Matt Goodheart could be the answer to replacing Eric Cole in right field next season: http://www.wholehogsports.com/news/2018 … -arkansas/
For some reason I thought Eric Cole was a junior. For some reason I had it in my mind that Shaddy, Gates and Bonfield were the only seniors out of the position players.
Cole is a junior. He’ll be gone next year because of the draft. The same goes for a number of other juniors: Knight, Koch, Reindl, Murphy, Biggers, and probably Loseke and Campbell.
Matt, do you think next season’s SS is on campus now, or still being recruited?
I think it might be Jack Kenley. They worked him out there quite a bit during the fall. Van Horn has always put a premium on having a defender there and Kenley might be the best defender on the team.
Casey Martin played some shortstop in high school, so he’s an option, although I think he probably projects more at second base.
Something to watch is the off-season development of Easton Murrell, a freshman who seems to have some upside. He worked out a lot at third base during the fall and preseason, and if he can take that position, it could free up Kenley and Martin to go to the middle.
DVH said the other day that second is where Casey is going “to play for the next 20 years.” That’s his natural position, so if he and Kenley are the middle infielders, then I can see Arkansas being strong up the middle again.
Bryson Lierle, a JUCO infielder from Oklahoma, also committed this week: http://www.wholehogsports.com/news/2018 … azorbacks/