How to Watch, Scouting Report: Diamond Hogs at Alabama

NOT A SUBSCRIBER? SIGN UP TODAY FOR ACCESS TO ALL OF HAWGBEAT'S PREMIUM CONTENT AND FEATURES

Arkansas returns home for its penultimate SEC series of the season. Here's everything you need to know ahead of the three games against Vanderbilt...

Thursday, May 19 — 6 p.m. (SECN+)

Friday, May 20 — 7 p.m. (SEC Network)

Saturday, May 21 — 1 p.m. (SECN+)

College students, get a year of HawgBeat coverage for just $11.95! Request details via email from your school account (.edu) to andrewhutchinson413 (at) gmail (dot) com.

Coming off another weekend in which its starting rotation as a whole failed to live up to expectations set by dazzling performances throughout the earlier part of the season, Arkansas has shuffled its starting rotation for the first time in 2022.

Connor Noland will remain on Friday and Jaxon Wiggins will remain in the Game 3 slot, but moved up a day to Saturday because of the early start to the series. The change is Will McEntire making his first career SEC start in the series opener Thursday.

Left-hander Hagen Smith made the trip and will be available, but if he pitches, the freshman won't start for the first time of his young career.

Against Vanderbilt, Noland's recent struggles continued, turning in yet another start that was worse than the one before it. Although he made it through five innings, his five runs allowed were a season high and five free passes handed out were another high mark for 2022. It was only his second start this year in which he got more outs via the fly out versus groundouts. He also surrendered his third round tripper of 2022, the second of which came the week before at Auburn.

Friday will be his second career appearance against the Tide, with his other being an appearance in his freshman year. That start was the second shortest of his long career in Fayetteville, as he lasted only 1 2/3 innings and gave up three runs in a 10-0 loss.

McEntire is coming off his second SEC appearance of his career, but it had a similar feel as a start because he pitched the three innings after Game 2 resumed Sunday. He allowed only two hits and notched three strikeouts in three scoreless innings that lowered his season ERA to 1.96.

For the second weekend in a row, it was Jaxon Wiggins that turned in the best start against the Commodores. In the seven-inning rubber match that ended in a shutout loss, he gave up three runs — two earned — on four hits and only two free passes, which is tied for his fewest handed out this year.

Similar to Noland, he has one prior appearance against Alabama. Last season, he gave up a run in one inning on the bump but converted one of his four saves on the year.

Alabama has had a mostly consistent weekend rotation over the course of the season.

Junior lefty Connor Prielipp figured to be the ace of the staff, but after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2021, he opted out of the 2022 campaign. Despite not pitching in a game since May 16 of last year, he sits as the 23rd-ranked MLB Draft prospect, according to MLB.com.

Garrett McMillan has stepped in to fill Prielipp’s projected role, pitching the series opener every weekend for the Tide. A Tuscaloosa native, he spent the first two years of his career at Shelton State Community College.

A big and physical right hander at 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds, he has a three-pitch repertoire with a fastball, curveball and changeup. His fastball sits in the low-90s and upper-80s, getting some arm-side run from an upper three-quarters delivery. The curveball is a spike 12-6 breaker that he seems to prefer over the changeup — which usually has about 10-12 mph in difference from the heater — but he can go to either for strikeouts.

He has been a very reliable arm for the Tide, going at least five innings in every start this season and has thrown at least 100 pitches in every SEC outing. Despite that, Alabama has dropped four straight games with him on the bump. It has a 5-9 record overall when McMillan makes the start.

Leading Alabama’s pitching staff in most statistical categories, his 71 1/3 innings pitched is third in the SEC. He’s also top 10 in the conference with 71 strikeouts and a 1.14 WHIP. Teams have been able to go yard when he’s on the mound, though, as 13 home runs allowed are a team high.

Jacob McNairy is the veteran right hander the Hogs will see on Friday night. Finding his way into the rotation for the bulk of conference play, he had a tough start to that stretch against Texas A&M and Ole Miss, but hasn’t allowed more than three earned runs in five starts since.

He has a quick delivery with short arm action from a lower three-quarters slot and hides the ball well behind his body.

