Backup catcher Welch evolves into pinch-hit specialist for Hogs
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FAYETTEVILLE — Even before he doubled Arkansas’ lead Saturday afternoon, Charlie Welch brought the Baum-Walker Stadium crowd to its feet.
The packed house of 11,084 fans rewarded the backup catcher with a standing ovation after he clinched the SEC title with a walk-off double the night before and he responded with another double to help the Razorbacks finish off a sweep of No. 8 Florida.
“It made me feel even that much more confident, feeling great in the box knowing every single person in the stadium was behind me right there,” Welch said on the postgame radio show. “Just gave me more confidence in the world, chills for sure.”
Including his infield single in Thursday’s win, Welch went 3 for 3 with three RBIs as a pinch hitter against the Gators. He did finally make an out when he remained in Saturday’s game as the designated hitter, but it was a deep fly out to right that head coach Dave Van Horn believes would have been a home run had it not been for the wind.
The performance highlighted what the Razorbacks learned much earlier in the season: Welch is a valuable weapon and key piece to the team despite limited playing time. His efficiency as a pinch hitter can be attributed to how early he gets ready for each at bat, Van Horn said.
“It’s not like I just call on him and he runs over, panics and finds his helmet,” Van Horn said. “He’s usually got it in his hand and his bat and he’s thinking about the pitchers and he’s looking at the scouting reports. … It’s special that a guy can concentrate and have a good at bat when he hasn’t been in the game.”
Welch is particularly good against left-handed pitchers and knows Van Horn likes to use him in those situations, so he starts looking at scouting reports as soon as he sees a lefty warming up in the opposing bullpen.
On Saturday, he knew Florida reliever Jordan Butler would attack him with a slider, so when he got one up in the zone, he was ready for it and crushed it. He missed a three-run home run by a few feet and instead settled for a two-run double that gave the Razorbacks a 6-2 lead.
Although a lefty had just entered the game when he hit his infield single Thursday, right-hander Jack Leftwich was on the mound Friday when he came to the plate with the winning run on third.
What unfolded still gave him chills a day later when talking about it on the radio, as he hit a deep fly ball into right that resulted in the game-winning RBI. With the Gators using an extra infielder and playing shallow in the outfield, it actually got over their head for a double.
Not only did the hit win the game, but it also gave Arkansas its first overall SEC regular-season title since 2004 and just its second ever outright title - joining the 1999 team - so it sent Baum-Walker Stadium into pandemonium.
“It was unreal seeing every person in the stadium screaming at the top of their lungs and my teammates there going crazy,” Welch said. “I mean, words can’t describe it. It’s easily the best moment of my baseball career to this point.”
That may have been the highlight, but Welch is enjoying an excellent debut season with the Razorbacks despite a lack of consistent playing time.
As a spot starter who occasionally pinch hits, he is 16 for 38 with three doubles, five home runs, 15 RBIs and seven walks. That gives him an impressive .421/.522/.895 slash line.
“At this level it’s rare to have a guy like that because you are going to play him all the time,” Van Horn said. “To have a guy who hits like that and doesn’t play all the time, he’s probably upset, but Charlie’s been a really good teammate. We’re really proud of him and how he’s taken it.”
It’s been quite the journey for Welch to reach this point. He committed to South Carolina early in his high school career, but he reopened his recruitment when the Gamecocks made a coaching change following his junior year.
Ranked the 52nd best catcher in the Class of 2018 by Perfect Game, Welch then turned his attention to another SEC program.
“He wanted to come here out of high school,” Van Horn said. “He actually came to our camp and we didn’t take him. … So we knew him as a younger person and he was really known more for maybe his catching than his hitting.”
Instead, he ended up on the other side of the country at Pepperdine. Appearing in 26 games with 24 starts as a freshman, Welch slashed .211/.290/.284 with one home run - a grand slam in his first collegiate at bat - and 10 RBIs.
After one year with the Waves, the St. Petersburg, Fla., native transferred closer to home to play in the junior college ranks. Before the 2020 season was canceled because of the pandemic, Welch was hitting .304 and flashed some power with five doubles and four home runs at St. Johns River State C.C.
With catcher near the top of their offseason priorities, the Razorbacks got back in touch with Welch again and watched from afar as he played summer ball with the Texarkana Twins of the Texas Collegiate League.
Although he hit .340 with four home runs in 15 games, it didn’t look like Arkansas would have a spot for him. Casey Opitz unexpectedly went undrafted and returned for his senior year, plus the Razorbacks added a pair of graduate transfers from the portal, so he was set to transfer to JUCO powerhouse San Jacinto J.C. last fall.
However, Robert Emery and A.J. Lewis - the two transfer catchers - both opted to sign professional contracts as undrafted free agents. When assistant coach Nate Thompson called to let Welch know there was a spot for him, he jumped at the opportunity to play for the school he fell in love with late in his high school career.
“It’s always been my dream to attend Arkansas and play baseball there,” Welch told HawgBeat last July. “It’s the best in the country, hands down. It really didn’t take long (to decide). I knew right away that’s where I wanted to be.”
Van Horn said Welch made an immediate impression on the coaching staff with his bat in the fall, but finding a spot for him to play was more difficult.
Opitz was the clear starter at catcher and early enrollee Dylan Leach was one of the biggest surprises of the fall, emerging as the backup. That would have made him a strong candidate to start as the designated hitter, but senior Matt Goodheart was back and his injured shoulder made him the frontrunner to earn that spot again.
“With COVID and everything that happened, obviously the roster is more full than it would be,” Welch said. “I knew coming in I was going to have to fight for any chances of playing time. I really don't get frustrated about it. … If they call my name, I'm ready to rock. I just want to win. That's it.”
Although he’s still listed as a catcher on the roster, Van Horn has repeatedly said Welch is more of a designated hitter while also revealing he’s been working some at first base in practice.
“He might end up catching for us some in the future, but he’s going to get to hit for us,” Van Horn said. “We’ll just kind of let it evolve a little bit. It’s hard getting him on the field this year with what we have, but he’s such a weapon off the bench.”
Just how big of a weapon he’s become is evident in the numbers. Welch is 7 for 11 (.636) as a pinch hitter this season, including 6 for 9 (.667) in SEC play.
He is a major reason pinch hitters are batting .500 (15 for 30) for the Razorbacks this season. That is more than double the pinch-hit average of the rest of the SEC (.241) and well ahead of the next closest team in the conference (Georgia, .344).
“Seems like he's Mr. Clutch now,” teammate Brady Slavens said. “It's crazy. Pinch hitting is so hard to do and what he's doing is absolutely unbelievable. You're sitting down for a good portion of the game and you get called up at the last second. When you hit like him, it's unbelievable.”
On top of having a really good swing and approach, Van Horn said Welch is usually “two steps ahead of us” in the dugout when pinch-hit situations arise.
Even though it is much different than playing regularly, Welch said he has the same mentality as a pinch hitter as he would if he was in the starting lineup and he isn’t concerned about the incredible statistics he’s compiled in a small - albeit growing - sample size.
“I don't look at the numbers,” Welch said. “I just try to hit the ball hard, man. Sometimes it'll fall, sometimes it won't. If I end up with better numbers than somebody else who's hit just as many balls hard as me, then so be it.”