Three Takeaways From Dave Van Horn's Arkansas Season Preview
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas baseball is now less than a month away and with the basketball team sitting at 0-4 in SEC play, fans are yearning for a fresh start in a new sport. Coach Dave Van Horn previewed the season.
New Hitting Philosophy:
Arkansas has been bounced in its home NCAA Regional the past two years and has largely struggled at the plate throughout the regular season compared to the rest of the SEC. The Razorbacks are hoping a new thought process at the plate can avoid a similar fate.
"We sat down after the season and we talked about a lot of things [as a coaching staff]," coach Dave Van Horn said. "We're all on the same page. You think about our teams since [hitting coach] Nate [Thompson] got here, they've been powerful and they've been good and the last couple of years were not so good. We knew we had to make some adjustments and a lot of it has to do with the personnel you have. The personnel we have now fits more what we want to do here day in and day out."
Although, Van Horn doesn't want to fully abandon a power-first approach, a lot of the situational scrimmaging that became a staple of fall practice will continue and eventually transfer into games.
"The big innings come with a single and a walk or an error and then somebody pops one in the gap or out of the park," Van Horn said. "That's how you separate yourself, but we wanted to make sure that we could do a little bit of everything and hopefully that happens."
'Comedy' At First Base:
First base remained one of the biggest question marks coming out of fall practice with five diferent players taking reps. Two of those players (Trenton Rowan and Kolton Reynolds) were left off the final 40-man roster for the season. Only Kuhio Aloy, Reese Robinett and Michael Anderson are left among the quintet that took reps at first base. Van Horn is no closer to an answer than he was a few months ago.
"That’s a tryout camp over there right now," Van Horn said about first base. "If you come to our practices it’s almost comical. I feel like I’m at a summer camp, we’ve got five guys working out over there that also play other positions. I could throw a couple more over there."
Van Horn did stress the importance of getting a quality hitter to play the postition. Rocco Peppi, who took limited reps in the fall in the outfield due to an injury, is now getting some run at first.
Diggs Fully Cleared:
One of the few names that are already familiar to Razorback fans is outfielder Kendall Diggs. Returning for his fourth season, Diggs hit. 255 with 22 homers across the first three seasons with Arkansas. He played through most of the 2024 season with a torn labrum.
"He’s 100% cleared to do everything now," Van Horn said. "Now it’s all about timing at the plate, it’s about getting that bat speed back that he’s had in the past, seeing live pitching and just feeling confident. He’s going to be a big part of our team, it’s just a matter of how soon. We know what he can do when he’s full-go. He’s stronger than ever."
Arkansas' first official practice is scheuled for Jan. 24. First pitch of the 2025 season gets underway Feb.14 against Washington State.