Van Horn pleased with how roster turned out
Arkansas baseball lost of a lot of production from the 2023 roster and plenty of potential star signees during the 2023 MLB Draft, but head coach Dave Van Horn and his staff still managed to reload the roster.
The Diamond Hogs added 10 transfers, one of which is from junior college, and they managed to get 15 of their signees on campus. Sixty-Four Analytics ranks Arkansas' transfer haul as No. 2 nationally, and Perfect Game ranked the Razorbacks' 2023 signing class following the drafted as No. 2 nationally, as well.
While it's tough to lose some of your top incoming guys — such as Indiana transfer Craig Yoho (drafted in 8th round by Brewers) and signee Walker Martin (drafted in 2nd round by Giants) — the draft process was an overall success for Van Horn and company.
"We knew that we were going to lose some kids in the draft, obviously, and we were just hoping we might be able to keep one of those three infielders that signed,” Van Horn said. “Fortunately we able to keep (Nolan) Souza. The money that's given them - so to speak - and where there were drafted, there were some tough calls, but they got what they wanted and they stuck to their word.
“But other than that, some of the surprises were that maybe we got a couple more pitchers through that I though they might. Some big lefties and some guys that had really put it that they were not going to go to college unless they got a lot of money."
Arkansas was able to get nine of its pitcher signees on campus, two of which were Perfect Game top-100 prospects — lefties Adam Hachman and Tucker Holland. Ranked No. 59 nationally by Perfect Game, Hachman did have surgery to repair a UCL injury and Van Horn said he doesn't think Hachman will pitch in the fall
"He had a little different surgery than just straight up Tommy John," Van Horn said. "He had the internal brace, which could be half the time. It’s kind of a new thing and I’m not going to go through all the details. That’s kind of the way we hear it talked about, is internal brace.
"I feel like that he’ll show us what we need to do. We’re not going to rush him. If he’s ready to pitch this year, he’ll definitely pitch. If not, we’ll just get ready for the future and hopefully have two really good years. If we get two and half good years, that’s fine, whatever."
Overall, Van Horn said he feels like they addressed the holes they needed to fill and they feel good about the experience they have coming back.
"We feel good about the guys that are coming back that have been in our program, that they’ve continued to develop and get better," Van Horn said. "And then the freshman class that’s coming in, it’s still a really good class, even though we lost some kids to professional baseball.
"And like I said, we knew we were. So we tried to cover all that. By going out and getting a couple of infielders and getting a few more pitchers, it really helped us."
One of the key retentions the team made was right-handed pitcher Will McEntire, who has played a key role on the Razorback pitching staff for the past two seasons. Van Horn said he expects the Bryant native to once again be a key guy in 2024.
"We really wanted him back," Van Horn said. "We let him know that. I think he’ll be a big part of our pitching staff. Love the experience and the makeup. The stuff’s good. It should continue to get better if he’s healthy."
Two positions that clearly needed to be addressed following the 2023 season — which resulted in a Fayetteville Regional loss to TCU — were catcher and shortstop. The Hogs landed two of the portal's best at those respective spots in Texas Tech transfer catcher Hudson White and Sacramento State transfer shortstop Wehiwa Aloy.
"Super excited about both of those guys,” Van Horn said. You know they both have Division I experience and those are some positions that we felt that we needed to take care of a little bit more. Those are probably two of the better ones in the country and we were fortunate."
Arkansas was fortunate to have left-handed pitcher Hunter Hollan for one year in Fayetteville during the 2023 season, but he was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 3rd round of the MLB Draft.
Van Horn and his staff replaced Hollan with one of the nation's top transfer pitchers — Texas Tech transfer lefty Mason Molina, who started 16 games in 2023 as a sophomore and threw 83.1 innings with a 3.67 ERA, 108 strikeouts and 35 walks.
"First off, when we talked, Mason had about 37 Division 1 schools trying to get him to come there," Van Horn said. "We feel really fortunate that he liked it here. I know that he took three visits, he went to Georgia, and I think he went to Texas A&M, and we were his last visit.
"We didn't know how it was going to go whenever he left. We felt like he had a good visit, and I think he liked what we're doing here. We had some of the guys in town, so they got to hang out with him a little bit and talk about our program. I feel like that always helps."
The roster will soon start to take shape, as full-team fall practice is set to begin on Friday, Sept. 8, Van Horn announced Wednesday.
"That will get us to the middle of October with our 45-day window if we use it all," Van Horn said. "Sometimes, we don't use the last couple of days and get those back for maybe in the spring. We'll see how that turns out.
"Our philosophy here is to get them here and go a couple of weeks with kind of their position coaches and the weight room a little bit and then get out there and get them going and off the field in October so we can get in that weight room, get them off the field."
For a full outlook of the 2023-24 Arkansas baseball roster, click here.