FAYETTEVILLE — Matt Hobbs’ description of Arkansas’ No. 2 starter might also explain the success of the reliever generating a lot of buzz for the Razorbacks.
“Usually when you see an athlete like that, you’re going to end up with a pretty good pitcher,” said Hobbs, Arkansas’ third-year pitching coach, recently of Peyton Pallette.
Athlete almost seems too generic of a term to describe hard-throwing freshman Jaxon Wiggins. The 6-6 right hander has lit up the radar gun in Arkansas’ past two games with a 95-98 mph fastball and an 84-87 mph changeup.
Wiggins is one of the best athletes on the team. He has personal bests of 40 inches in the vertical jump and 10 feet, 8 inches in the broad jump, according to the Razorbacks’ strength coach, Blaine Kinsley.
“When he first came in he looked the part,” Kinsley said. “He’s probably what every pitcher wants to look like. He has worked super hard….He’s got a gift, that’s for sure.”
When Wiggins arrived on campus last year he weighed 209 pounds, but Kinsley said he added about 20 pounds to near 230 by the start of the season.
He has also improved his vertical jump by close to 8 inches and his broad jump by 19 inches since he came to Fayetteville.
“Anybody who jumps over 10 1/2 feet (in the broad jump), we’ve seen in the past that those guys usually have higher (velocity),” Kinsley said. “A 40-inch vert and close to an 11-foot broad in baseball is very elite.”
The jumping ability has always been evident to those who know him best. Lori Wiggins, Jaxon’s mother, said he was constantly jumping off of things — the bed, stadium bleachers, etc. — growing up.
“Anywhere he could find something to jump on and off of, he was there,” his mother said.
Wiggins could always throw hard, run fast and jump high, and had plenty of chances to prove it. In addition to baseball, he played football and basketball, and ran track at various times growing up.
“In a house with three boys it’s non-stop competition,” Lori Wiggins said. “His dad and I were both athletes and both high school coaches when we started our careers, so that’s just what we did.”
He ran relays and was a high jumper on his high school’s track team. And then there was basketball, the other sport in which Wiggins excelled while growing up in Roland, Okla., about an hour south of Fayetteville, just across the Arkansas River from downtown Fort Smith.
Wiggins averaged 17 points and 14 rebounds as a senior, and his basketball highlights are filled with impressive dunks. Based on his highlight reel, it seemed that whenever the Roland Rangers wanted to score two points they could throw a back-door alley-oop pass to Wiggins as he raced down the baseline.
Last summer Wiggins played in the Oklahoma basketball and baseball all-state games. He scored 16 points to lead all players during the basketball game for all-state players from small schools.
“He was a great basketball player,” said Andy Menard, who coached Wiggins’ travel baseball team, the Arkansas Prospects. “He was an absolute stud.
“He could jump out of the gym, and he’s got length to go with it.”
Wiggins’ jumping ability probably helps explain how he pitches so hard. Powerful, explosive legs translate to powerful fastballs.
“A lot of the velocity comes from the back side,” Menard said. “Leapers are usually going to have a lot of power in their back side, bottom half.”
Wiggins has always thrown hard. Menard said he sees improvement in Wiggins’ secondary pitches, the changeup and slider. Better location has made him a more effective pitcher.
“That has made a huge difference with regard to how he’s attacking hitters, is staying in the zone more consistently,” Menard said. “I think in high school the stuff was always there, and if he was on he was lights out, but at times he wasn’t always in the zone.”
Menard calls Wiggins’ velocity “effortless,” and said it has been evident since Menard first saw him pitch at the age of 15.
“If you’ve ever watched Jaxon long toss, it’s special,” Menard said. “The ball just jumps out of his hand. It doesn’t even look like he’s trying to do anything.”
There was talk in the preseason of Wiggins’ development, but only coaches and players had seen it while practices were closed due to measures put into place because of covid-19.
"He's one of a kind to be honest,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said the week before the season began. “He's a super athletic guy. He's got some great stuff. Whether or not he comes out and does his thing is up to him. It's all going to be mental whether or not he can be confident with his stuff.”
So far, so good.
Wiggins has pitched two innings for the Razorbacks this season and retired all six batters he has faced.
In the sixth inning against TCU on Monday and in the 10th inning against Southeast Missouri State on Thursday, Wiggins retired the No. 3, 4 and 5 hitters in the lineup. He threw 28 pitches combined in the two outings, including 21 for strikes.
Both appearances came during high-pressure situations.
With Arkansas trailing TCU 1-0, Wiggins struck out the side in 15 pitches. The Razorbacks rallied to take the lead two innings later.
Arkansas had already rallied to tie the game 5-5 when he entered in the 10th inning against SEMO. Like he did in Globe Life Field three days earlier, he wowed the Baum-Walker Stadium crowd with his velocity.
According to D1Baseball, Wiggins’ 98 mph fastball is the second-fastest pitch recorded this year by a college pitcher. Texas Tech’s Brandon Birdsell threw a 99 mph pitch during the Red Raiders’ loss to Arkansas last Saturday.
Wiggins has hit 98 mph in both of his appearances. He struck out SEMO three-hole hitter Tyler Wilber looking at a 98 mph fastball to his glove side. Clean-up hitter Andrew Keck followed with a strikeout.
“He threw some really nicely located fastballs and a couple of plus changeups,” Van Horn said.
Wiggins never threw two pitches in the same spot during Wilber's four-pitch at-bat. The first pitch was a 98 mph fastball inside to the right-handed batter, and the 1-2 offering was the same pitch to the other side of the plate.
“That’s just not fair,” said Troy Eklund, a former Arkansas All-America outfielder, during the SEC Network-Plus broadcast of the game. “That’s 98 on the black, away. You don’t hit that pitch. You walk back to the dugout, tip your hat and say, ‘That’s nasty.’”
In the next at-bat, Wiggins followed a 98 mph fastball with an 87 mph changeup to go ahead 0-2 against Keck. After a couple of fastballs well outside, Wiggins came over the plate glove side and Keck swung through a 97 mph pitch.
SEMO’s inning ended when Lincoln Andrews grounded out to first base. Wiggins sprinted from his position on the mound to cover first.
“He showed his athleticism a little bit there,” Van Horn said. “He kind of hesitated on the mound when the ball was hit to first, and then sprinted over there. He showed some quickness there. I’m glad he had that in him.”
It seems there is more athleticism in the tank.
“I’m fortunate to train him and get to see him grow,” Kinsley said. “I think three years from now is going to be very exciting.”