By Otis Kirk
FAYETTEVILLE -- Every year Dave Van Horn gets a little anxious this time of year as he watches the Major League Baseball Draft hoping it doesn't decimate his team and recruiting class.
The 2026 Major League Baseball Draft will take place Saturday and Sunday at the Philadelphia Convention Center during MLB All-Star Week. The first four rounds will be held Saturday and the final 16 rounds on Sunday.
The draft begins at noon with the first 10 picks shown on NBC and Peacock. The draft will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, The MLB Network will televise picks 11-40 beginning at 1:30. Picks 41-135 on Saturday and then all of Sunday's selections can be seen on MLB.com, MLB TV, MLB+.
When Van Horn spoke with the media recently he was hopeful the draft wouldn't be too bad for his team.
"Yeah, I mean, we're confident we're going to get some through," Van Horn said. "We may get them all through. Some of these kids are going to come out early and start working out and doesn't mean that if they get drafted really high, they're going to stay here, but I think they'll get acclimated and feel comfortable. I don't think these kids are going to sign cheap, especially now when you think about it, you can come in for a year. You have another year of bargaining power. It's like you can make some NIL, make some money on this end, get drafted on that end and makes a lot of sense when you step back and start counting a little bit. So we've got to deal with a lot of really good guys, their families, and it's been a great experience the last couple of weeks."
Last year's team struggled on the mound and Van Horn has gone to the portal, junior college and high school to try and fix the situation.
"Yeah, we just need more depth in pitching," Van Horn said. "We need a couple guys that have been through division one baseball a couple of years or even a year. It just adds up. And a couple of guys that are coming in that are going to only be sophomores, they pitched a lot for their team. In on case, one was injured, but when he did pitch, it was good. He's healthy now. Yeah, I mean, we're losing some pitching and we need some guys with experience to step in and help us out. Feel good about a couple, three of the freshmen that are strike throwers because that's usually the issue is throwing it over the plate, but we've got some freshmen coming in that they throw a lot of strikes. We can get them here. There's pro interest in some of these guys and then the returners, they have to take that step forward."
An SEC-leading seven Razorbacks, including pitchers Hunter Dietz, Colin Fisher, Gabe Gaeckle, Ethan McElvain and Carson Wiggins as well as catcher Ryder Helfrick and infielder Camden Kozeal, participated in the 2026 MLB Draft Combine that took place from June 23-26 in Phoenix at Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
In addition, the Razorbacks have the No. 2-ranked transfer portal class. ESPN's Kiley McDaniel released his Top 60 transfers from the portal on June 25. He has Tennessee right-handed pitcher Brayden Krenzel at No. 34, Georgia State third baseman Wills Maginnis No. 41 and Charlotte shortstop Dawson Bryce No. 44.
In ESPN's Top 250 draft prospects two Razorbacks are expected to be picked early. Helfrick is ranked No. 15 and Dietz one spot behind him at 15. Wiggins, who didn't pitch for Arkansas in 2026, is No. 90 and Kozeal comes in at 124 for the Razorbacks ranked highest on the list.
Arkansas was 41-22 this past season and lost in the Lawrence Regional to host Kansas twice.
