I thought someone said they were going to give periodic reports
Luke Bonfield has been real impressive. I think he was perfect at the plate the other day. I’ll be surprised if he’s not the team leader in hits.
On the mound, the velocity is up for the sophomores - Isaiah Campbell, Barrett Loseke, Blaine Knight and Anthony Dahl. There is also a belief that Angus Denton may have been a steal in recruiting. He has impressed coaches after playing summer ball for the Midland Redskins.
Angus Denton looks filthy. I have to think he factors in somewhere, likely out of the pen.
I have also been impressed with Jordan McFarland. He definitely looks the part.
I am concerned with catching depth. The numbers there are small right now.
I think the numbers are OK at catcher. It’s the quality of the depth that should probably be a little worrisome.
Grant Koch is going to need to be a workhorse. He’ll probably be catching most games. Perhaps Alex Gosser can give him some rest during a midweek game, if a conference game gets out of hand or if a series is wrapped up by the third game. But I don’t think he is quite the defender that we are accustomed to seeing at No. 2 for the Razorbacks.
And there was some talk about practicing Carson Shaddy there again some this fall. I’m not sure if that has happened, but obviously he has some experience behind the plate. His arm is stronger now than it has been since he got on campus. He was cleared to play after the Tommy John surgery, but coaches don’t think his arm strength was ever at 100 percent last year, which contributed to some of those errors from third.
Thanks for the updates.
I attended several of the early practices, but the reports in this thread are much more complete than my reports. I have not been to the last several and I know that they are closing down (or have closed down) practice for Bike, Blues, and BarBQ.
updates/impressions on Wiggins and the frosh cather Bailey from NLR PLS
I saw the freshman catcher from NLR start practice #2. He got hurt on one of the first two or three pitches. I couldn’t tell if it was on a swing or a foul ball. He was taken out of the game and did not play any more that day or the next.
The transfer from TCU was the catcher for all of the practices that I saw, while Koch caught for the other team.
Keep in mind that things may have changed in the week or so since I saw a practice.
I think Blake Wiggins probably has the inside track to the be the third baseman, but there is some competition. He is better there after a year in JUCO, but still has some work to do. He has a tendency to boot some balls. He’s got to focus on getting his feet set. That has been a point of emphasis with him.
At the plate, he is the real deal. He played in a wood bat league last year in Nevada and hit the cover off the ball. He hit a three-run home run during today’s scrimmage off a freshman who was drafted.
Thx Matt and Marty.