Hogs don't wait for SEC play to see quality arms

South Alabama's Drake Nightengale pitches against Troy during an NCAA college baseball game, Thursday, May 16, 2019, in Mobile, Ala. (AP Photo/Dan Anderson)

— Perhaps more than any other single season, the Southeastern Conference is loaded with elite arms this year.

Georgia’s Emerson Hancock and Texas A&M’s Asa Lacy are considered top-five overall prospects in this year’s MLB Draft, and Georgia’s Cole Wilcox, South Carolina’s Carmen Mlodzinski, Tennessee’s Garrett Crochet and Auburn’s Tanner Burns are likely to be taken in the first round in June.

Mississippi State's JT Ginn, who was ruled out for the season Thursday after undergoing elbow surgery, is also a projected first rounder.

According to Baseball America, SEC pitchers make up 13 of the top 100 draft prospects in this year’s draft alone. That doesn’t take into account other top-end pitchers like Vanderbilt’s Kumar Rocker, the potential top overall pick in 2021.

“There's a lot of big leaguers in our league,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said before the season. “They're going to play in the big leagues if they stay healthy and do the right thing, they're going to make it, a lot of these guys. I think the pitching, there's a lot of huge arms, and what I mean by that is when Georgia comes in here the first two guys they're going to throw at us are going to be throwing 95, 96, 97, 98 (mph). They may touch 100.”

Arkansas won’t see the big arms from Vanderbilt this season, but it will see most of the other top pitching prospects in the league, including several at home. The Razorbacks’ home schedule includes Georgia (Hancock and Wilcox), Texas A&M (Lacy), Florida (Tommy Mace and Jack Leftwich) and Auburn (Burns).

But before Arkansas can get to the SEC arms on its schedule, the Razorbacks are navigating through a nonconference schedule loaded with strong starting pitching that includes potential All-Americans, high draft picks and conference pitchers of the year.

Last week, Arkansas faced Oklahoma’s Cade Cavalli and three weeks ago the Razorbacks opened the season against Eastern Illinois’ Will Klein. Cavaili (No. 51 on Baseball America’s list of draft-eligible players) and Klein (No. 143) are both hard-throwing right handers who are likely to be taken high in this year’s draft.

Van Horn called Klein “an SEC pitcher” and Arkansas hitting coach Nate Thompson said he had “first-round talent.”

“Talking to some pro people after the game, they say he will be possibly a reliever in the big leagues one day,” Van Horn said. “They felt like his stuff was that good.”

Other pitchers on the nonconference schedule have not commanded as much pro attention because of their lack of velocity, but they represent high-end pitching for the college game. Gonzaga’s Alek Jacob, a junior right hander who was on a pair of preseason All-America teams, is an example. Jacob’s fastball only touches the upper 80s, but he pitches from a low arm slot that can make his pitches tough to see out of his hand.

Gonzaga senior left hander Mac Lardner, who also throws an upper-80s fastball, was another example of an effective pitcher who works primarily off his off-speed pitches.

“He throws about as good a changeup as I’ve seen,” Thompson said. “It’s really good for us right now because it’s not like we’re out there out-slugging people. We’re playing the game right - manufacturing, doing things and earning it.”

Arkansas will see a similar pitcher Friday when South Alabama (7-7) comes to Baum-Walker Stadium. Senior right hander Drake Nightengale is the preseason pitcher of the year in the Sun Belt Conference and was named a preseason second-team All-American by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper.

Nightengale’s fastball sits in the low 90s, but what he lacks in power he makes up for with his strongest pitch, an 84-85 mph slider.

Through 17 ⅓ innings this season, Nightengale has a .206 opponent batting average and has allowed 4 earned runs, struck out 30 and walked 4. His biggest struggle has been a knack to hit batters - five this season, including four last week in a win over Gonzaga.

Junior right hander JoJo Booker could also present a challenge for the Razorbacks. Booker was a fifth-round pick out of high school and has a mid-to-upper-90s fastball.

Booker has been erratic at times this season with 5 walks, 4 hit batters and 3 wild pitches, but he has also struck out 19 in 13 innings and opponents are hitting .235 against him.

Arkansas has hit relatively well against the top starters it has seen so far. In 20 ⅔ combined innings against Cavalli, Klein, Lardner and Jacob, the Razorbacks scored 17 runs on 23 hits and 7 walks, but also struck out 30 times, 11 of which came last week against Cavalli.

Van Horn said he can’t remember a nonconference season with so many quality starters that have gone against his team. He is hopeful the pitching the Razorbacks are seeing now will prepare them for what they are going to see down the road.

“It’s definitely better to face it now than to get shocked when you get (to conference play)," Van Horn said. “I don’t think (pitching) is going to be a step up.

“We’ve faced some really good pitching. We’ve had teams come in here with guys who are going to play pro ball, who are throwing really well and it’s been a challenge.”

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Arkansas would not play Tennessee this season. The Razorbacks play at the Volunteers in the final regular-season series.