HawgBeat – Arkansas Baseball 2023 Lineup Projection: No. 5 – Jared Wegner

We’re 12 days away from Arkansas baseball, and HawgBeat is constant its lineup preview sequence for the 2023 Diamond Hogs.

The Razorbacks will return simply two starters from final yr’s lineup, so followers will quickly grow to be accustomed to all the new faces.

With scrimmage protection, weekly notebooks, place previews, the Diamond Hawgs Podcast and extra, HawgBeat supplies the very best Arkansas baseball protection round.

We proceed issues with the five-hole spot, which is projected to be stuffed by a participant that was a First-Staff All-Massive East performer final season…

Grad. | R/R | 6′ 0″ | 220

Kearney, Neb. / Kearney HS / Creighton

2022: 63 video games, .346/.463/.641, 42 R, 63 H, 13 2B, 3 3B, 11 HR, 52 RBI, 30 BB/42 Ok, 11 SB

Wegner was a quiet switch addition to the Razorbacks, as he dedicated on June 7, when the 2022 season was nonetheless occurring. Although his addition was been overshadowed by a School World Sequence run, Wegner’s resume speaks for itself. He is already been named a preseason Second-Staff All-American by the Nationwide School Baseball Writers Affiliation.

He had a career-best marketing campaign as a senior in 2022, slashing .346/.463/.641 as a First-Staff All-Massive East participant for Creighton. Wegner smashed 11 residence runs, six of which got here at Charles Schwab Area in Omaha, Neb., which is the house of the School World Sequence.

Wegner posted a formidable 1.094 OPS and he earned 30 walks and 13 HBPs (43 free passes) in comparison with 42 strikeouts. His addition was much-needed after the Razorbacks noticed all three beginning outfielders — Braydon Webb, Zack Gregory and Chris Lanzilli — transfer on from final yr’s group.

“With Jared Wegner coming in from Creighton, a extremely good participant, a extremely good scholar, mature,” Head Hog Dave Van Horn stated Jan. 20. “Doesn’t actually say an entire lot except he’s received one thing to say. I believe he’s excited to be right here. We’re glad to have him, clearly.”

Wegner’s first three seasons at Creighton had been hampered by accidents, however when he was absolutely wholesome in 2022, he proved that he could be a distinction maker. Van Horn stated he was shocked that no person drafted Wegner in final yr’s MLB Draft.

“I don’t know why anyone didn’t draft him in 20 rounds,” Van Horn stated Sept. 7. “In the event that they have a look at his historical past, final yr was his first yr that he hasn’t been injured. He had a hamate bone difficulty the yr earlier than, and the yr earlier than as a result of he both rebroke it or irritated it once more.

“Final yr was his first yr to play wholesome at Creighton and he had an incredible yr. I believe getting him via was actually huge, particularly at that place within the outfield. He’s a center of the order kind hitter.”

Through the fall, Wegner handled a indirect harm that restricted him. In his 20 plate appearances throughout scrimmages HawgBeat attended, Wegner recorded six hits, seven runs, 12 RBIs, two residence runs, 5 walks, two strikeouts and two stolen bases.

Van Horn stated Wegner is “actual wholesome” on Jan. 20, and he additionally added that Wegner received again to campus early previous to the beginning of the spring semester.

“He’s been working with a whole lot of — the professional guys are on the town, most of them pitchers — he’s received some dwell at bats off these guys and a few of our guys, principally our guys,” Van Horn stated. “He’s wholesome and I don’t really feel like anyone right now, except that’s modified since final night time, I really feel like we’re all wholesome proper now.”

In response to Van Horn, Wegner is not an enormous ‘have a look at me’ man, he simply lets his play do the speaking.

“He can run, and he’ll idiot you,” Van Horn stated. “He doesn’t let you know about something — not gonna let you know about how good he can hit, how far he can hit it or how briskly he’s. You simply see it, and also you’ve gotta like that. He simply form of reveals you.”

Within the subject, Wegner is projected to begin in left, and Van Horn confirmed that in his pre-spring press convention. As primarily a nook outfielder at Creighton final season, Wegner had a .969 fielding share and simply three errors. He additionally began as a chosen hitter in 20 video games.

Like Van Horn stated, Wegner is a center of the order kind hitter, and he has a whole lot of pop. If he can keep wholesome, he ought to have a robust 2023 season in Fayetteville.

Wegner and the Diamond Hogs will begin their season on Feb. 17 on the School Baseball Showdown in Arlington, Texas. The primary matchup shall be in opposition to the Texas Longhorns at 7 p.m. CT.