Razorback head baseball coach Dave Van Horn watches his team take infield practice before their game versus Ole Miss in the CWS at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska.
By Otis Kirk
FAYETTEVILLE -- Dave Van Horn's Arkansas baseball team will have a lot of new faces in 2023, but don't expect anything less than his team competing for the SEC title and a trip to the College World Series.
Van Horn will have a mixture of returning players, high school prospects, junior college recruits and others from the transfer portal. Some of the paper work for the transfers hasn't been completed so Van Horn couldn't comment on them, but one he could is former Creighton outfielder Jared Wegner.
"Well, he’s a very strong, athletic outfielder," Van Horn said. "He runs really well. I wouldn’t say he’s a base stealer. He has power. Should be a seasoned player who’s ready to step in and contribute right away."
Wegner was all-conference in 2022 hitting 11 home runs, 53 RBI and .343. All three starting outfielders from 2022 are gone so Wegner is a big addition. A couple of other known commitments from the transfer portal couldn't be commented on by Van Horn. They are Nebraska pitcher Koty Frank and Kansas second baseman-center fielder Tavian Josenberger. Van Horn hinted at other additions that haven't been made public yet. Van Horn talked about how the portal recruiting has gone so far.
"I think we’ve done a pretty good job," Van Horn said. "I feel like for us, it’s about what we think these players are all about, really, as a player and we’re trying to get good people in with our culture and our locker room. In some cases, it’s maybe not the big splash, that big name out there — which, that’s fine if you get those guys — but we’re trying to go after the guys we feel are going to help our lineup or help our pitching as far as depth or a role, whether it’s a starter, reliever, closer. But I feel real good where we’re at. There’s a few more things going on. It’s just the way it is in Division I baseball right now, especially at the level we play at. You’ve got to do this if you’re going to survive."
Van Horn was asked is there a particular number of players he's seeking from the transfer portal or is it just as it works out?
"Well, you don’t want to go crazy on it," Van Horn said. "You don’t want to disrupt everything, but at the same time, you’re trying to strengthen your roster as best you can. There’s a fine line there. You’ve got the draft coming up. What a horrible time for the draft. The draft should have been last week. I’ve said this 10 times this year: It makes no sense at all. No one likes it except the owners. They think it’s cool to have the draft during the All-Star game. Nobody cares. Have the draft last week, let us get to work, get our rosters right, treat the kids right, give the ones that are not going to be able to come in more time to find a place to play. I mean, it’s a joke. So we gotta get through that and then you’ve got about 14 days after the draft to see who’s going to sign and now it’s August 1. That’s when the smoke will clear. Hopefully within a couple days after that, we’ll have a final roster. There could be a lot of changes."
Van Horn has 10 junior college transfers in the recruiting class. He talked about what he was looking for from the junior colleges.
"A little bit of everything," Van Horn said. "A couple, three of them are really athletic and can really run. Put up good numbers, wanted to come here. Some are really, really good students. With our scholarship situation, you have to piece it together. It’s just kind of worked. If you look at the transfers we have coming in, first-team All-American, second-team All-American, these guys, they did some damage and they did it over a period of time. It just seemed to be a good fit for us this year."
With all three starting outfielders leaving some of the junior college recruits listed as infielders will end up in the outfield.
"I have a list over here to the left me," Van Horn said. "I'm gonna look at it. A couple of those JUCO guys that you probably have listed as infielders are outfielders as well. And a couple of them actually played in the outfield more than they played in the infield. I've got us, for right now, about six guys that are straight up outfielders. And maybe one of those will sign professional. And then there's also another infielder, too, that can go to the outfield. And then you know, I already mentioned that Kendall Diggs can play in the outfield. We're fine there."
One of the key junior college recruits is catcher Parker Rowland. All the catchers from last season won't return, but Van Horn isn't worried.
"We’ve committed another catcher, but I can’t give you any names yet," Van Horn said. "We’re fine."
Van Horn went into detail about what he's looking for in a catcher.
"Number one, we want him to really be able to receive the baseball," Van Horn said. "Obviously leadership qualities are big for us. When we’re talking to these guys on the phone, through Zoom with the coaching staffs and the player and their parents a lot of times, you kind of get a feel for that.
"And then talking with former coaches. In some cases, kids just want to leave, they want to go to a program where they feel like they have a chance to get to the World Series, they want to play in a different league, coaching change, maybe they feel like they can develop more at a different place, but a lot of times it’s because maybe at their position, there’s someone around the same age who’s getting most of the reps for one reason or another. Maybe because he’s a left-handed hitter and they hit righties and coach likes left. You could go on and on. I’ve heard it all. But we just try to evaluate all of the above as far as can he handle a pitching staff, good catch-and-throw guy and then the bat, to me, is last when it comes to the catcher."
Van Horn isn't pleased with the timing of the draft. As far as high school recruits he seems to have a good feel on who will or won't make it to campus.
"A lot of the guys we signed, there’s a few already here," Van Horn said. "They’re in summer school, starting to work out. There’s a few that aren’t. Don’t really have a number there. We know who there’s a possibility of losing. If we lose them, we get it.
"There’s 20 rounds, if you see someone’s name pop up, then they probably already made a deal. Very rarely now with limited rounds are teams going to select somebody (they won’t sign], unless it’s a little later or they’re going to take a chance and they just, I don’t know, on a whim. But with 20 rounds, they’ve got to get those kids signed. We’re doing as much as we can to try to find out what these guys are really thinking. I truly believe some of these kids, and they’re talking to some of these pro people now, they’re trying to figure out, are they really going to get the amount that they want? And then if they don’t, we just want them to stay strong.
"If they say they want a million dollars, and they’re being told we can’t give you more than $500,000, then they should come to school and triple that."
The 2022 MLB First-Year Player Draft will take place on July 17-19 in Los Angeles in conjunction with the 2022 All-Star Game on July 19.