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FAYETTEVILLE — The Razorbacks have a bullpen filled with plenty of veteran arms this season, all of whom are hoping to prove their worth before moving on from Fayetteville.
One of those veterans is super senior Zebulon Vermillion. The big right-hander has had an up-and-down career at Arkansas, but he believes this year presents the best opportunity for success since he arrived.
“Every team that I’ve been with consecutively has just gotten better,” Vermillion said on the Diamond Hawgs Podcast. “Talent-wise, this year’s (team) is the best I’ve ever been on in all areas of the team.”
As a sophomore in 2019, Vermillion had the best season of his career. He posted a 4-1 record with a 3.63 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 22 1/3 innings. After his impressive sophomore campaign, Vermillion entered the 2020 season as one of the top relievers on the squad.
He got off to a great start, too, allowing only four hits and striking out 12 in 7 1/3 scoreless innings before the season came to a grinding halt because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vermillion entered his senior year last season in a new role. He was the Opening Day starter for Arkansas and six of his first seven appearances came as a starter.
“Personally, I have no bias over either (role),” Vermillion said. “I’m comfortable in both positions since I’ve done it before. It really comes down to my confidence in how well I’m pitching.”
Though he showed glimpses as a starter, Vermillion eventually evolved into a reliever to finish out the 2021 season and that’s where he is to start this year, as he’s one of the most experienced arms out of the bullpen.
Vermillion’s first outing came in Friday’s loss to Illinois State. He threw one inning of relief and allowed no hits while walking two batters and striking out one. Despite not allowing a hit, Vermillion did not seem too pleased with himself.
“I think I did alright,” Vermillion said. “I think I could have thrown better. I came into a situation where we needed two big outs and I got those outs. I didn’t perform as well as I wanted going into that next inning.”
Vermillion said he is very self-critical when it comes to his performance on the field. Once he got out of the analytical shell, the serious mood transitioned into lots of smiles.
Sometimes looks can be vital to a pitcher's success. Vermillion’s 6-foot-5, 240-pound frame paired with his big beard makes him look intimidating to an opposing batter.
“When I came into Arkansas as a freshman, I was the same height, 6-5, 180 pounds and I was baby faced and obviously I wasn’t super intimidating,” Vermillion said. “Throughout my career, I’ve put on about 60 pounds… I could start to see I’m a lot more intimidating. Personality-wise I don’t think I’m very intimidating.”
Vermillion is all business on the diamond, but he claims to be somewhat of a nerd off the diamond. He shared how he is a gamer, movie watcher and chess player. He is also a musically gifted guy who play at least four different instruments.
The bond formed with teammates can prove to be vital for a team's success. Vermillion has spent time with Arkansas reliever Kole Ramage when traveling on the road and the two have developed an interesting tradition.
“Me and Kole Ramage, when we are on the road we always watch a movie every night before the game,” Vermillion said. “We try to watch Thor: Ragnarok every weekend just because we love that movie.”
The road shenanigans carried over to former Razorback reliever and 2021 Golden Spikes Award winner Kevin Kopps. Vermillion roomed with Kopps on the road last year and said Kopps had some odd quirks.
“Everything he did was kind of crazy,” Vermillion said. “I would come into the room and I’d be ready to go to bed. And I’d be eating the box of pizza we had and drinking water or whatever. I look over and Kevin is like busting out abs and working out before he goes to sleep.
“I’m just here eating a piece of pizza and laying in bed being lazy and he’s just drinking beet juice and doing abs before he goes to bed. He just wanted to be great and he did what made him happy.”
The team does not have the luxury of turning the ball over to Kopps in sticky situations this season, but Vermillion said he is confident they will be able to manage.
“Obviously we relied a lot on Kevin last year, but he’s not here,” Vermillion said. “That’s not saying that someone won’t step up like him this year. It’s just understanding that all of our pitchers are unbelievable players with a lot of talent that can perform at a high level. It’s just going out and doing it.”
Vermillion and the rest of the Razorbacks’ pitching staff will have their first “road” test at the Round Rock Classic this weekend. First pitch against Indiana is set for 4 p.m. CT Friday at the Dell Diamond. The game can be streamed on FloBaseball.
