Another one of Arkansas’ best 2022 baseball prospects has decided to stay home to to play college baseball.
Gage Wood, a rising senior right-handed pitcher at Batesville, announced Wednesday night he has changed his verbal commitment from Kansas State to Arkansas.
“It is just home,” Wood said. “I grew up a Hog fan, just watching them and being at Baum Stadium and the aroma and atmosphere and the people in the crowd is just too much to turn down. Like I said, it’s just home.”
Wood (6-1, 190 pounds) struck out 138 batters and walked 19 in 66 2/3 innings as a junior. He had 0.42 ERA and held opponents to a .104 batting average.
“I throw a two-seam fastball, a four-seam fastball, a knuckle curve and curveball,” Wood said.
Wood, who also played third base and hit .350, has seen his fastball go from 83 to 93 mph over the past year and had 18 strikeouts in one game.
“This my first year that I really dedicated myself in the gym, got on a meal plan and told myself that I was going to be in the low 90s, if not more,” Wood said. “I just kind of fell in love with the weightroom and it’s kind of got me where I am at.”
He gives credit to former Razorback football player Price Holmes for his transformation. Holmes is Batesville's strength and conditioning coach.
“He has totally changed me,” Wood said. “If you could have seen me when I first moved to Batesville from Southside (Batesville), you would see the big difference and I pretty much give him all the credit.”
Wood is the eighth in-state prospect to pledge to the Razorbacks in the 2022 class.
“Arkansas baseball is like (Alabama) football really,” Wood said. “It is our school’s bread and butter now and these past few years Arkansas has just ran away with everything.
“We all know they were the best team in the country, but sometimes baseball just happens and you don’t win in the end.”
Arkansas Prospects coach Kevin Bohannon raves about Wood’s development over the last year.
“He played in the 18-and-under World Series last summer and faced Cain’s National Team, which was the top-ranked team in the nation,” Bohannon said. “He held them to just one hit over five innings and struck out 10 and that was kind of his coming out moment on the national scene.
“He has gone from his fastball being 83 to consistently 90 to 93, and it stays that way as he goes deeper in the game. He also has a 12-to-6 break on his curveball that (Arkansas pitching coach Matt) Hobbs in going to love.”
Wood let Hobbs know of his decision Wednesday afternoon.
“I talked to Coach Hobbs and it seemed like he was just as excited as I was,” Wood said. “I am ready to work with the best of the best. It is a dream come true for me.”
Wood was All-State and AP’s Class 5A Co-Player of the Year for Batesville, which lost to Greenwood in the state quarterfinals.