Goodheart raises hands, earns player of the week

Arkansas designated hitter Matt Goodheart runs the bases after hitting a home run during a game against Memphis on Wednesday, March 24, 2021, in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE — A recent change in Matt Goodheart’s batting grip has been an added benefit to the Arkansas lineup.

Goodheart is coming off his best week of the season. He was 8 for 20 with 4 home runs, 7 RBI and 1 walk against Memphis and Mississippi State, and was named SEC player of the week Monday.

Goodheart homered during all four games he played in last week and raised his batting average by 57 points to .290.

He has a .389 on-base percentage and is slugging .597.

Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn moved Goodheart from third to second in the batting order during the Razorbacks’ three-game sweep at Mississippi State.

“He had been struggling a little bit until the (Wednesday) game against Memphis,” Van Horn said. “He raised his hands a little bit. I think he’s a really good hitter and he got hot.

“I think it’s kind of an experience thing and he figured something out that wasn’t working, and he fixed it.”

Arkansas hitting coach Nate Thompson said Goodheart’s bat had become vertical during his swing because his hands were dropped too low on the bat handle.

“His bat wasn’t getting flattened out and on plane early enough,” Thompson said. “It caused him to dump his barrel and be underneath the ball, to where he’s popping some balls up to left field and rolling over some balls to first base.

“He’s always had a really good ability to get the barrel flattened out behind him, get the barrel more horizontal behind him when he starts his turn toward the ball.”

The left-handed hitting Goodheart said he noticed his hands had dropped during his “launch position,” or whenever his front heel strikes the ground during his swing.

“I kind of wanted to get back to where it was more so in 2019,” Goodheart said, “because I had a better contact percentage and I felt like I was hitting balls all over the yard a little better.

“I think it’s really paid off.”

Goodheart is showing signs of heating up at a similar time as two years ago when he led the team with a .345 batting average.

In 2019 he was prescribed contact lenses prior to the SEC-opening series against Missouri and batted .369 in conference games.

“He can really carry an offense when he’s rolling,” Thompson said. “I’m extremely proud of him, and really all the guys, the way they competed this weekend against a phenomenal pitching staff from Mississippi State.”

Van Horn said Goodheart had a good batting practice prior to the Razorbacks’ 9-4 victory over Memphis last Wednesday. He was given the game off the day before and went 4 for 5 as the Razorbacks completed the midweek sweep of the Tigers.

Goodheart hit a home run during the sixth inning of the game to give the Razorbacks a 6-3 lead. The ball appeared to go over the Hunt Performance Center that is being constructed in the right-field corner of Baum-Walker Stadium, and Thompson said the team’s TrackMan ball monitoring system lost track of the ball.

“I think its last reported reading was probably something like 390 feet,” Thompson said.

The exit velocity on the hit was 108 mph.

Goodheart also had two big blasts against Mississippi State — one to center field on Saturday into a south wind that was gusting up to 20 mph, and a no-doubter to right field to ignite a five-run inning Sunday.

Thompson said the grip change might translate into more power.

“It creates more margin for error, and because of that the power is going to show up more, I guess,” Thompson said. “It’s just about creating more room so that his bat is on plane longer, so he doesn’t have to be so perfectly on time."