A school-record nine Razorbacks were named to the various All-SEC teams released by the conference Monday afternoon.

However, as you might expect, the so-called “snubs” received more attention than those who landed on the team. An argument could be made that a few of the honorees deserved a higher recognition.

Here is HawgBeat’s take on a few of these selections and snubs…

Isaiah Campbell - All-SEC snub?

In a vacuum, this seems to be an egregious omission by the SEC coaches. Coming off an up-and-down season, Campbell was tasked with filling massive shoes left by Blaine Knight, who went 14-0 and became a third-round draft pick.

He has taken the role of staff ace and run with it, compiling a 10-1 record with a 2.50 ERA, 97 strikeouts and only 15 walks in 90 innings. Aside from the loss column, Campbell has been better than Knight in every statistical category.

Despite those excellent numbers, he was not one of the four first- or second-team All-SEC pitchers. Instead, Mississippi State’s Ethan Small and Georgia’s Emerson Hancock got the first-team nods, followed by Missouri’s TJ Sikkema and Kentucky’s Zack Thompson on the second team.

Taking a step back and looking at this decision from a broader perspective, it becomes clear that Campbell wasn’t as big of a snub. Here are those pitchers’ numbers, compared to the Arkansas ace…

~Small: 8-1, 1.84 ERA, 0.81 WHIP, 6.3 K/BB, 15.1 K/9IP, 2.4 BB/9IP, .158 opp. avg.

~Hancock: 8-2, 1.31 ERA, 0.74 WHIP, 5.1 K/BB, 9.9 K/9IP, 2.0 BB/9IP, .155 opp. avg.

~Sikkema: 7-4, 1.32 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 3.3 K/BB, 10.3 K/9IP, 3.1 BB/9IP, .175 opp. avg.

~Thompson: 6-1, 2.40 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 3.8 K/BB, 13.0 K/9IP, 3.4 BB/9IP, .184 opp. avg.

~Campbell: 10-1, 2.50 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 6.5 K/BB, 9.7 K/9IP, 1.5 BB/9IP, .215 opp. avg.

Many fans will likely point to the win-loss record as Campbell’s biggest edge, but it is arguably the worst statistical indicator of a pitcher’s success. To earn a victory, a pitcher’s offense must provide run support, his defense can’t allow unearned runs and the bullpen must hang on to a lead - all of which is out of his control.

Using the other statistics, Small and Hancock are obvious first-team selections. As for the second-team selections, you could make a case for Campbell. However, it’s hard to ignore Sikkema’s 1.32 ERA - despite his four losses - and Thompson’s huge strikeout total (130).

Some have also asked, "How can Campbell be a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award, a national award, and not be All-SEC?" The answer is simple: The four All-SEC pitchers are also semifinalists, along with the two Texas A&M studs, John Doxakis and Asa Lacy. It's worth noting that Hancock, Small and Thompson are also semifinalists for the other national player of the year award, the Dick Howser Trophy.

Dave Van Horn - Coach of the Year snub?

The most legitimate gripe for Arkansas fans is Vanderbilt’s Tim Corbin winning SEC Coach of the Year over their own coach.

It was simply remarkable what Van Horn was able to do this year.

The Razorbacks lost nine players to the MLB Draft and two more seniors to graduation. Included in that total were six of nine starters, their top two starting pitchers and their top two middle relief pitchers.

On top of that, Arkansas was coming off an absolutely heartbreaking end to the 2018 season, when it was one foul pop up and one strike away from winning the first national title in program history.

Van Horn told his team that they’d be unranked in preseason polls. That was a naive prediction by the veteran coach, but the expectation was for there to still be a significant drop-off. The Razorbacks were tabbed 16th in the preseason HawgBeat Composite Poll and picked to finish third in the SEC West.

What did Arkansas do? It put together a 40-win season that included 20 SEC wins, an SEC West co-championship and a top-five national ranking…all without a single first-team All-SEC selection.

Meanwhile, Vanderbilt was the preseason pick to win the SEC and was No. 1 or No. 2 in most preseason polls. It had four first-team All-SEC selection, including Player of the Year JJ Bleday.

