Resiliency links UA's 2 winners

Former Arkansas Razorback Andrew Benintendi (shown), like Kevin Kopps, won the Dick Howser Trophy the year after a disappointment. Benintendi, who earned the award as a sophomore in 2015, played his freshman season after breaking a bone in his right hand and hit .276 with 1 home run and 27 RBI in 60 games.
(AP/Charlie Riedel)
Former Arkansas Razorback Andrew Benintendi (shown), like Kevin Kopps, won the Dick Howser Trophy the year after a disappointment. Benintendi, who earned the award as a sophomore in 2015, played his freshman season after breaking a bone in his right hand and hit .276 with 1 home run and 27 RBI in 60 games. (AP/Charlie Riedel)

FAYETTEVILLE -- Their amateur careers differed greatly, but Arkansas' two winners of the Dick Howser Trophy shared comeback stories during their time in college.

Pitcher Kevin Kopps won the 34th Howser Trophy on Friday to join Andrew Benintendi as the Razorbacks' only players to win the award as national player of the year. Benintendi won the 29th Howser Trophy as a 20-year-old sophomore outfielder in 2015.

Kopps, 24, won the award in his sixth season at Arkansas. His career included a redshirt season in 2016, a medical redshirt season in 2018 after Tommy John surgery and a season interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic last year.

"When I think about the season, I think about all the previous years that I've been here and all the help I've gotten from the coaching staff," Kopps told MLB Network. "I just think about all the years ahead of this one that I've put in."

Kopps won the Howser Trophy one year after a disappointing season. Before the 2020 season was called off, Kopps allowed more earned runs (10) in 7 appearances and 11 innings than he did in all of 2021.

Kopps finished this season with 9 earned runs in 33 appearances and 89 2/3 innings. He credited the long offseason with helping him focus more on his health, which he said helped him on the mound.

"I started to focus on recovery and what I put in my body a lot more," Kopps said. "I kind of always had focused on that, but starting in the summer after that season I really started to thin myself out and get myself into a lot better shape and really focus on stamina for myself, because it's something I really struggled with after surgery. So I really pushed hard for that to make sure I was ready for the season."

It was an offseason reminiscent of Benintendi's after 2014.

Like Kopps, Benintendi's Howser Trophy season came the year after disappointment. He broke the Hamate bone in his right hand prior to his freshman season and finished the year with a .276 average, 1 home run and 27 RBI in 60 games.

Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn advised Benintendi to sit out the summer instead of playing in the Cape Cod League.

"I just said, 'Hey, you know what you need to do? You need to head home. You need to get you a trainer if you can't handle it yourself. You need to get stronger, you need to get healthy,' " said Van Horn, who became the sixth head coach with multiple Howser Trophy winners. "That's what he did and he came back, and in the fall we were amazed.

"We hadn't recruited a center fielder for the future, honestly. About a week into fall ball, we said, 'We've got to get us a center fielder for next year. This guy's not going to be back.' "

As a draft-eligible sophomore, Benintendi batted .376 with 20 home runs and 57 RBI in 64 games for a team that played in the College World Series. His OPS (on-base plus slugging) was 1.205.

Benintendi displayed all-around versatility as a sophomore. He was 24 for 28 in stolen-base attempts and made several great plays from his position in center field. The Boston Red Sox drafted him seventh overall in the 2015 MLB Draft.

Benintendi, who is in his first season with the Kansas City Royals, tweeted a congratulatory message to Kopps on Friday.

"Very well deserved. You earned it," Benintendi said. "It was fun watching you throw the ball this year and good luck the rest of the way."

During his appearance on MLB Network, Kopps was asked how it felt to be included on a prestigious list of past winners that includes current professional such as Benintendi, Kris Bryant, Stephen Strasburg and Anthony Rendon, in addition to past MLB greats.

"It doesn't even feel real yet," Kopps said. "Those are the guys you watch when you're younger and look up to. To be on the same list with them is a blessing."

Kopps might join an even more exclusive group in the coming weeks. He is a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award and is expected to be named a finalist next week.

Only 19 players, including Benintendi, have won the Howser Trophy and the Golden Spikes in the same year.

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