HawgBeat – What Arkansas’ pitching staff could look like in 2024 — Starters

Arkansas baseball head coach Dave Van Horn has a long list of talented pitchers he has produced while in Fayetteville, but this year’s squad might feature his best starting rotation to date.

Headlined by junior Hagen Smith, the Arkansas pitching staff is loaded from top to bottom with plenty of electric arms. Fellow junior Brady Tygart, Texas Tech transfer Mason Molina, redshirt senior Will McEntire and a slew of young arms all have a chance to start on the mound.

While the starting rotations seems pretty set as of now, there are other names who could log starts in midweek matchups, or spot starts on the weekend if needed. Here’s HawgBeat’s breakdown based on what we saw in the fall and over the summer.

There is no question that Smith is one of the top pitchers in all of college baseball, and I expect him to be Arkansas’ ace as a junior.

Last season, the Razorbacks started Smith 11 times, but they also brought him out of the bullpen on seven occasions. While Smith is a lights-out closer, his innings per weekend are limited if he’s closing.

Smith was a Collegiate Baseball First-Team All-American as a sophomore in 2023, and he’s shaping up to be even better in 2024. Pitching coach Matt Hobbs recently did an interview with Hogs+ — a university-funded media organization — and he spoke highly of Smith.

“The best I’ve ever seen him, certainly,” Hobbs said. “He threw eight bullpens this fall. Seven or eight bullpens this fall and then one outing, which was one of the most electric things I think any of us have seen in person.”

Hobbs said Smith was clocking in at up to 99 miles per hour on trackman and some professional scouts have clocked Smith at over 100 miles per hour. He also added that Smith is stronger than he’s ever been and he’s up 15 pounds from last year to 230 pounds.

Smith pitched just once during the fall scrimmages attended by Arkansas media, but he threw plenty of bullpens. From everything I’m hearing, Smith has taken things to another level and he is shaping up to be a first round lock next summer.