He has a very similar pitch mix to McMillan, but his fastball is a sinker in the low-90s that gets a ton of horizontal run into a right-handed batter. He also throws a spike curveball, but he gets much more horizontal break away from a righty. His third offering is a circle changeup that has very similar movement to the sinker and appears difficult for hitters to distinguish. He goes to either off-speed pitch for strikeouts.

He's also been susceptible to the long ball in 2022, allowing 12 total. Four of those came over 3 2/3 innings against Ole Miss and he’s allowed at least one in all but one of his SEC starts. He likes to keep the ball in the strike zone, as his 3.86 strikeout-to-walk ratio is 13th best in the conference.

McNairy has thrown more than 100 pitches twice. Both instances were in two of his last three starts, but he usually doesn’t get to 90 pitches before he’s pulled in favor of the bullpen.

Left-handed Grayson Hitt will get the ball on Sunday. The sophomore has been trusted by the coaching staff this season, earning the start in every series finale of 2022.

A heralded prospect coming into Tuscaloosa, he was the top lefty in the state of Tennessee his senior year of high school. ESPN ranked him as the 81st overall prospect for the 2020 MLB Draft and he currently sits as the 91st prospect for the 2023 draft.

Scouts salivate over the southpaw because of his prototypical size at 6-foot-3 and 195 pounds and electric repertoire that features a fastball up to 95 mph but sitting in the low-to-mid 90s and a good, but developing slider.

Hitt had a great start to his 2022 campaign, but has fallen off some as the Tide got into the tougher part of its schedule.

In three of his last four outings, he’s allowed more than five runs. He did have a gem of an outing against Georgia in the middle of that, though, as he tossed six scoreless frames with three hits, two walks and seven strikeouts.

While he’s solid at limiting extra-base hits, he struggles with his control at times. He’s eclipsed five innings on the mound four times in 12 outings and has been only allowed to work past 100 pitches once. Even though Arkansas typically struggles against lefties, its lineup’s patient approach at the plate and propensity for drawing walks could give Hitt trouble.

Even though he doesn’t always provide the most longevity in his appearances, Alabama has the most success of the starting trio when he gets the start, as it has a 8-4 record in those cases.

Alabama’s bullpen is led by two veterans in Hunter Hoopes and Brock Guffey.

Hoopes has the lowest ERA on the team among arms with at least 20 innings on the mound, posting a very good 2.25 mark to date. His 15 appearances are tied with Hunter Furtado for second most on the squad. The Tide uses a committee of arms to close games out and the righty is responsible for two of the ten total saves.

Guffey is a sidewinder lefty whose 28 2/3 innings are second most and 17 appearances are the most of any reliever on the team. Easily capable of working multiple innings at a time, there is a chance the Hogs will see him more than once in the series. He’s been hit around at times, allowing nearly a knock per inning, but his 3.45 ERA is solid.

Dylan Ray is the man responsible for the most saves in the bullpen with five. A former teammate of Max Soliz Jr. at Bob Jones High School, the redshirt freshman has struck out 42 batters in 27 innings. He had some struggles early in the season but seems to have hit his stride in SEC play with more consistent play, bringing his season ERA down to 4.33. His seven home runs allowed are second most among bullpen arms.

Jake Leger is another left-handed arm that could see some innings. He hasn’t gone more than once in any series yet in 2022, but his 13 appearances and 22 1/3 innings of work reflect a level of trust by the coaching staff. He allows more than a hit per inning of work, but has only walked four batters all season.

Overall, the staff’s 4.34 ERA ranks sixth in the SEC over the course of the 2022 season, but its 5.44 ERA in conference play is slightly worse, ranking eighth. As whole, the staff has walked 171 batters, which only trails Tennessee in the SEC ranks, while 70 home runs allowed is tied with three other schools for most in the conference.

(NOTE: Super senior Chris Lanzilli and freshman Peyton Stovall could also make starts for Arkansas. Their slash lines are .304/.412/.456 and .263/.365/.372, respectively. ... Junior Owen Diodati could also make a start for Alabama. His slash line is .238/.354/.424.)

