, the former of which finished his career with the third most home runs in program history and the latter of which shattered the Arizona single-season RBI record. DeMello also worked extensively with 2022 All-American catcher Daniel Susac, who went on to be selected by the Oakland Athletics in the first round of the 2022 MLB Draft.

Arizona's success the last two seasons is covered in DeMello's fingerprints; 72 wins, two trips to the NCAA Tournament, five postseason victories, three All-Americans, six Pac-12 All-Conference position players, and much more.

DeMello joined the Wildcats in July of 2021 after three seasons at Sacramento State. He has also spent time at Southern Illinois, Occidental College, and Sierra College during his coaching journey. He graduated from Saint Mary's College in 2012 with a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration.