2015 Recruiting and Beyond

[SPAL]

Sammy Blair


Proud to announce I just committed to play baseball at the  University of Arkansas! 🐗⚾️⚾️😈

Good find.

Sammy is class of 16. He is an OF who also played wide out for his HS football team that won state. He is 5-9 , 170 pounds. Most interesting thing I found on him was a 6.28 60 time.

For reference: Ricky Henderson ran a 6.4

[bulldog04]

Good find.

Sammy is class of 16. He is an OF who also played wide out for his HS football team that won state. He is 5-9 , 170 pounds. Most interesting thing I found on him was a 6.28 60 time.

For reference: Ricky Henderson ran a 6.4

Tanner English ran a 6.37 and we know he was fast as

[Razorback7281]

Tanner English ran a 6.37 and we know he was fast as

Please. You transposed those numbers. We all know he ran a 3.67 60.

[ucahogfan]

See we picked a commit from Kaskaskia College freshman RHP Hunter Hart.  Will update the thread hopefully tomorrow.  Hit 90 in high school.

[woopig1023]

See we picked a commit from Kaskaskia College freshman RHP Hunter Hart.  Will update the thread hopefully tomorrow.  Hit 90 in high school.

10-0 with a 1.16 era last year. Originally committed to Indiana and also drafted in 37th round last year. Chose to go Juco when Indiana's coach left for another job.

[Kevin]

Coming in this fall?

[flippinhogmana]

Coming in this fall?

He committed to us as a freshman, so one would think he would come over immediately (this fall) rather than use up another year of eligibility there.  Since he has already been drafted, if that was all he was looking for he would have probably stayed there rather than signed with a D1 school. 

From the box scores of his games and the recaps, he got rocked sometimes and I am not sure of the competition level he faced.  He did have a decent amount of strike outs per innings, and usually not a lot of walks.   He also didnt as a rule go deep in games.  I think it would be safe to say it wasnt SEC level competition he faced. 

But being drafted says the pro scouts see potential in him.  Probably a decent pickup. 

[bulldog04]

From the box scores of his games and the recaps, he got rocked sometimes and I am not sure of the competition level he faced.  He did have a decent amount of strike outs per innings, and usually not a lot of walks.   He also didnt as a rule go deep in games.  I think it would be safe to say it wasnt SEC level competition he faced. 

But being drafted says the pro scouts see potential in him.  Probably a decent pickup. 

He went 10-0 with a 1.16 ERA so he didn't get rocked sometimes.  He had 1 start where he gave up 5 earned runs.  The rest of his starts he gave up 2 or less.  Sounds good to me.  Look at his starts in the postseason when he faced the best competition.

[flippinhogmana]

He went 10-0 with a 1.16 ERA so he didn't get rocked sometimes.  He had 1 start where he gave up 5 earned runs.  The rest of his starts he gave up 2 or less.  Sounds good to me.  Look at his starts in the postseason when he faced the best competition.

actually I looked at all games in which he pitched.  eight runs  (according to the box score) in five innings (five of which were earned) and he had a couple of starts like that, is getting rocked.  Just what would you call it?  I can read same as you, I dug apparently a little deeper than you.

But it is obvious that he pitched generally well or overall he wouldnt have gotten his era down as low as it was.  However, he didnt pitch deep in games usually.  Look it up.  Its a lot easier to pitch one or two times through a lineup that it is the third time for various reasons.  As I also said, the fact that he was drafted shows that the pro scouts see something there.  I dont think I said one thing inaccurately.  I also gave him credit where it was do on his strikeout/walk ratio.  Do you like to just point out the things you like? 

[bulldog04]

actually I looked at all games in which he pitched.  eight runs  (according to the box score) in five innings (five of which were earned) and he had a couple of starts like that, is getting rocked.  Just what would you call it?  I can read same as you, I dug apparently a little deeper than you.

But it is obvious that he pitched generally well or overall he wouldnt have gotten his era down as low as it was.  However, he didnt pitch deep in games usually.  Look it up.  Its a lot easier to pitch one or two times through a lineup that it is the third time for various reasons.  As I also said, the fact that he was drafted shows that the pro scouts see something there.  I dont think I said one thing inaccurately.  I also gave him credit where it was do on his strikeout/walk ratio.  Do you like to just point out the things you like? 

http://www.kaskaskiaathletics.com/sports/bsb/2014-15/bios/hart_hunter_8qrm?view=gamelog

This came from the college's website so assume its correct. I did dig deep enough to find this.  This is a solid season and not a whole lot of "rocking" going on.  1 start he gave up 5 earned runs and another he gave up 8 but they weren't earned.  I will take that from a pitcher all year every year

[ucahogfan]

2015 Commitments
1.  Jacob Adams - 5-11, 155, SS, NR, N/A, Arkansas (committed to Crowder)
2.  Isaiah Campbell - 6-4, 230, RHP, 500, 9, Kansas
3.  Eric Cole - 5-11, 170, OF, 500, 9, Texas
4.  Anthony Dahl - 6-3, 185, SS, 500, N/A, Texas
5.  Ty Harris - 6-2, 170, LHP, 261, 9, Arkansas
6.  Blaine Knight - 6-2, 160, RHP, NR, N/A, Arkansas
7.  Grant Koch - 6-0, 190, C, 500, 9, Arkansas
8.  Jacob Schlesener - 6-2, 170, LHP, 500, N/A, Missouri
9.  Weston Rogers - 6-4, 205, LHP, NR, N/A, Arkansas
10.  Cody Scroggins - 6-0, 170, SS, Top 1000, N/A, Arkansas
11.  Brendan Stanek - 6-1, 165, RHP, 500, N/A, Kansas
12.  Drew Tyler - 6-0, 190, SS, 500, 8, Arkansas
13.  Kacey Murphy - 6-0, 180, LHP, NR, N/A, Arkansas
14.  Andrew Bolin - 6-2, 170, OF, NR, N/A, Oklahoma
15.  Kevin Kopps - 6-0, 175, RHP, NR, 8, Texas
16.  Barrett Loseke - 5-11, 150, RHP, NR, 8.5, Oklahoma
17.  Jake Reindl - 6-1, 175, RHP, NR, 8.5, Arkansas
18.  Nathan Alberius - 6-0, 190, INF, NR, 8, Arkansas (FR JUCO in Tennessee)
19.  Jordan Rodriguez - 5-11, 190, LHP, NR, N/A, Texas (SO JUCO in Texas)
20.  Sam McDonnell - 6-0, 185, OF, NR, N/A, Texas (SO JUCO in Texas) (Signed with Angels)
21.  Dalton Moats - 6-3, 195, LHP, NR, 9, Missouri (SO JUCO in Oklahoma)
22.  Michael Brawner - 6-1, 175, LHP, NR, N/A, Texas
23.  Jake Arledge - 5-8, 180, OF, NR, N/A, California (SO JUCO in Texas)
24.  Hunter Hart - 6-3, 200, RHP, NR, N/A, Illinois (FR JUCO in Illinois)

2016 Commitments
1.  Jordan McFarland - 6-4, 220, 3B, 117, 9.5, Illinois
2.  Jaxon Williams - 5-7, 155, SS, 87, N/A, Texas
3.  Ben Rortvedt - 5-10, 185, C, NR, 10, Wisconsin
4.  Matt Cronin - 5-11, 170, LHP, NR, N/A, Florida
5.  Jacob Kostyshock - 6-4, 160, RHP, NR, N/A, Missouri
6.  Dominic Fletcher - 5-9, 180, OF, 213, 10, California
7.  Jack Kenley - 6-0, 170, SS, NR, 9, Tennessee
8.  Matt Burch - 5-9, 155, SS, NR, N/A, Illinois
9.  Blake Lillis - 6-3, 175, LHP, NR, N/A, Kansas
10.  Evan Lee - 6-0, 160, LHP, NR, N/A, Arkansas
11.  Tyler Benninghoff - 6-4, 180, RHP, 66, 9.5, Kansas (high school in Missouri)
12.  Brenden Heiss - 6-1, 210, RHP, 45, N/A, Illinois
13.  Lucas Krull - 6-6, 200, LHP, NR, N/A, Kansas
14.  Cole Stobbe - 6-1, 180, SS, 63, 9.5, Nebraska
15.  Angus Denton - 6-0, 165, RHP, NR, N/A, Arkansas
16.  Sammy Blair - 5-9, 165, OF, NR, N/A, Texas

2017 Commitments
1.  Cole Turney - 5-11, 175, OF, NR, N/A, Texas
2.  Kole Ramage - 6-0, 175, RHP, NR, N/A, Texas

Signed Players

[ucahogfan]

2015 State-by-State Breakdown
Arkansas - 9 (2 SS, 3 LHP, 1 C, 2 RHP, 1 INF)
Texas - 6 (1 SS, 2 OF, 1 RHP, 2 LHP)
Kansas - 2 (2 RHP)
Missouri - 2 (2 LHP)
Oklahoma - 2 (1 OF, 1 RHP)
California - 1 (1 OF)
Illinois - 1 (1 RHP)

2016 State-by-State Breakdown
Illinois - 3 (1 3B, 1 SS, 1 RHP)
Texas - 2 (1 SS, 1 OF)
Wisconsin - 1 (1 C)
Florida - 1 (1 LHP)
Missouri - 1 (1 RHP)
California - 1 (1 OF)
Tennessee - 1 (1 SS)
Kansas - 3 (2 LHP, 1 RHP)
Arkansas - 2 (1 LHP, 1 RHP)
Nebraska - 1 (1 SS)

2017 State-by-State Breakdown
Texas - 2 (1 OF, 1 RHP)

[flippinhogmana]

http://www.kaskaskiaathletics.com/sports/bsb/2014-15/bios/hart_hunter_8qrm?view=gamelog

This came from the college's website so assume its correct. I did dig deep enough to find this.  This is a solid season and not a whole lot of "rocking" going on.  1 start he gave up 5 earned runs and another he gave up 8 but they weren't earned.  I will take that from a pitcher all year every year

so would I if the jc was in a top flight competitive league in Texas or California, or the SEC, but against teams like the sisters of perpetual sorrow and such, I am not sure that would serve us to well.  But let me say again, I am sure he is a decent prospect.

[southarkhog06]

so would I if the jc was in a top flight competitive league in Texas or California, or the SEC, but against teams like the sisters of perpetual sorrow and such, I am not sure that would serve us to well.  But let me say again, I am sure he is a decent prospect.

I get what you are saying but a sub 2 era is a sub 2 era. I doubt we signed this kid to be a starter, If he can get 3 outs here and there in SEC play and consistently eat up midweek innings i would say he has served us. Do you not feel he could do that?

[flippinhogmana]

I get what you are saying but a sub 2 era is a sub 2 era. I doubt we signed this kid to be a starter, If he can get 3 outs here and there in SEC play and consistently eat up midweek innings i would say he has served us. Do you not feel he could do that?

Look there were some people on here last year looking like our pitching staff was going to be lights out.  I got blasted plenty for saying they werent proven yet against the sort of competition that counted.  I urged caution, saying they had potential.  Thats all I am saying about this kid for the same reason.  I love the fact that he had a sub 2 era, but yes it makes a great deal of difference who he got it against and how he got it.  Bonfield, Span and about a half dozen pitchers had potential last year.  Could they produce when it counted, no.  Even the one who did produce like McKinney took a while.

Some of them will produce to their potential this year though, I don't doubt that.  But some of them need an adjustment period (some more than others) because it just takes that to rise to the challenge of the competition being at so much a higher level than they have faced before.  There are kids who can hit a 95 mph fastball, but most who can hit it sure cant the first time they see one if they are used to 85 being the 'heat'.  Their timing on when to start their swing and every thing else is off, especially if they are power hitters with lift in their swing.  Short compact swing guys adjust faster.

There are other factors that come in like injuries and stuff, but just adjusting to the SEC from anywhere else or to D1 for that matter usually sets most good players back a bit.  So, first lets see how he does in fall ball and then go from there shall we?  I hope he's Nolan Seaver, or Jerry Ryan, or Tom Koosman or just himself that can throw as hard as he does and hits his spots with all three pitches and works well with the catcher blending them.  If he can do that right off the bat, he has a chance to be a real help to us next year, starter, reliever, or stopper. 

[Scott7703]

Appears we can mark Blaine knight off the list. He has signed with Crowder.

[flippinhogmana]

Appears we can mark Blaine knight off the list. He has signed with Crowder.

My math may be off because its been a couple days and a couple times sleeping since I looked this up, but as I recall from our roster last year we only have eleven departures.  If we have twenty-one coming in for next year the math suggests ten or so arent going to be on the active roster, right?

[southarkhog06]

Look there were some people on here last year looking like our pitching staff was going to be lights out.  I got blasted plenty for saying they werent proven yet against the sort of competition that counted.  I urged caution, saying they had potential.  Thats all I am saying about this kid for the same reason.  I love the fact that he had a sub 2 era, but yes it makes a great deal of difference who he got it against and how he got it.  Bonfield, Span and about a half dozen pitchers had potential last year.  Could they produce when it counted, no.  Even the one who did produce like McKinney took a while.

Some of them will produce to their potential this year though, I don't doubt that.  But some of them need an adjustment period (some more than others) because it just takes that to rise to the challenge of the competition being at so much a higher level than they have faced before.  There are kids who can hit a 95 mph fastball, but most who can hit it sure cant the first time they see one if they are used to 85 being the 'heat'.  Their timing on when to start their swing and every thing else is off, especially if they are power hitters with lift in their swing.  Short compact swing guys adjust faster.

There are other factors that come in like injuries and stuff, but just adjusting to the SEC from anywhere else or to D1 for that matter usually sets most good players back a bit.  So, first lets see how he does in fall ball and then go from there shall we?  I hope he's Nolan Seaver, or Jerry Ryan, or Tom Koosman or just himself that can throw as hard as he does and hits his spots with all three pitches and works well with the catcher blending them.  If he can do that right off the bat, he has a chance to be a real help to us next year, starter, reliever, or stopper.

Im not disagreeing with you on that. this kid isnt going to come in and toss 6-8 innings against the sec maybe ever, but i dont think its a reach to think he can throw 4 innings on a tuesday against a lesser opp. and an inning or 2 on sunday. Maybe its your delivery cuz it doesnt seem like you are saying "be cautiously opptimistic" it sounds like you are saying "this kid will get rocked if he ever steps on the field against a quality opponent and i expect him to be back in JUCO in a year".

[flippinhogmana]

What?  How can you get that impression?  I said he had a good era, and he had a good k/bb ratio.  I said he got rocked 'a couple of times'.  How does that translate to dogging him?  I cited the level of competition being suspect as in not knowing how to properly evaluate it....

Killian gets rocked really only once this year...partially because for whatever reason DVH decided to leave him in until he had given up seven or eight runs...That a fairly negative effect on your stats for a long time.  But knowing the level of the competition I see that was an anomaly if I am an opposing coach and I still figure that he is going to be tough when I face him.  I think the same thing if I am a fan.  Killian except for the opening game against Vandy didnt pitch at his best though until the very last, just before the end.  His last four or five starts were high quality, in the conference tournament, regionals, supers and cws.  They werent all wins, but they were quality starts. 

So his one really bad start I know how to evaluate, Hart I dont because I am not familiar with that level of competition.  Thats why I am cautiously optimistic.  I also cited that he was drafted so the pro scouts like his potential and that says a lot.  I also said, I am sure he is a decent prospect.  How on earth could all that get lost just because I said he got rocked a couple of times?  Perhaps I ought to have said the got hit relatively hard on at least one occasion...or he got roughed up again on occasion.  I dont it would have changed much if you didnt see what else I said.

[bulldog04]

According to Bonfield's twitter Doug Willey committed to the hogs.  I guess he was a junior at a juco this year.  I didn't find a lot of info on him

[Big Nasty 34]

I saw that about the Willey kid. Very interesting, I don't think he was at a juco last year, but a D2 school. I think he played in the cape last summer and was a senior this year. So I'm assuming he got hurt and is getting a 5th year?

[ucahogfan]

I saw that about the Willey kid. Very interesting, I don't think he was at a juco last year, but a D2 school. I think he played in the cape last summer and was a senior this year. So I'm assuming he got hurt and is getting a 5th year?

You would have to think so.  Saw he throws from a submarine arm slot so probably someone who will be a valuable piece at the back end of our pen.

[Jaxhog]

Perfect Game updated their 2016 recruit rankings.  Arkansas is sitting at #6. If all these guys make it to campus, this will be one impressive recruiting class!  I noticed that Evan Lee is listed on here as a Razorback commit but his Perfect Game profile doesn't reflect that.  If he is a commit, our ranking would probably move up to the 5 spot as he is in the 300's.

Nat Rank   Name                       Pos   
18   Cole Stobbe               SS   
23   Ben Rortvedt               C   
49   Dominic Fletcher               OF   
52   Tyler Benninghoff          RHP   
65   Brenden Heiss             RHP   
146   Jordan McFarland              OF   
164   Jaxon Williams             MIF   
299   Matthew Cronin             LHP   
330   Lucas Krull                  LHP                
496   Sammy Blair            OF   
500   Blake Lillis                    LHP   
500   Jack Kenley                 SS   
500   Matt Burch                    SS      
500   Jacob Kostyshock           RHP   
T-1000   Angus Denton   RHP   

[Amityvillehogger]

I saw that about the Willey kid. Very interesting, I don't think he was at a juco last year, but a D2 school. I think he played in the cape last summer and was a senior this year. So I'm assuming he got hurt and is getting a 5th year?

He was at Franklin Pierce last year.

7G, 7.0 IP, 11 H, 15 K's, 4 SV

[flippinhogmana]

I am looking forward to seeing what Weston Rogers, Ty Harris and Dalton Moats can do from the 15 class. All three LHPs with some decent credentials.  Brushing 90 with fastball, decent records. 

[Big Nasty 34]

Don't forget Kace Murphey as well. He is a lefty I believe.

[flippinhogmana]

Don't forget Kace Murphey as well. He is a lefty I believe.

six lefties in all, I just mentioned those whose measureables suggest they are the most likely to be of help the soonest, I checked up on Kace too.