FAYETTEVILLE -- It's still just less than three weeks until Arkansas opens the 2024 baseball season.

The Hogs will enter the campaign with extremely high expectations. One reason for the optimism is the pitching staff. Dave Van Horn should have an ace in left-hander Hagen Smith. He's coming off a season where he finished 8-2 with a 3.64 ERA. Smith appeared in 18 games with 11 starts. He even managed two saves. In 71.2 innings, Smith fanned 109 hitters. Smith is getting a lot of hype entering the season.

"He’s handling it really well," Van Horn said. "There have been years where we’ve had guys that were projected high picks and they stressed out over it. Maybe changed their routine. We just tell our guys to do what you do everyday. Get up, eat, go to class. Come into the place, our building, work, don’t worry about it. It’s easier said than done, but if you stick with your routine instead of thinking I got to sleep in, I’m going to miss class, it all just snowballs on you. Just do what you’re supposed to do and it’ll all take care of itself.

"He's 20 years old, he'll be 20 years old at the draft. He knows he's going to be a good draft. If you talk to him, it's amazing. He just wants to win at the highest level as a team, and I think that's why the players love him so much. He just works. He's not a big talker, but he's been a lot more verbal this year because he knows he's older, he knows it's his time and he feels more comfortable in that role. But you can't outwork this guy. His stuff has been amazing. I'm just excited for him and his family, but I'm excited for our team because we have him on our team. That's why he's been put out there a lot."

Another lefty expected in the starting rotation is Texas Tech transfer Mason Molina. Landing Molina out of the transfer portal was huge for Van Horn.

“It’s easy to be confident with guys that have shown it before,” Van Horn said. “The junior college, it’s a different level. You are facing some good hitters, it’s just usually not eight in a line up that you are facing, maybe even nine and always seven good hitters, especially in league play, that you have got to get through.

“In junior college, it may be three, four, five guys that are going to fight you a little bit. But if you can pitch like you know you can, you are going to get them out.

“So it is a different jump as far as going through line ups at this level, but when you get a Division I transfer - especially a guy that has pitched at a high level like Mason has and then he goes out and shows us in the fall, and shows out hitters in the fall that he is hard to hit, I have a lot of confidence in Mason.”

Former Batesville righty Gage Wood was 2-0 with five saves in 2023 and a 4.80 ERA. Wood will once again be counted on to help out of the bullpen.

"First off, the bullpen is shaping up fine," Van Horn said. "We have some really good arms. Obviously, they’ve got to go out and do it in a real game. Bullpens have been great. We feel like we have a really good mix of left- and right-handed pitching. The right-handed pitching is usually there. Having some left-handed options out of the pen is going to be a big-time plus for us this year.

"As far as Gage Wood, he had a really good fall. You’ll see, he’s just really grown up and matured. He looks older, and physically he’s in tremendous shape. And I think you’ll see a difference there. As far as throwing the baseball, he’s been better than he ever has been."

Bryant's Will McEntire returns after leading the Razorbacks pitching 87 innings. He was 8-3 with an ERA of 5.07 and had two saves. Most of his work out of the bullpen was long relief. Wood and McEntire are among the many options for Van Horn.

"Yeah, I can throw some out there for you," Van Horn said. "If you’re looking for a left-on-left matchup, we have Stone Hewlett. who transferred in here from Kansas. That’s what he does, he gets lefties out. I think freshman Colin Fisher is a guy that could be a starter or a reliever out of the pen. Hunter Dietz could be a starter or a reliever. Obviously we’re going to have to wait just a little bit for him to get right. Parker Coil, starter or reliever. Really made a jump, so that’s exciting. 

Tate McGuire freshman, Gabe Gaeckle freshman, McEntire. (Ben) Bybee could be a starter. Wood, (Koty) Frank’s better than ever. (Jake) Faherty has turned the corner. I think going out and playing in the Cape Cod League and throwing the ball really well, except for maybe one game, has really helped him. He’s a guy that has super stuff. Upper 90s all the time. Kind of easy out of his hand throwing a breaking ball for a strike, throwing a fastball for a strike.  I think Cooper Dossett has made a huge jump. He’s made the team, going to be right there to help us. Christian Foutch, Dylan Carter. There you go."

Dietz is a 6-foot-6. 230-pound freshman left-handed pitcher from Trinity (Fla.) Calvary Christian. Van Horn was asked when Dietz will be completely healed form his injury and able to pitch?

"Well, he’s already back to practice," Van Horn said. "He’s doing all the drills. He’s not throwing to hitters or anything yet. They just went in there and took care of a problem that he brought with him (from high school guess he means). And we knew it was there. Had to make a decision after fall ball, because he showed his first few outings how good he was. At the end of fall ball, he wasn’t the same. He was still good, but it wasn’t nearly as good, because it’s pretty electric.

"At first it was, ‘I’ll just wait until the end of the season. I really don’t want to miss anything.’ We were like, ‘Hey, we’re fine with you missing. We want you for the second half. That’s what really matters anyway.’After realizing that this was going on as a sophomore and then it really hit him again his senior year, talking with his parents and advisor, whoever else, and the doctor, it was like, ‘Yeah, let’s just do this.’ And he was all about it. He’s way ahead of schedule, so I’d say to answer your (timeline) question, he’ll be ready sometime to go full blast probably in April. Early."

Nebraska transfer Koty Frank was helping last season before being injured and lost for the season. He saw action in six games, 11.2 innings and had a 3.09 ERA. Van Horn feels Frank is ready to go now.

"He looks 100% to me," Van Horn said. "You know last year he got up there, a pitch or two, up to 92 and I think he might have touched 93. We don’t expect him to pitch there. We didn’t last year. I think he’ll end up getting there. He’s thrown a couple of times to live hitters in the indoor and he pretty much sliced them up because that’s what he does. He’s different. He’s got an incredible change-up with movement, works fast, fields his position. He’s not scared. I think he’ll get a lot of innings for us if he stays healthy and I don’t know why he wouldn’t. I would say he’s 100%. Now the velocity is not 100% yet, but I don’t think anybody’s is."

Brady Tygart also returns. He was 3-1 in 2023 with six starts in 10 appearances. He had a 3.20 ERA. Tygart, when healthy, is among the best in the SEC.