Had the Commodores not won the conference, it would have been a disappointment. Corbin should be commended for guiding them to the regular-season title, but picking him as the SEC Coach of the Year is lazy.

Casey Opitz - All-Defensive Team snub?

Another beef Arkansas fans should have is Ole Miss catcher Cooper Johnson getting the nod for the All-Defensive Team over Opitz.

This is not meant to be a slight at Johnson, who is regarded as one of the top catchers in college baseball and will likely be a high pick in next month’s MLB Draft. He has made several great plays and is worthy of the honor.

However, Opitz has been better in virtually every defensive category in his first year as the Razorbacks’ starting catcher. Here are the numbers…

~Johnson: .987 FLD% (6 errors in 447 chances), thrown out 44.7 percent of base stealers (17 of 38), 6 passed balls allowed, 2 pickoffs

~Opitz: .991 FLD% (4 errors in 435 chances), thrown out 47.5 percent of base stealers (19 of 40), 2 passed balls allowed, 4 pickoffs

This is likely a case of an older player getting the honor and making the sophomore wait his turn, but that shouldn’t happen. Opitz has been phenomenal - even better than the highly regarded Johnson - and deserved to be recognized for it.

First-team All-SEC snubs?

Here are side-by-side comparisons of Arkansas’ second-team All-SEC team selections to the first-team picks at their positions…

First base

Tanner Allen (MSU) - .348/.432/.527, 20 2B, 1 3B, 6 HR, 59 RBI, 51 R, 32 BB/33 K, 1-2 SB, .996 FLD%

Trevor Ezell - .314/.436/.541, 19 2B, 2 3B, 8 HR, 41 RBI, 63 R, 45 BB/47 K, 17-18 SB, .995 FLD%

Shortstop

Grae Kessinger (MISS) - .341/.436/.467, 17 2B, 4 HR, 40 RBI, 57 R, 34 BB/27 K, 15-17 SB, .967 FLD%

Casey Martin - .311/.390/.605, 19 2B, 3 3B, 15 HR, 53 RBI, 58 R, 27 BB/63 K, 10-12 SB, .905 FLD%

Outfield

JJ Bleday (VAN) - .346/.461/.748, 9 2B, 1 3B, 25 HR, 64 RBI, 68 R, 45 BB/45 K, 1-2 SB, .978 FLD%

Jake Mangum (MSU) - .375/.427/.490, 20 2B, 3 3B, 1 HR, 39 RBI, 65 R, 18 BB/18 K, 21-27 SB, .970 FLD%

Alerick Soularie (TENN) - .365/.472/.635, 13 2B, 1 3B, 11 HR, 45 RBI, 49 R, 33 BB/37 K, 7-8 SB, .981 FLD%

Dominic Fletcher - .320/.383/.551, 22 2B, 10 HR, 52 RBI, 47 R, 22 BB/48 K, 1-2 SB, .993 FLD%

Heston Kjerstad - .336/.415/.578, 10 2B, 1 3B, 14 HR, 44 RBI, 46 R, 18 BB/54 K, 4-4 SB, .979 FLD%

Designated hitter

Nelson Maldonado (FLA) - .335/.397/.581, 13 2B, 2 3B, 10 HR, 40 RBI, 40 R, 18 BB/29 K, 3-3 SB

Matt Goodheart - .352/.455/.497, 13 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 36 RBI, 27 R, 29 BB/36 K, 5-7 SB

Relief pitcher

Tyler Brown (VAN) - 2-1, 13 saves, 2.27 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, 7.4 K/BB, 13.1 K/9IP, 1.8 BB/9IP, .185 opp. avg.

Matt Cronin - 1-0, 10 saves, 2.25 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 2.5 K/BB, 13.1 K/9IP, 5.3 BB/9IP, .169 opp. avg.

Looking at these comparisons, most of the first-team selections were pretty obvious. The one that could have gone in Arkansas’ favor was Goodheart at designated hitter.

He had a higher batting average than Maldonado, but eight fewer home runs and lower RBI/run totals. There’s a good chance that if Goodheart managed to keep his batting average up near .400, he would have been a first-teamer.

However, it dipped to nearly .350 thanks to a late-season slump likely caused by his shoulder injury suffered against Tennessee.

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