A March 4, 2022 photo of the Razorbacks baseball team.
By Otis Kirk
FAYETTEVILLE -- Dave Van Horn fresh off another trip to the College World Series and 46-21 record looked back on the season Thursday.
Van Horn saw his Razorbacks narrowly lose to Ole Miss, the eventual champion, in the semifinals in Omaha. However a lot of the conversation was looking ahead to 2023. After seeing several players either graduate, opt for the draft or transfer Van Horn will have a different looking team next season.
Freshman Peyton Stovall, who was one of the top recruits in last year's class, spent the season at first base. He played in 52 games with 51 starts. Stovall hit .295, fourth on the team, with six home runs and 31 RBI. Stovall played first base this season simply because Van Horn had to find a way to get him into the lineup. Van Horn talked about Stovall's play at first and what he envisions for him in 2023.
"First off on his play at first, I thought he did a great job all year," Stovall said. "He picked 95% of the balls that hit the dirt. It was pretty amazing. He wasn’t the biggest target over there, and I think our guys are pretty accurate with their arms, but if they missed a lot of times it was low, because I think they felt like he would pick it and save them, and he did.
"But I see him playing second base for us next year. He’s playing second base in the Cape. He played shortstop his senior year in high school. He played second base as a freshman, sophomore and junior in high school and started there most of the time. He got his reps in at second with us, and then we’ll really get after it when he gets back."
Another freshman returning will be Kendall Diggs, who pinch hit and served as designated hitter some this season. He hit .197 with three home runs and 14 RBI. Van Horn talked about his plans for Diggs.
"I think Kendall’s going to fight to get into the lineup whether it’s at first base, third base or corner outfielder," Van Horn said. "I think maybe his future, and I talked to him about it when he left, to work in the outfield as well for his future. The pro people feel like he has good speed. He has a good arm. He’s going to be a big kid. That might be his spot going forward as far as professionally as a corner outfielder."
Two key returning pitchers who have starting experience are Will McEntire and Jaxon Wiggins. McEntire went from midweek starter to one of the most dependable starters on the staff. Wiggins struggled at times, but has outstanding stuff.
"Both of those guys are staying here and training," Van Horn said. "They’re continuing to get stronger. They’re not throwing bullpens right now, kind of resting a little bit. Then they’ll start to long toss and just really get ready for fall baseball. We just feel like, in their case, I don’t know that for them to go out and pitch is going to really be what they need to do. They just need to come in and have a good fall. And I think both of them will."
A couple other pitchers Van Horn is obviously counting on for 2023 are Brady Tygart and Hagen Smith. Tygart served as the closer much of the season though he ran into some struggles later in year. Smith was a starter most of the season, but also closed out a couple of gains getting a pair of saves. Neither of those two are pitching in the Cape Cod League and are instead resting their arms.
"There’s a lot that went into that," Van Horn said. "Really with Brady, he’s just tired. A little sore. He knew that was going to be it for him after he threw. Hagen was the same way. He threw the two innings on Sunday, and after the game he called us and said, ‘I’m really tired.’ The velocity was 90 to 93, which is pretty good. He did walk a few people. He didn’t give up a run, struck four of the six hitters. But he threw 20-plus pitches each inning.
"We don’t know what was going to go on there with either of them. But he pretty much told them, ‘I’m done.’ As far as sending those guys out, we said, ‘No, you need to go rest. If you want to come up in a few weeks, starting training again and get ready for fall baseball.’ But two freshmen honestly that just kind of hit the wall. And it happens."
Van Horn has signed 10 junior college players and is busy getting talent from the transfer portal. He was left without a catcher when Michael Turner's eligibility expired and two others transferred. However he has added some catchers and feels they will be fine at that position. Van Horn also talked about some returning players who need to improve and make an impact in 2023.
"Kendall Diggs jumps right out at me," Van Horn said. "He’s got such a pretty swing. He knows the strike zone. You know he got a couple of pinch hit opportunities some clutch situations late and it didn’t go well. But he hadn’t hit in a while. I think when he gets in the lineup and gets a lot of at-bats I think he’ll be really good. So he needs to make a move, position-player wise. He needs to get into really good shape this summer and fall. He’s out, gone to summer ball, out east a little bit. Maybe the Appalachian League. He needs to get better and he will.
I told (outfielder) Jace Bohrofen the same thing. He sat the last couple of days up in the Cape cause he had some soreness in his knee, but I think he’ll be back in the lineup. But this is a guy, we had him penciled in to start last year. It didn’t happen. He got hurt, missed a month. Came back, did real well, then didn’t do real well. And we just kind of went with (Zack) Gregory at the end because he was getting on base and that’s the way it was. We were winning. I mean there’s probably a couple more in there. On the pitching side there’s always room for improvement. I think Austin Ledbetter jumps out at me a little bit. I thought he pitched well those last couple of outings. Really good to see. I don’t know. There’s more."
Van Horn said despite Gregory and some others who saw varying degrees of action leaving it was expected.
"None of them were surprises," Van Horn said. "And I would have to say I wasn’t disappointed at all because I understand what’s …. They understand, we understand what’s going on now with the portal and opportunity to play. These are guys that have been in the program a couple of years and hadn’t played much. And as a coach and maybe even them evaluating themselves, it was a big risk for them to come back and play. So really in most cases, or probably all cases actually, it’s probably for the best - for them. For us, depth and all of that, yeah, it’s great. But me as a head coach looking down the bench and they’re not in the lineup, it gets difficult the older they get. If I don’t know at the end of a season that there’s and 80% chance that guy’s going to be an every-day starter in the field or that pitcher’s gonna have a big-time role. And in some cases they want to be starters and they’re having trouble getting on the field as a middle guy or a reliever and they’re saying ‘I really want to start, I’m 21 years old’ then it’s probably best for them to go somewhere they might feel like they’ll have that opportunity."
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