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SPRINGDALE — A familiar face was amongst the crowd taking in last Wednesday’s games in the Perfect Timing College League.

Like many fans, former Arkansas standout Trevor Ezell was craving the game he loved, so he made the trek to the Tyson Complex in Springdale to watch some of his old teammates play in the summer wood bat league.

HawgBeat caught up with the 2019 second-team All-SEC selection, who now has an uncertain future in baseball because he was included in the hundreds of minor league cuts late last month.

“I’m just looking for somewhere to play or if not, I’ll get into doing something else,” Ezell said. “But kind of everything is up in the air right now.”

When teams started making mass cuts in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Ezell wasn’t surprised when the Tampa Bay Rays had him on their list. Without a chance to prove himself in spring training, he knew his age (turned 24 in April), injury history and minimal financial investment from the Rays made him a prime candidate to be released.

It was just the latest bump in a career filled with adversity for Ezell. Despite having a great college career, capped by a senior season in which he played in the SEC and hit .329 with 10 home runs, he was not picked in the 40 rounds of last summer’s MLB Draft.

Instead, he signed with the Rays as an undrafted free agent and just nine days after the Razorbacks’ season ended in Omaha, he was playing for their GCL affiliate in Florida. Ezell got off to a hot start in rookie ball, slashing .308/.474/.462 in five games.

“I was playing well,” Ezell said. “I played five games and my numbers were good, I was having really good at bats, hitting the ball hard, so I couldn’t complain there.”

In that fifth game, though, he was running the bases when he planted his foot to return to a bag and felt a pop. It turned out to be a torn ACL, which ended his first professional season.

The knee has completely recovered, but the pandemic and his subsequent release has forced Ezell to return home to Norfork, a small town in north-central Arkansas located on the White River. It’s a perfect spot for a guy who enjoys fishing during his free time.

Although he had been hitting into a net and doing other baseball-related activities, Ezell said he’s been focusing on just staying in shape with a weight set recently as he figures out what’s next.

Listed as a second baseman on his MiLB.com page, Ezell has actually still been playing first base. It’s the position he converted to just before the 2019 season because his shoulder hadn’t fully recovered from offseason surgery on an injury he reaggravated while at Southeast Missouri State.

He said he didn’t make a pain-free throw during his entire time as a graduate transfer with the Razorbacks, but the shoulder has shown some improvement in the past year.

“The shoulder, believe it or not, is better than it was,” Ezell said. “I’m not going to say it’s great, but it’s better than it was. Leading up to spring training, I was still playing first, so it probably wasn’t good enough to go back anywhere else in the infield, but it’s better. There’s no telling, with time, where it could get if I continue to throw, but I’ve been taking some time off these last few weeks.”

Ezell has considered getting into coaching or finding a regular 9-to-5 job, but he isn’t quite ready to give up on his dream of playing professional baseball just yet.

With there likely not being a minor league season this summer, teams could opt for an extended instructional league this fall if the pandemic allows it, but there’s a good chance Ezell has several more months of waiting ahead.

“You kind of have to play it by ear as far as trying to play with another team,” Ezell said. “With the draft already happening and now they’re signing free agents, you kind of have to wait and see what teams need.

“If I play, I’ll end up being a roster filler of some sort, to fill spots. Since they cut so many teams…it’ll just be interesting to see how many players they actually need for next year and when they’re going to sign those players. They could wait until the beginning of spring training next year to sign them.”