FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas is set to open fall practice Friday, just 10 weeks removed from playing for a national championship at the College World Series.
The 2019 season promises to look quite different from 2018 for the Razorbacks. Arkansas must replace nearly a dozen contributors from its national runner-up team, and for the first time will play in-state competition with home games against Arkansas-Little Rock on April 2 and Arkansas-Pine Bluff on April 16, a development 17th-year coach Dave Van Horn calls “exciting” and good for baseball across the state.
This fall will be about finding replacements for players that had been staples in the lineup, pitching rotation and bullpen for the past two-to-four years. Arkansas must replace:
• Blaine Knight, a two-year starter who won a school-record 14 games in 2018
• Kacey Murphy, a solid No. 2 starter who won eight games as a junior
• Eric Cole, a three-year starting outfielder who as a junior added a power bat to the leadoff position
• Carson Shaddy, who developed into an All-SEC second baseman and batted .330 as a redshirt senior
• Key relievers Jake Reindl and Barrett Loseke, who were innings eaters down the stretch last season
• Grant Koch, a three-year starting catcher
• Jax Biggers, a two-year starting shortstop
Other notable departures include 2018 seniors Luke Bonfield and Jared Gates, primary starters at designated hitter and first base throughout the postseason, and utility player Evan Lee, who signed professionally as a draft-eligible sophomore. Arkansas also lost a number of players to transfers - not uncommon each off-season for equivalency sports - most notably right-handed pitcher Bryce Bonnin to Texas Tech. Bonnin pitched 11 times as a freshman and was considered one of the top draft prospects in the nation coming out of high school.
Despite the roster turnover, Van Horn thinks Arkansas is going to have a good team in 2019.
“I think we’ve got a lot of guys that know how to win and that want to win and know what our program’s all about,” Van Horn said.
The Razorbacks return a solid core at the plate and on the mound. Dominic Fletcher, an All-SEC defender in center field, returns along with Freshman All-Americans Heston Kjerstad and Casey Martin, who were the team’s leading hitters a year ago. Martin, who is considered more of a natural middle infielder, will be tried out at shortstop this fall after playing third base last season to fill a void in the field.
“I see him as a middle infielder and second baseman at the next level,” Van Horn said of Martin, a potential first-round draft pick in 2020. “I think at this level, if he can show he can be consistent, I think he’d be a great shortstop.”
Martin will battle Jack Kenley, a junior ace fielder, at short, and either could play third base. Trevor Ezell, a graduate-transfer from Southeastern Missouri, could fill the void left by Shaddy at second, but he is likely to miss some fall practice after undergoing shoulder surgery this summer.
Another key transfer this fall is Matt Goodheart, a strong leadoff hitter at San Jacinto Junior College last season who could man a corner outfield position.
Jordan McFarland figures to be the leading candidate to play at first base, where he started 29 games as a sophomore last season. After being seldom used in the postseason, McFarland went on a tear in summer ball, hitting .339 with a home run, four doubles and 14 RBI for the Conejo Oaks of the California Collegiate League, a stint that was shorter than most because of the length of the Razorbacks’ season. He had 4 RBI in the championship game and was named the game’s most valuable player.
“It was only 20 games, but I think I had a really good month,” McFarland said. “I was working on some stuff - fielding, hitting - and I think it went really well. I was proud of the progress I made.”
McFarland said he felt he had corrected some technical missteps in his swing that had caused him to struggle as a sophomore, when he batted .277 in conference play.
“There would be some times during the school season that I would be out on my front foot, so (this summer) hitting in BP and even in the game I would try to concentrate on keeping my weight back,” McFarland said.
Angus Denton was a teammate of McFarland’s in California this summer and had a 1.16 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 23 1/3 innings, including three strikeouts to send the Oaks to the championship game. Denton, a submarine right-hander, redshirted the 2018 season after being used sparingly in 2017, but he figures to be more of a contributor in the bullpen as a redshirt sophomore.
“Overall, I think confidence is the biggest thing for me,” Denton said. “I’m a lot stronger…and when I play catch I can really tell a difference in how my ball was coming in. I add some (velocity) and I feel really good.
“I knew I needed to gain weight to be stronger so I could throw harder and be a better pitcher for the team. I wasn’t going to help the team if I was the guy I was last fall. I did OK, but I think redshirting really helped me.”
Arkansas also will welcome back Kevin Kopps this fall, nearly a year after he underwent Tommy John surgery. Kopps was expected to be a key reliever last season after a solid freshman campaign in which his breaking pitch was arguably the best on the team.
“He’s in incredible shape,” Van Horn said. “We had planned on him being a big part of our team in ’18 and to have that injury last fall it was tough on all of us, especially Kevin. But I think he’s a guy that has a chance to get in the rotation.”
A lack of starting experience is about the only perceived weakness for Arkansas’ pitching staff as they enter the fall. Isaiah Campbell is back after an up-and-down 2018 campaign and starting experience is thin behind him. Kopps and sophomore right-hander Kole Ramage are the only other pitchers with starting experience, a combined seven starts between them.
“There could be a freshman or two with really good stuff,” Van Horn said. “It’s just a matter of mentally if they can handle it at this level. A lot of times the pitching thing is kind of between your ears. We’ll find out who can handle it. Kole Ramage could be a guy; his stuff is really good. He throws three pitches for a strike. Just let them prove it to us.”
Arkansas players will have several chances to prove their meddle. In addition to intrasquad scrimmages most days in practice, the Razorbacks will play two exhibition games as part of an NCAA rule that allows out-of-season competition without counting against the maximum number of regular-season games a team can play. Arkansas has not announced its exhibition schedule, but it is believed the Razorbacks will play Oklahoma and Wichita State sometime in September or October.
“We kind of get tired of playing each other for over a month, so it will be nice to add some uniqueness to that and play a couple of teams,” McFarland said.
This story originally appeared in Hawgs Illustrated