Fall League homecoming: Tucson natives take center stage
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TUCSON, Ariz. -- It was Thomas Wolfe who popularized the claim that you can't go home again with his 1940 novel. Jon Bon Jovi argued against that thesis 65 years later with his song "Who Says You Can't Go Home?"
The Arizona Fall League clearly falls in the New Jersey rock band's camp. Thanks to playing a doubleheader at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium, Mason White (Red Sox) and Cade McGee (Cardinals) had a true homecoming in Tucson on Saturday. Both Fall Leaguers grew up in the city and both attended Salpointe Catholic High School before heading to college.
"We grew up together, went to elementary school together, so we've known each other for like 15 years," McGee said. "We played each other in All-Stars but never got to play in Little League. Once we got to high school, I guess his freshman year, we started playing together. So it's been really cool to push each other along."
"I didn't even think it would be possible [playing together in a game here], but here we are," White said. "I hadn't really thought about it until they announced the game coming back here, but it was really cool to play here."
The pair played side-by-side for three years. They worked out together, hit together, especially bonding when going to a friend's garage gym during COVID. Area scouts recall both being solid but unspectacular in their high school days, and neither made their Area Code Games team. McGee might have provided a little more confidence in his hit tool, while White had more upside with the bat, though swing-and-miss concerns led to question marks. Both needed, and benefitted from, their time in college.
"Probably Mason," McGee said when asked who was the better prep prospect. "Left-handed hitter, he was definitely better than I was."
McGee went on first to Gonzaga and then to Texas Tech before the Cardinals drafted him in the ninth round in 2024. White, the Red Sox's No. 26 prospect, stayed put, going to the University of Arizona and playing at nearby Hi Corbett Field before becoming a fourth-rounder in 2025. While this is the first time the pair has been able to share a field, it could have happened after the 2023 collegiate season, when McGee entered the transfer portal and White tried to convince his former infield-mate to come back home.
"He did [try to get me to come to Arizona]," McGee said. "I came and watched them in the Pac-12 tournament, and I talked with him when I was going through that process. I had just gotten hurt, came back home for surgery. He and I sat and talked, and he might still be holding a grudge against me."
"It worked out," White said.
Both had large contingents in the stands to take in Saturday's action, and support was full-throated, even though they went a combined 1-for-6. The McGee cheering sections were sporting Peoria Javelinas t-shirts with his name on the back, getting a chance to see McGee, who left for college and now lives in Dallas, play in the city he once called home for the first time in a long time.
White still lives here in the offseason and works out at the University of Arizona during the offseason. Both clearly enjoyed being AFL ambassadors for "The Old Pueblo."
"It was cool, all these prospects -- future big leaguers -- coming to Tucson so the community could see them was really fun," White said.
Nightcap home cooking
White and McGee didn't corner the market on homecomings. The second game between the Scottsdale Scorpions and Salt River Rafters had its own local flavor.
Outfielder Brendan Summerhill, the Rays' No. 28 prospect, was White's teammate with the Wildcats for three years, going in Competitive Balance Round A in 2025. He went 2-for-2 with four runs scored in Scottsdale's 10-2 win.
D-backs top prospect Demetrio Crisantes (MLB No. 84) hails from Nogales, Ariz., about an hour south of Tucson. A healthy portion of the town made the trek to watch their favorite son.