FAYETTEVILLE — Before he emerged as a 61-game starter for Arkansas last season, Jacob Nesbit showed signs of improvement during the summer in North Dakota.
Playing for the Bismarck Larks of the wood bat Northwoods League, Nesbit batted .266 with 2 home runs and 28 RBI in 65 games.
Once back at Arkansas, Nesbit had a strong fall season to win the starting job at third base and in his first season to play for the Razorbacks — he redshirted in 2018 — he batted .255 with 3 home runs, 42 RBI and 35 runs scored in 64 games.
In addition to providing a trustworthy glove, Nesbit had several highlights at the plate. Among them were a 6-RBI game against Tennessee and a 2-RBI double that ignited a five-run rally to avoid a sweep at Vanderbilt.
“You’ve got a guy that can’t make the roster and the next year he’s starting on a team that wins 40 (regular-season) games,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said during the 2019 postseason. “It’s hard to predict that.”
In 2020, the Razorbacks are out to see if the Nesbit plan can be replicated.
Zack Gregory also redshirted his first season at Arkansas and is coming off a standout summer in Bismarck where he batted .274, recorded 47 RBI and scored 35 runs in 62 games, and was second in the Northwoods League with a .478 on-base percentage.
In 2019, Gregory couldn’t crack the lineup after struggling in the fall. Asked whether Bismarck is the destination to get his hitters right, Arkansas assistant coach Nate Thompson laughed.
“I guess so,” he said. “We’ll have to look at that again this year.”
For Gregory, the summer in North Dakota was a nice change to what he was accustomed to growing up in Keller, Texas, near Fort Worth.
“The weather was great,” Gregory said. “It might get up to 88 degrees.”
It also served as an opportunity to refocus. He was hungry to improve.
“I didn’t come here — and I’m sure nobody does — going, ‘Yeah, I’m going to redshirt one year,’” Gregory said. “Everyone comes in and wants to play. When I came in and things didn’t go the way I planned them to, I wasn’t super excited about it, but I feel like it was for the better.
“Once I kind of got that through my head, it started clicking and I started playing baseball like I knew I could.”
Because he was redshirting and because of SEC and NCAA caps on travel sizes, Gregory left Fayetteville for his summer destination at the same time the Razorbacks were beginning postseason play at the SEC Tournament. He watched from his smartphone as Arkansas rolled through its home regional and super regional and clinched a berth in the College World Series.
“On bus rides, I would be watching the games,” he said, adding that it was at least five hours for the trips from Bismarck to other towns in the Northwoods League.
Summer baseball is a much different experience from high-level college baseball. Summer league players live with host families, travel by bus and work out alongside everyone else at fitness centers. Gregory said he and his teammates had memberships to the local YMCA.
Gregory said fan enthusiasm is still high. His team averaged nearly 1,900 fans at each home game. One Northwoods League team in Wisconsin averaged more than 6,000 per game.
“It was crazy and they were all into the game, and it got loud,” Gregory said. “It was awesome. I hadn’t played in front of a big crowd yet because I hadn’t played here (at Arkansas).”
Gregory began the summer with a 20-game on-base streak. In July, he was voted to the Northwoods League’s All-Star Game.
“He worked hard and was diligent,” Thompson said. “He made some changes. He is tough.”
Gregory doesn’t have a defined position — he can play in the infield or outfield, although he may not be the team’s best defender at any position — which makes it tough to say just how much he will be able to play. But Thompson said Gregory’s left-handed bat “has forced the conversation” about putting him in the lineup some.
He has spent this preseason at second base, working out alongside heralded mid-term enrollee Robert Moore.
“If I can fit in in the infield, I’ll play in the infield,” Gregory said. “If I fit in in the outfield — wherever it is, I’m just looking to help the team.”
Gregory struck out in his first four at-bats of the preseason against pitchers Patrick Wicklander, Caden Monke and Kevin Kopps, but has reached base at least twice in the team's past three weekend scrimmages.
Gregory was 2-for-4 with a double, a single and a walk Sunday; 2-for-4 with a stolen base Monday; and 1-for-3 with a walk, a stolen base and 2 runs Friday - the hit a 2-run home run to right field that came against redshirt junior right hander Marshall Denton.
As much as his improved ability to make contact, Gregory’s knack for taking pitches and drawing walks is an appealing characteristic for a lineup with so much firepower. Even if he doesn't start, he provides the Razorbacks with some options off the bench.
“He’s versatile," Thompson said. "He can give us time on the infield if we need it and he also proved in the fall that he can run down a baseball in the outfield.
“Zack has improved so much over the last year and worked so hard, and I’m so proud of him. He’s a competitor and he’s tough, and I think he knows his game now more than ever."
CORRECTION: Jacob Nesbit was the starter at third base in 2019. A previous version of this story inaccurately stated he was at second base.