Jim Otten

Jim Otten

Jim Brock was checking on a prospect for his baseball team who was playing American Legion ball in Montana, and he kept seeing outstanding statistics being compiled by a right-handed pitcher from Kalispell.

Brock was a good judge of talent, so it's not surprising that he brought Jim Otten to Mesa to play for the HoKams - even though he never saw him pitch in person.

That judgment was more than justified when Otten amassed a 16-3 record as a freshman, striking out 188 batters in 138 innings and posting a .78 earned run average in leading the team to a national championship.

Turning down the opportunity to enter the major league draft, he returned the following year when he had a 12-1 record and another national title for Mesa. Jim could also be an offensive threat as attested by his .320 batting average and nine home runs when he played first base or outfield.

Bobby Winkles recruited Jim to play for Arizona State, but soon left to manage the Anaheim Angels. His successor was Jim's junior college coach, so he ended up playing four years for Jim Brock.

Jim Otten played professionally for nine years for the Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Cardinals. The past ten years, Jim has been a Project Manager for a cable TV engineering company, and he just started his own company in the same business.