FAYETTEVILLE -- With fall classes cranking up in less than two weeks at the University of Arkansas, baseball Coach Dave Van Horn said he feels the pieces are virtually all in place for his team.
The Razorbacks' No. 1-ranked signing class was dinged as expected in the Major League Baseball draft, but the Hogs are still welcoming in a strong class of 14 signees plus major transfer talent.
The transfer players include left-handed starting pitcher Mason Molina and catcher Hudson White from Texas Tech, Missouri outfielders Ross Lovich and Ty Wilmsmeyer, Kansas right-hander Stone Hewlett, as well as outfielder Lincoln Riley (Eastern Illinois), shortstop Wehiwa Aloy (Sacramento State) and infielders Jared Sprague-Lott (Richmond) and Jack Wagner (Tarleton State).
Van Horn said he thinks the Arkansas coaches plugged holes and filled in the roster the way they had hoped.
"You never know how it's going to turn out, but we feel good about the experienced kids we have coming in," Van Horn said on a video news conference Wednesday. "We feel good about the guys that are coming back that have been in our program, that they've continued to develop and get better.
"And then the freshman class that's coming in, it's still a really good class, even though we lost some kids to professional baseball. And like I said, we knew we were. So we tried to cover all that. By going out and getting a couple of infielders and getting a few more pitchers, it really helped us."
The Razorbacks will return a nucleus of position players that includes Kendall Diggs, Peyton Stovall, Parker Rowland, Peyton Holt, Jayson Jones and Reese Robinett. Juniors Hagen Smith and Brady Tygart, senior Will McEntire and sophomores Ben Bybee, Parker Coil and Gage Wood lead the returning pitching staff.
Stovall (labrum in shoulder), a second baseman, and right-handed reliever Dylan Carter (Tommy John) both underwent surgeries and are in rehabilitation mode.
"They're just working hard," Van Horn said. "They've been here all summer. I feel like Dylan's probably farther along than a lot of people thought he would be. He had surgery mid-season, late-season so ... it'll just be interesting to see how it goes when he he can get back.
Stovall has spent almost all of summer in Fayetteville, Van Horn said, and has been working "super hard" with athletic trainer Corey Wood.
"I think he's on pace or ahead of pace from everything that I've been told," he added. "That's really about all we know right now."
Nine pitchers from the signing class are scheduled to make it to campus, including Perfect Game top 100 prospects Adam Hachman, a left-hander coming off a ligament procedure who isn't likely to pitch this year, and Tucker Holland.
Hachman had his ulnar collateral ligament repair treated with an internal brace, an alternative to Tommy John surgery which can shorten the rehabilitation time for ligament tears.
"He'll show us what we need to do," Van Horn said. "We're not going to rush him, push him. If he's ready to pitch this year, he'll definitely pitch. If not, we'll just get ready for the future and hopefully have two good years. If we get 2 1/2 good years, that's fine."
The Razorbacks also managed to retain a couple of key pitchers in right-hander Gabe Gaeckle and lefty Hunter Dietz. Gaeckle announced he was pulling his name out of the draft and was still taken in the 20th round by the Cincinnati Reds. The 5-11, 185-pounder from Aptos, Calif., was rated the No. 159 player in the draft by MLB Pipeline.
Dietz is a 6-6, 230-pounder from Trinity, Fla., who is the No. 7 left-handed pitcher in the country as rated by Perfect Game.
Arkansas also kept a key infield signee in 6-3, 210-pound Nolan Souza of Honolulu.
"We were just hoping we might be able to keep one of those three infielders that signed," Van Horn said. "Fortunately we were able to keep Souza.
"Other than that, some of the surprises were that maybe we got a couple more pitchers through than I though we might. Some big lefties and some guys that had really put it that they wanted to go to college unless they got a lot of money."
Another baseball move has been the advancement of former Razorback Bobby Wernes to a full-time assistant coach to join pitching coach Matt Hobbs and hitting coach Nate Thompson. NCAA rules now allow a third-time full-time position.
"Bobby's done a tremendous job here as a player and then as a young coach," Van Horn said. "Super happy for him and just glad that we have him with us."
Wernes has been able to recruit this summer with the rest of the staff.
"He's done a great job this summer," Van Horn said. "He's been all over the place as all the coaches have. It just makes us a little stronger."
The Razorbacks had a number of players leave through the transfer portal, including infielder Harold Coll (Houston), outfielder Mason Neville (Oregon), and pitchers Sean Fitzpatrick (Arizona State) and veteran Zack Morris, who transferred to TCU.
"He had a good career here, but he just wanted to pitch more," Van Horn said of Morris, a senior from Cabot. "I think he wanted to be a conference starter and we couldn't guarantee him that."
Van Horn said he doubted the Razorbacks would play an exhibition game in the fall as they've done in recent seasons.
"We just feel like we have a lot of pitchers in here that we need to see them throw," he said. "And that would maybe take away a little bit. When you play outside competition then your roster's kind of set, your counters so to speak.
"I don't think we want to go there yet. I think we'll have a really good fall when it comes to our scrimmages. We have good players who can play multi positions. We feel like our scrimmages are going to be super competitive.
"We'll try to get these guys some at-bats, see who can do what. See them run the bases, see who can steal a base. And let these guys pitch, especially some of these younger guys. They can kind of go show us what they've got."