FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn and his staff worked hard to get a highly-ranked 2020 recruiting class in place.
But following the NCAA Division I Council's vote Monday to give spring sport athletes an extra year of eligibility due to the coronavirus pandemic, this year's class of signees could be a part of a much different roster next season than the one that was projected.
Arkansas’ 2020 class has 20 signees and is ranked third nationally by Baseball America, behind only Texas and Vanderbilt.
“If we get our freshmen, it’s a talented group of freshmen with a couple or three that right now could really help us whether on the mound or with the bat,” Van Horn said during a teleconference Tuesday. “So we’ve just got to see what happens with the draft. We don’t even know when the draft is. We don’t know how many rounds it’s going to be. So there is still a lot up in the air for us.”
The draft is scheduled for June 10-12, but could be pushed back to July. It could also be reduced to five rounds.
Arkansas expects to lose juniors Heston Kjerstad, the 15th ranked prospect, according to Baseball America, as well as Casey Martin (24) and Casey Opitz (104). Matt Goodheart (250) could also be selected in a shortened draft.
The Razorbacks could also lose a few signees, including Kingwood, Texas, pitcher/infielder Masyn Winn (40); Owasso, Okla., pitcher Nate Wohlgemuth (113); Greenbrier utility player Cayden Wallace (121); Watson Chapel pitcher Markevian “Tink” Hence (140); Monticello pitcher/outfielder Nick Griffin (163); and Roland, Okla., pitcher Jaxon Wiggins (232).
“You know we talk to those guys," Van Horn said. "We kind of have an idea of what it’s going to take for them to sign, and there is a possibility they could get that kind of money, but we always think we’re going to lose a couple.
“You don’t want to lose four or five. I think in a normal draft year, if there were 40 rounds I think we could have as many as double digits drafted, that out of the high school kids that were really drafting them on what they saw out on the field.
“Now sometimes they don’t draft them because they price themselves out, or they say I’m going to college no matter what, or whatever the situation. I think if it was just straight up drafting because of ability, I think we’d have a lot of kids...that would definitely be drafted.”
Even with just a five-round draft, Wynn would seem the most likely to be taken. He is likely a two-way player if he ends up coming to Arkansas.
“If you look around you see Mason Wynn’s name up there a lot,” Van Horn said. “He’s probably the main one. He’s projected, I don’t know, maybe as high as a sandwich pick, maybe first-round pick. He wants a lot of money. He’s a really good player that can play both, he can play anywhere on the field pretty much and he can pitch. We can use him maybe as a late inning pitcher, closer, but I think athletically he’s going to get on the field.”
Van Horn said roster decisions will be made throughout the summer as players transfer elsewhere.
“Something always happens," he said. "We’ve got many months to try to figure this out.”
The NCAA ruling on Monday stated that seniors wouldn’t be counted against that scholarship limit in 2021, and that the cap on team sizes would be eliminated next season. Van Horn is curious about how roster size and the 11.7 scholarship limit will be applied in following years.
“I mean that could make for some difficult decisions at the end of the '21 season, or if you want to be proactive maybe you start taking care of some of that now so you don’t have to do it next year," Van Horn said.
“If there are kids that are borderline or you know for sure that may not feel good about it, they’ll make their own decision on that...but we’re still trying to get all of that straightened out in our mind.”