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FAYETTEVILLE — Left-handed pitcher Nick Griffin will miss the 2021 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery about a week ago, head coach Dave Van Horn announced Wednesday.

Coming out of Monticello, Griffin was the No. 86 overall player in the Class of 2020 and part of Arkansas’ talented group of freshmen that ranked fifth nationally, according to Perfect Game.

Van Horn said Griffin’s arm started bothering him when he arrived on campus a couple weeks before the rest of the team and that it “didn’t feel right” after throwing a bullpen. At that point, the Razorbacks shut him down to be evaluated and he never threw a pitch during fall ball.

“We tried to rehab, do some things, which never works to be honest with you,” Van Horn said. “I’d say fix it now. Now is better than later. Now here we are two months later, got it evaluated again. It was bothering him after he got started throwing more and he had Tommy John surgery about a week ago.”

Simply getting Griffin - who committed as a sophomore - to campus was a win for the Razorbacks. Despite being considered a top-200 draft prospect by MLB Pipeline and Baseball America, he was not among the 160 players selected in this summer’s shortened, five-round MLB Draft.

With a 6-foot-4 frame that can support more than his current 185 pounds, scouts are most excited about Griffin’s projectability. His fastball already tops out at 94 miles per hour and sits in the 89-92 mph range, but there’s a belief that he can add even more velocity as his body matures.

Griffin’s arsenal also includes a slider, curveball and changeup, so Van Horn said they had high expectations for him despite it being his freshman season.

“We were planning on him being one of our better left-handed pitchers,” Van Horn said. “A young guy we could put out there and could work his way into the rotation, whether it be middle of the week or on the weekend. At a minimum, maybe some middle reliever, closer type (innings) as a freshman.”

Tommy John surgery is relatively common for pitchers. In recent years, the Razorbacks have seen Keaton McKinney, Hunter Milligan, Cody Scroggins and Caleb Bolden have the procedure.

Although McKinney and Milligan never got back to the level of play that made them top prospects, both also dealt with various other injuries that led to their eventual retirement.

Scroggins eventually returned and was a key arm on Arkansas’ back-to-back College World Series teams before being selected in the ninth round of the 2019 MLB Draft, while Bolden returned last season and posted a 1.12 ERA over 16 innings before the pandemic shut everything down.

There is optimism that Griffin will be like the latter two pitchers, as a guy who will contribute once he recovers. Van Horn said the left-hander should be about 100 percent by the time the 2022 season starts.

“Now our goal is to get him back as quick as possible, but at the same time, get him to a level where he can contribute a lot as a sophomore,” Van Horn said. “The key is how hard they work. They have to really, really work and if we can get Nick to do that, I think he’ll be better than ever and he’ll be a big part of our pitching staff in ’22.”