Top-20 prospect Robert Moore joining Diamond Hogs for 2020 season

FAYETTEVILLE — The Razorbacks are getting an unexpected boost to their infield for the 2020 season.

Robert Moore, the No. 20 overall player in the Class of 2020 according to Perfect Game, is graduating from high school a semester early and enrolling at Arkansas in January. The rare decision to forgo his senior season of high school baseball means he’ll begin his college career a year earlier than previously thought.

Although he didn’t officially announce it until Wednesday, Moore’s had the move in the works for more than a year, dating back to a conversation with head coach Dave Van Horn and assistant coach Nate Thompson following a solid showing at Perfect Game’s WWBA World Championship in the fall of 2018.

“They just brought up the idea and originally I said no to it,” Moore told HawgBeat. “But again this fall, when I was on my official visit in October, they brought it up and I thought it over and decided to follow through with it this time.”

Despite the initial hesitancy, Moore still took all of the necessary steps along the way to graduate from Shawnee Mission East in Kansas this December. That includes taking two summer classes following his sophomore year - “just because,” as he said - before the idea of graduating early was ever discussed.

After his conversation with Van Horn and Thompson, Moore decided to take nine classes during the second semester of his junior year and then three more classes over the summer.

It wasn’t easy, especially because he was busy traveling the country for tournaments and events at Wrigley Field in Chicago (Under Armour All-America Game), Progressive Field in Cleveland (High School All-Star Game), Petco Park in San Diego (Perfect Game All-American Classic), Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles (Team USA trails), Tropicana Field in Tampa Bay (Team USA trials) and even at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City (Midwest Scouting Association showcase), where his father - Dayton Moore - is the Royals’ general manager.

“Last summer, I actually didn’t finish in time, so I had to carry those over to the fall,” Moore said. “It was a lot of work. I’m glad I did the work, but it’s just a lot.”

The logistics of taking summer classes while also playing in the high profile events in which most top prospects participate illustrates one reason why graduating early isn’t as common in baseball as it is in football.