Dave Van Horn got some good news Monday when Parker Coil announced he was bypassing the Milwaukee Brewers and returning to Arkansas.

Coil, a left-handed pitcher, was drafted in the 16th round by Milwaukee this summer. Coil will be a senior for the Razorbacks next season. In 2024, Coil was 3-0 with an ERA of 1.27. He appeared in 14 games, worked 21.1 innings, earned a save, struck out 24 and only walked two. Van Horn was asked Wednesday if surprised by Coil's decision?

"Surprised, no?," Van Horn said. "Excited that he’s coming back, obviously yes. You know, we were in contact with Parker a lot during this process. He wanted … he felt like there were some things here he hadn’t accomplished yet that he wanted to do. Obviously, then he had to turn down some money, which he did. We got it worked out. I think it was the Brewers definitely would have tried to sign him. Then they wanted to wait a little bit longer than he really wanted to wait and they kind of deadlined him a little bit, kind of threw it back at him. They wanted to wait a little longer. But if you noticed, from the 11th round on, except for Parker Coil they signed them all and they signed five of them over slot. So we appreciate Parker coming back, obviously."

With Coil returning will he remain in the bullpen or move to the starting rotation and hopefully repeat Gage Wood's success making that transition?

"He’ll definitely get a look at starting," Van Horn said. "I mean, that’s up to them. We always tell you that. It’s up to them. They’ve got to show us. Show us what you can do. I mean we already know how good he is out of the pen. He can handle the heat. He can handle the pressure. He comes in, he pounds the strike zone, throwing that cutter. He makes you swing. So if he can do that as a starter, that’d be great."

Van Horn also relayed his feelings on the draft and how the Razorbacks came out of that.

"I mean really nothing unexpected came out of the draft," Van Horn said. "Super excited for all the guys that had an opportunity. You know that first day it was exciting for us to watch because we knew those guys were going to get drafted. We knew they were going to sign. When you have four guys go in the top 41 picks it’s special. It was a proud moment for all us coaches, I can tell you that. I’m sure our fans in the state felt the same way, because those guys were a huge part of our team. You know, they got a good paycheck and they worked hard to earn that. And you know, I think, gosh, between the four of them, easily over $10 million in signing bonuses.

"Then obviously we had 11 drafted but we also had two other guys sign as free agents. (Logan) Maxwell signed with the Yankees. Had that deal done before the draft was over. Because we were sweating it out that he wasn’t going to get drafted. We called him, and he said, ‘Coach, I’ve already got a couple of things going.’ So that was exciting. Then the same with Dylan Carter. Dylan had two or three teams that were wanting to sign him. So realistically, I don’t know why they didn’t just draft them, but we ended up having I guess 13 guys with an opportunity and 12 of them went out. It just shows a lot to our development, our culture here and hopefully these guys will get a chance to play for as long as they want."

Van Horn talked about the draft and how hard it is with 20 rounds to keep anyone who is picked.

"But to answer your question, realistically in a 20-round draft, if they get picked they’re probably gone for the most part," Van Horn said. "That means they probably have already got a deal done or they’ve agreed on X amount of money before the team selects them. There’s always a case or two where if somebody gets drafted they haven’t talked to the team or the scout, which is rare. But that has happened and it happened a little bit this year.

""So, talking to the kids a little bit … Justin Thomas is one that we didn’t know. You look at his path through college. He goes to Georgia, doesn’t play much. Goes to a juco, does a good job. Comes here, got off to a slow start. Really played well three quarters or halfway through the season on. He was great for us. Had a big-time appearance in Omaha at the plate. I think he got 8 hits, 9 hits in our games. We didn’t know. But eventually, they just kind of … they want to play pro ball. 21 years old, maybe a little older. It’s time to go. We don’t really try to talk them out of it too much. We just listen to what they have to say when we talk about signing or coming back. I’m going to say 9 times out of 10, it’s you know if they get it close, what I’m looking for I’m going to sign. So we knew the guys were gone and we knew that we’re going to have a lot of new players and we’re going to start over in a lot of situations.

"So, talking to the kids a little bit … Justin Thomas is one that we didn’t know. You look at his path through college. He goes to Georgia, doesn’t play much. Goes to a juco, does a good job. Comes here, got off to a slow start. Really played well three quarters or halfway through the season on. He was great for us. Had a big-time appearance in Omaha at the plate. I think he got 8 hits, 9 hits in our games. We didn’t know. But eventually, they just kind of … they want to play pro ball. 21 years old, maybe a little older. It’s time to go. We don’t really try to talk them out of it too much. We just listen to what they have to say when we talk about signing or coming back. I’m going to say 9 times out of 10, it’s you know if they get it close, what I’m looking for I’m going to sign. So we knew the guys were gone and we knew that we’re going to have a lot of new players and we’re going to start over in a lot of situations."