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Long before the coronavirus pandemic altered the landscape of college baseball, Dave Van Horn told anyone who would listen that his 2020 recruiting class was special.
The caveat he always included, though, was he needed to actually get the majority of those players to Arkansas - which is no small task.
With high school players eligible for the MLB Draft, Van Horn has signed highly touted classes in the past only for them to be decimated by the pros. Players like Chris Davis, Michael Fulmer, Robbie Ray and Greg Bird signed with the Razorbacks, but skipped college and enjoyed success in the big leagues, while countless others never made it out of the minors.
That appears to be a legitimate concern with this year’s class, which is ranked third nationally by Perfect Game and Baseball America and features more top-100 recruits than any other school.
During an interview on Halftime, ESPN Arkansas’ afternoon radio show hosted by Phil Elson, Van Horn provided some insight on his pitch to signees and their parents to convince them coming to Arkansas is the best option.
“If I’m a parent of a really good player who could go really high but he’s got a good scholarship to a good place, I would take no less than $2 million to buy my son out of college,” Van Horn said. “That’s just the way I feel because I really feel like the kids that get offered $800,000, $900,000 or $1, $1.2, $1.3 million, if they go to college, they’re going to make every bit of that and more and they’re going to be a lot more prepared to have success in the minor leagues, because the whole goal is to make it to the big leagues and stick.”
To back up his claim that players are more prepared to have success at the next level by playing for the Razorbacks, Van Horn can just point to a recent poll of 90 Division I coaches by Baseball America that named Arkansas’ player development facilities the best in the country.
Arkansas has a strong tradition of producing draft picks, especially since Van Horn took over 18 years ago, but he also sees other benefits of coming to college.
“You really learn about being a teammate in college,” Van Horn said. “In pro ball, it’s different. From the day you get there, you’re competing against everyone who’s wearing the same uniform you are. You’re just trying to move up.”
Van Horn acknowledged that there are a few kids who might be better off going straight into the minor leagues out of high school, but he believes the long-term pay off from going to college is usually the best route.
The good news for him and other college baseball coaches is that an expected ripple effect of the coronavirus is more high school players opting to go to college.
With only five rounds in this summer’s MLB Draft, there are just 160 chances for Arkansas’ signees to get drafted, compared to the 1,200-plus in a normal 40-round draft. That will create a supply-and-demand issue that favors MLB teams, as there will be a surplus of talent and they’ll be less willing to budge on signing bonuses.
The key for Van Horn will be getting his signees and their families to establish a target number for a signing bonus - whether it’s the $2 million he mentioned or not - and stick to it when talking to MLB teams ahead of the draft.
“We’re battling that right now,” Van Horn said. “It’s probably the main thing I’m concerned about - getting our roster correct, getting these kids to come to school - because I think it’s the right thing to do.”
