FAYETTEVILLE — It is unclear when Keaton McKinney and Cody Scroggins will be 100 percent available to pitch for Arkansas this season, but it is clear is that both pitchers will have a role.
That alone is quite a feat given both are less than a year removed from undergoing Tommy John surgery, a procedure that can sometimes require up to 15 months of rehabilitation.
McKinney, a redshirt junior with 30 career starts, underwent surgery last February after hurting his elbow in a preseason practice. Scroggins, a redshirt sophomore reliever, injured his elbow during a game at Louisiana Tech last March 1.
"Cody is probably a month or a month and a half behind Keaton as far as the injury and the surgery, but he’s just about caught him in his rehab," Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said.
"If they stay healthy...there's no doubt those guys are going to pitch for us."
Both began to pitch to live hitters again within the past two weeks. The response to the occasion was mixed.
"I hadn't had butterflies in a while," Scroggins said. "It was exciting to me."
"I wasn't nervous at all," McKinney said. "I honestly felt more comfortable than I ever felt, and had confidence. You get confidence from putting in the work and if you're prepared you shouldn't be nervous. I put in all this work for a year and I just felt like it's my time to do what I needed to do."
McKinney's velocity was around 90 mph during a two-inning appearance in practice last Friday, and his fastball has been clocked at 93 mph since he was cleared to pitch again, which Van Horn said was the fastest he has been clocked during his four years in Fayetteville.
McKinney has developed a second plus off-speed pitch to complement his changeup, which made him a high draft prospect coming out of Ankeny High School in Iowa in 2014. McKinney snagged a weekend starter spot and led the SEC with two complete games as a freshman in 2015 when he was named Freshman All-America by Louisville Slugger.
But a hip injury caused him to need surgery after the season and he struggled as a sophomore when he recorded a 6.66 ERA in 13 games, including 12 starts.
"I’m really looking forward to seeing him pitch when he gets that arm in shape because we all know what he did as a freshman and he could really spot that fast ball and had a plus changeup," Van Horn said. "He’s still got the changeup. Now the velocity is a little bit better.
"Nobody deserves it more than McKinney. That guy has worked incredibly hard and just am excited to see what he can do."
McKinney's hard work was evident last summer when he interned for a company co-owned by his sister in Humboldt, Iowa, a 4,500-population town about 100 miles northeast of Des Moines. McKinney's daytime included "a lot of computer work," but his downtime was spent conditioning.
"At 5 a.m. I'd wake up and every other day I'd do legs or upper body," said McKinney, who has gained 15 pounds and now weighs around 240 pounds. "Sometimes I would take a lunch break and go for a run. At night I would metabolic stuff, a little more conditioning work. Sometimes I'd workout three times a day. I just wanted to be back healthy.
"I was really motivated. My brother-in-law would wake up with me at 5 a.m. and I'm really thankful for him. I can't say enough about having a guy who would wake up with me and spend their whole summer just to get me ready for the season. It meant a lot and went a long way to get me to where I am."
McKinney said it was also good to be able to workout with Scroggins during the early months of their rehab. Along with Isaiah Campbell, who missed last season after having surgery to remove bone spurs from his elbow, the pitchers spent several hours together lifting weights and watching games last spring.
"It does help to have a partner with you in that," Scroggins said. "I came to the field positive every single day. For the first five months I couldn't do much, so you've just got to stay positive with it and that's what I did."
Like McKinney, Scroggins' velocity has been clocked in the low 90s this preseason.
"I keep telling him to back off a little bit...but he's worked extremely hard," Van Horn said.
"Cody is such a competitor," Johnson said. "He wants it bad, which is a good thing."
Coaches are hesitant to say when either pitcher will be ready to pitch in a game for Arkansas. Johnson said McKinney might be able to throw a limited number of pitches against Bucknell during the Razorbacks' season-opening series in two weeks.
"If you look up and the situation is right - it's not a stressful situation in the game...perfect world McKinney would get the ball for an inning opening weekend," Johnson said.
As for Scroggins, Johnson said a more realistic timeline to get on the mound is sometime after the Razorbacks' four-game trip to San Diego late this month.
"We come back and play five days in a row" against Dayton and Southern Cal, Johnson said. "That's more realistic for Cody, barring setbacks."