2022 Record: 27-24 (10-16 SEC)
Head Coach: Brad Bohannon (5th season) 132-106 record
Conference Standings: 6th in SEC West, 11th in SEC overall

~Although it was off to a hot 16-1 start in the 2020 season before the Covid-19 pandemic cancelled the 2020 season, Alabama had its best season under Bohannon in 2021. Notching a 32-26 overall record and 12-17 record in conference play, the Crimson Tide were the 3 seed in the Ruston Regional, but lost two of three and were bounced.

~Alabama is Bohannon’s first head coaching gig of his career, but he had plenty of experience in the SEC prior to taking the job in 2018. He began his playing career at Vanderbilt in 1994, but went onto play at Georgia Tech and Berry College as well. His coaching career began as an assistant at Wake Forest in 2001, where he coached two years before moving to Kentucky as an assistant. He spent 11 seasons with the Wildcats before he took another assistant job at Auburn for the 2016 and 2017 seasons, earning his current role as head coach of the Tide.

~Although the Tide got off to a good start in SEC play, taking a series from Texas A&M at home and sweeping Ole Miss on the road in back-to-back weekends, it has struggled to continue that trend throughout the season. Prior to those two weekends, Alabama dropped series to Florida and Mississippi State. On the back end of the hot streak, it has lost five series in a row, including being swept at South Carolina and losing the first two games in its road series at Auburn before the series finale was cancelled.

~Despite not being very good in recent years, Alabama actually still leads the all-time series with a 49-45 record against Arkansas since they became SEC foes in 1992, including a 25-16 mark in Tuscaloosa. Since 2012, though, the Razorbacks have won eight of nine series and are 19-8.

~Alabama’s offense has struggled to make a mark anywhere near the top of the SEC leaderboards in 2022. The only categories it’s reached the top five in are total at bats, strikeouts (third fewest) and double plays grounded into. It ranks dead last in the SEC in walks drawn with 184, on-base percentage at .360, 283 runs scored and sacrifices flies with only 18.

~The Tide’s team offensive struggles translate to individual marks as well. Jim Jarvis and Zane Denton are the only players on the squad to rank top 10 in the SEC in any statistical categories. Jarvis is tied for second with Zack Gregory and Davis Diaz at five sacrifice bunts. He’s also tied for sixth in the conference with 203 at bats. Denton is tied with BT Riopelle of Florida for fifth most strikeouts in the SEC with 58. Tommy Seidl is the only other player to nearly crack the top 10, as his 11 stolen bases are tied for 11th.

~Alabama is a decent defensive team compared to the rest of the SEC, as its .979 fielding percentage ranks sixth. Its double play duo has stood out, rolling a pair 39 times, which is fourth best in the conference. Base stealers have had some success against the Tide. It has thrown out only 10 of 50 prospective base swipers.

~Former Arkansas backup catcher Dominic Tamez has had a decent season offensively for the Tide, as his .292 batting average is fifth best on the squad among players with at least 50 at bats. His 30 RBIs are also third on the team, but he has struggled in many other ways. His 30-to-11 strikeout-to-walk ratio is worst on the team, leading to a .327 on-base percentage, which is also the lowest. Defensively, he’s tied with Michael Turner and Dominic Keegan for most runners caught stealing, but has also allowed 38 runners to successfully swipe a bag, which is second most in the SEC. Six passed balls are also tied for fifth most.

~Andrew Pinckney is the biggest individual offensive threat the Hogs will attempt to silence over the weekend. Typically hitting at the top of the order, his .926 OPS is the best the Tide has to offer. He’s a solid all-around hitter from the right side, as his 56 hits are one short of most on the team and 92 total bases is third. He also leads the team in hit by pitches, doubles and triples and has yet to ground into a double play in 202 plate appearances.

"Just like all of them, he’s going to throw the ball 92 to 95 miles an hour from the right side, with a slider and change-up and competes. Doesn’t walk people. That’s a big thing. Throwing strikes. Making teams swing. He’s given them a lot of quality innings, given them a chance to win, just like he did last weekend. We just have to do a good job." -- Dave Van Horn, on Alabama ace Garrett McMillan

**JOIN THE CONVERSATION WITH ARKANSAS FANS ON THE TOUGH, HAWGBEAT'S PREMIUM MESSAGE BOARD**