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Another in-state player has decided to stay home and play for the Razorbacks.
Camden Fairview sophomore Martavius Thomas announced his commitment to Arkansas via Twitter on Friday.
A center fielder and shortstop, he is the fourth in-state player to join the Razorbacks’ 2023 class. They also have eight out-of-state players in that group, making it a 12-man class so far.
The southern half of the state has been good to Arkansas in recent years and has several more prospects in the pipeline. In 2020 alone, the Razorbacks signed Ethan Bates (Hot Springs Lakeside), Nick Griffin (Monticello), Tyler Cacciatori (Sheridan) and Gabriel Starks (Watson Chapel), and that doesn’t even include Watson Chapel’s Tink Hence, who got drafted and signed with the Cardinals.
In the upcoming classes, Arkansas has already signed Brandon Arledge (Sheridan) and Braylon Bishop (Texarkana) for 2021 and has Austin Jobe (El Dorado, 2022), Ty Waid (Texarkana, 2023) and now Thomas committed.
To get a better feel for what kind of player Arkansas is getting in Thomas, HawgBeat reached out to his travel ball coach with the Arkansas Sticks, Chase Brewster, for a scouting report…
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(For a complete list of Arkansas’ baseball commitments in the 2021-24 classes, as well as updates, clips and links to other scouting reports on the recruits, click here.)
Martavius Thomas - Class of 2023
Position: Outfield/shortstop
School: Camden Fairview HS
Height: 5-9 | Weight: 160 | B/T: S/L
Other offers/interest: Tennessee, Louisville, Oklahoma State, Florida State, Little Rock, Stetson
He may not be very big, but Thomas is a great athlete whose best physical attribute is his speed. As a freshman, he was clocked at 6.37 seconds in the 60-yard dash - baseball’s preferred measure of speed over the 40-yard dash used in football.
Even if he doesn’t get any faster over the next couple of years, Thomas will still join the Razorbacks as one of the fastest players in the country. For comparison’s sake, former Arkansas speedster Casey Martin - a third-round pick in the 2020 MLB Draft - ran the 60 in 6.5 seconds coming out of high school.
