HawgBeat – Can Hudson Polk win Arkansas’ catcher job in 2023?

With simply two returning starters in lineup from final 12 months’s School World Collection group, Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn had loads of work to do within the switch portal.

One of many foremost positions of want was catcher, and he addressed it by bringing in a trio of transfers on the place.

Sophomore Cal Kilgore transferred in from New Mexico State, senior Parker Rowland came to visit from Japanese Oklahoma State School and junior Hudson Polk landed in Fayetteville by way of Oklahoma.

Throughout the fall baseball season, Polk gave the impression to be forward of the opposite two, particularly behind the plate. Throughout the Oct. 12 scrimmage in opposition to the Texas Rangers Educational League group, Van Horn mentioned Polk known as practically the entire sport by himself.

“He did an important job behind the plate,” Van Horn mentioned. “You’ll be able to actually see the management skills there. Takes management of the sport. We did not name one pitch, nicely possibly a pair, I assume we did late…however aside from that he known as each pitch. He was strong. Blocking was excellent.”

In that very same sport, Polk confirmed his skills on the plate by going 2 for 3 with a double and a house run. He was 9 of 38 on the plate with two dwelling runs, 18 complete bases, eight RBIs, six runs and 4 walks within the fall, in line with stats compiled by Arkansas media.

“I believe Polk was actually constant all fall defensively,” Van Horn mentioned on Nov. 9. “He had some good moments on the plate, hit some doubles and a few dwelling runs.”

Polk, a right-handed hitter, spent two seasons with the Oklahoma Sooners, who fell to Ole Miss within the School World Collection ultimate final season.

As a sophomore in 2022, Polk had 5 hits, 5 runs, 5 RBIs, two doubles, one triple, seven walks and eight strikeouts in 16 at bats. 4 of his seven appearances got here within the third sport of early season sequence’. He had a .980 fielding share behind the plate and was simply 1-7 when making an attempt to throw runners out.

Throughout his freshman season in 2021, Polk had two hits, one run, three RBIs and a homer in six at bats. He began one midweek sport in opposition to Texas Southern, the place three of his six at bats got here from.

Difficult Polk will seemingly be Parker Rowland, who spent final season with EOSC. He slashed .408/.509/.668, hit 12 dwelling runs and had a team-best 78 RBIs in 51 video games.

Throughout the fall, the switch-hitting Rowland recorded seven hits in 34 at bats and he added a house run, three RBIs and 16 strikeouts, in line with stats compiled by Arkansas media.

“Parker was fairly in keeping with the bat, not fairly as constant behind the plate,” Van Horn mentioned.

Behind the plate final 12 months for EOSC, Rowland had a .988 fielding share and threw out 12 of 27 (44.4%) potential base stealers all year long, which earned him the Area 2 Gold Glove award.

Previous to his time at EOSC, Rowland spent two seasons at Arkansas State, the place he performed in 27 video games throughout two seasons. He slashed .165/.233/.203 in 79 at bats with the Purple Wolves.

Additionally on the roster at catcher for the Diamond Hogs is Kilgore, who noticed simply 14 at bats within the fall, which might have been resulting from an harm, per Van Horn. He recorded one hit and struck out eight instances, in line with stats compiled by Arkansas media.

Throughout his freshman marketing campaign with New Mexico State in 2022, Kilgore hit with a .250 batting common in 33 begins. He had 23 hits, 11 RBIs and eight doubles in 92 plate appearances.

Kilgore had eight multi-hit performances final season, together with a three-hit effort in opposition to Dixie State on Might 1. He was profitable in 5 of his seven steal makes an attempt on the 12 months. He struggled with strikeouts, although, as he struck out 35 instances in comparison with simply seven walks.

Behind the plate, Kilgore had a .974 fielding share and 7 errors. He caught 10 of the 28 runners that tried to steal on him.

Although the Hogs did not make the “splash” switch at catcher that some had been anticipating, it looks as if Van Horn is happy with the blokes he has.

“I believe that we’ve obtained combine there,” Van Horn mentioned. “We’ve obtained a switch-hitter (Rowland) and a right-handed hitter (Polk). They each have slightly little bit of expertise again there and so they’re each sturdy. I believed for probably the most half, the catching place was hopefully solved.”