re: *2024 ARKANSAS RAZORBACK SEC BASEBALL SEASON DONE* FIRE SOMEONE*

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He obviously reads this board

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As ole birdseed said to his construction hands: "It's time to light a fire under y'all's arse."

I’m of the opinion that I’m still giving the offense a semi-pass over the last two weekends.

The first weekend of the season likely isn’t even played if that weather falls when it’s not opening weekend. DVH even said as much in an interview last weekend. It was too cold for baseball, period.

So the players have an absolutely miserable weather weekend and then go 2-1 the following weekend and win the most important game IMO. So I’m okay with where we are.

The good news is having such a deep pitching staff (knock on wood) means there's some wiggle room. If these dudes can just be in the middle of the pack in hitting, they'll still be capable of going deep in the postseason.

The Scouting Trail, Week Two: Prospect reports from Globe Life
PROSPECTS David Seifert - February 28, 2024

Checking in on prospects from Arkansas, Michigan, Oklahoma State and Oregon State.

ARLINGTON, Texas — During my 34 years of playing, coaching and scouting college baseball I have many great memories, whether it’s experiencing the grind of a 56-plus game season or appreciating the talent on the diamond. From playing against Todd Helton (Tennessee) in college, to coaching in an NCAA regional against future major leaguers Sean Doolittle (Virginia) and Justin Smoak (South Carolina), to one of my first scouting memories: the 1997 SEC Tournament in Columbus, Ga., where Tim Hudson (Auburn) played center field and was also the ace pitcher for the Tigers. Earlier that same spring was the first time I ever personally saw triple digits on a radar gun, compliments of Matt Anderson (Rice). Making this hundo even more amazing was that it was measured with the “slow gun”, otherwise known as a Ra-Gun. This type of radar gun was 3-5 ticks slower than today’s TrackMan, Pitch Fx and Stalker guns as the Ra-Gun measured the speed of the pitch as it crossed over the plate, not out of the hand as today’s technology calculates.

Now back to the present day, as I leave Globe Life Field with the best single-game performance that I have ever witnessed: Hagen Smith against Oregon State.

Our No. 7 ranked prospect for the 2024 MLB Draft, Smith was in total control throughout his six-inning, 17 strikeout dominance. Through five innings he had sent back 15 Beavers to the bench via the KO and for the evening 15 of 17 strikeouts were via his slider. He allowed just three hits and one walk over his six scoreless innings. Remarkably, even with a high strikeout total, he threw just 78 pitches, 59 of them for strikes. Smith’s fastball sat in 95-99 range all evening and he was still touching 97 into the fifth. And it’s not an ordinary heater. His No. 1 rides up in the zone and sinks when down. As good as his fastball is, his slider is even better. It’s at least a 70-grade offering and a top of the scale 80-grade would be an accurate evaluation as well. Ranging from 84-88 mph with spin into the 2500+ rpm range, it’s a swing/miss putaway pitch, and he used it to strike out the best pure hitter in the country, Travis Bazzana, three times. Oregon State knew the pitch was coming, and still repeatedly swung over the top of it, 18 times. Smith also flashed an 87-88 mph changeup with spin in the 1900s.

Heading into this season, the main question regarding Smith by the scouting industry was “is he a starter or reliever in professional baseball?” For me that question has clearly been answered: he’s a frontline starting pitcher. As major league-ready as Paul Skenes looked last spring, Smith may be even more ready. The stuff he displayed with such a high level of command is more than enough to navigate through a MLB lineup.

Young for his draft class, Smith doesn’t turn 21 until after the 2024 draft. He has slotted himself as No. 2 on my personal draft board, which obviously remains fluid throughout the season. It’s not fluid in the sense that it changes weekly based on each and every performance, but fluid as in there will be other talent that needs to be evaluated and re-evaluated throughout the season and the health of each monitored.

For more on Smith’s jaw-dropping performance, please checkout Aaron Fitt’s post from February 24.

MORE ARKANSAS 2024 DRAFT PROSPECTS:

No. 37 Brady Tygart, RHP– As effective as he was during the first three innings, Tygart found another gear in the fourth and beyond. Sitting 92-93 with spin in the 2300s on his fastball and his curve in the 2500-2600 rpm range, the 6-foot-2 righthander revved it up over his final three innings. Touching 95 with good carry, his fastball played to its velocity with plus control and his 73-76 hammer curveball sharpened with increased spin into the upper 2900s. He also displayed a dirty sweeper at 78-80 with 18” of horizontal break. As a fourth pitch he mixed in a few 84-87 changeups that graded out as fringe-average, but with such good feel it’s easy to project for at least a grade of improvement in the future. For the evening, Tygart held Oklahoma State scoreless on three hits over six innings. He also struck out six while walking two and throwing just 78 pitches. Since his return from injury in late April of last season, Tygart has noticeably simplified his delivery and lessened the effort level. On this look he repeated his delivery so well that I now project him to be a future starter in pro ball. With continued outings like this one, late during Day One of the draft is his likely landing spot.

No. 57 Mason Molina, LHP– The lefthander dominated Michigan on Sunday with five no-hit, shutout innings. He racked up 10 strikeouts and walked just one. Molina has noticeably added some strength/weight in his back, shoulders and trunk since the USA Collegiate National Team Trials last summer. He repeated a starter-type delivery; long and loose in back with good direction and extension out front. He challenged in the zone with all four of his pitches, locating an 86-91 fastball that touched 92 (2100-2300 rpm) to all areas of the zone. Showing good carry to the catcher’s mitt his fastball lived in the 20-22” IVB range down in the zone and showed plus hop at the letters. His velo dipped a bit to 86-88 in the third inning, but it was back to 89-90 in the fourth. Molina also mixed an above average 81-84 (1850-2050 rpm) fading changeup, a sharp 75-76 curveball (2600s rpm) and a 79-82 slider (2400s) for strikes. He sold the changeup well with good arm speed for some swing/miss, but it was mainly effective as a soft contact inducer. Molina profiles as a back-end starter and will likely be considered early in Day Two.

Lineup for today:

Jones carrying us again early.

Gaeckle is gonna be a beast by the end of the year. I really hope he doesn't hit that freshman wall.

Jones takes over the team lead with 10 RBI's.

Bench him!

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Jones takes over the team lead with 10 RBI's.

Bench him!

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No kidding. I've seen some pretty wild takes based on very little.