Having a few days to digest the season on the whole, you have to conclude that the Hogs beat expectations in 2011.

Before the season started, Tipster and I made some predictions on this coming season.  I hit the 15-15 conference mark on the nose, but we both missed the “winning the Western Division” part.  No one could have seen that coming given what we lost the previous year (Eibner, Cox, Wilkins, Smyly, Bolsinger).  An unlikely, but sweet divisional championship nonetheless.

“I told the team I was proud of them.  If you would have told me we were going to win 40 games last fall with all these young guys, I’d probably have chuckled a little bit,” Van Horn said.  “Somehow we did it, winning 40 ballgames playing a pretty tough schedule and in a good league.”

What helped them the most seemed to be the leadership shown by catcher James McCann.  McCann had a great year behind the plate, and improved with the bat (.306, 6 HRs, 38 RBIs) to the point where he mainly hit cleanup for the last half of the season.  Mentoring a freshmen-oriented pitching staff, McCann really helped speed up the learning curve for those guys.  He will be missed.

Speaking of the pitching, that carried the Hogs the entire season.  A staff ERA of 3.20 really helped mask some of the offensive problems.  Guys like Barrett Astin, Ryne Stanek and Brandon Moore, just to name a few, will be light years ahead of where they normally would have been in 2012 because of the experience they gained this season.  Pitching Coach Dave Jorn gets two “thumbs up.”

At the plate, it was really a different story.  Finishing last in the SEC again in hitting has many Razorback Baseball fans aiming their frustration at hitting coach Todd Butler.  The knock is justified if you look at the stats.  In Butler’s six seasons at Arkansas, the Hogs batting average has landed them 10th (2006), 10th (2007), 10th (2008), 12th (2009), 4th (2010 — with Eibner, Cox and Wilkins) and 12th (2011) this year in the SEC.

Even if you discount the stats, though, if you watch each at bat, the Hogs are not as aggressive as some would like.  Taking too many pitches — including an inexcusable amount of third strikes — over and over and over is worrisome.  Granted, some players like Jarrod McKinney showed great improvement.  McKinney’s average improved 111 points (.190 in 2010 to .301 in 2011) this season.  But the team statistics don’t lie.

The Hogs have gathered up a slew of good pitchers that can get next year’s team to Omaha.  But if you can’t hit the ball better than the Hogs did this year, we’ll be right back in this same spot.

That said, we’re optimistic about next year.  If you had your choice, you’d take good pitchers over good hitters any day.  But to get to Omaha and to win it all, you have to do both.  That’s where the challenge will be in 2012.

This is the first of a two part series previewing the 2011 Razorback Baseball squad.

After two seasons of deep runs into the post season, Dave Van Horn’s 2011 Diamond Hogs don’t seem to be rebuilding, even after losing four key players to the MLB draft.

Andy Wilkins, Zach Cox, Drew Smyly and Brett Eibner had great careers and will be missed, but a pretty good nucleus of players with experience remain.  The Hogs may be reloading instead of rebuilding this season.

Much has been made of the switch to a ‘less lively’ bat this season.  Of the Razorback returnees in 2011, none of them really relied on the home run anyway as a big part of their game.  Even though Collin Kuhn hit 16 HRs last year, the closest is probably catcher James McCann (9 HRs in 2010).

This year’s version of the Hogs will rely more on speed – a new, important equalizer for some teams given the new bats.

So, without further ado, here’s a position-by-position look at 2011 Diamond Hogs starting with the infield:

Catcher

Not much of a question mark here.  James McCann (.286, 9HRs, 34 RBIs in 2010) is one of the best catchers in the SEC.  The two year starter is again one of the Hogs captains.  Great defensively, with a great arm, McCann made strides at the plate last year, raising his average some 44 points.  Freshman Jake Wise (6-0, 200, Houston, TX) will likely back up James and get some mid-week work.

“He’s the guy we can’t afford to lose,” Van Horn said of McCann.  “He’s such a great leader.  He’s great at handling our young pitchers.  I’ll let him catch all 56 games if he can do it.” 

Middle Infielders

One of the returning strengths, second baseman Bo Bigham and shortstop Tim Carver will be one of the best defensive tandems in the league.  Bigham (.316, 3HRs, 30 RBIs) is recovering from offseason shoulder surgery, but has looked good in pre-season practices.  Bo is tremendous in the field and has great speed on the bases (14 steals in 2010).  He, most likely, will hit second behind Kuhn.

At short, Carver (.267, 4 HRs, 36 RBIs) has always been a good glove, but showed surprising pop at the plate last year.  He is versatile, and can play second and third as well if needed.

The new ‘franchise player’ fans will get to know quickly though is Dominic Ficociello.  Dominic is a 6’4” shortstop from Fullerton, California who, in pre-season practices, looks advanced with the glove.  He is a switch hitter, and if he can hit, will play somewhere…possibly at first base.  He has been working at third, short and first since arriving on campus.  Keep an eye on number 20.

Corner Infielders

With Cox and Wilkins gone, the Hogs are starting over at these two spots.  Matt Reynolds will be moving from shortstop over the third this season.  Reynolds (.203, HR, 5 RBIs), a hot prospect last year out of Tulsa, struggled through a injury plagued freshman year.  A stress reaction in his shin held Reynolds out of SEC action, as he only managed four extra base hits all season. 

You can tell, Matt has bulked up this year, and looks like he is ready to make strides.  Van Horn noted that Reynolds will play third and hit third.

First base is the big question mark, as it appears the Hogs are still searching here, and may very well use the early non-conference games as a “tryout” of sorts.  Ficociello looks to be the lead candidate, even though he’d be playing out of position.  Returning senior Kyle Robinson (.353, 5 RBIs in 2010) could figure in at first, designated hitter or in the outfield.

In part 2 of our series, we’ll take a look at the outfield and pitching prospects.  Stay tuned.

Still riding high from their trip to the 2009 College World Series, Dave Van Horn and the Diamond Hogs seem stoked about their chances to repeat that success in 2010.

We can’t help but agree, and apparently so does the national pollsters who have the Hogs ranked anywhere from 15th to 23rd to start the season.  That’s pretty high, but could have been even higher given Arkansas returns six position starters and 19 lettermen in 2010.

At last week’s Swatter’s Club Meeting, the overflow crowd heard Van Horn talk about the coming season, personnel and position battles, and overall expectations.  The Head Hog hasn’t backed away from the expectations for this year.

“We gained some valuable experience (in 2009) going on the road to win a Regional, going on the road to win the Super Regional, and then having some success in Omaha.  Those are things you can’t talk about, you have to experience it.”

The 2009 run to Omaha was a season-long roller coaster ride.  The Hogs managed a murderous non-conference schedule pretty well, including sweeps against top 5 teams Arizona State and Oklahoma.

They started well in SEC play at 10-2, but then the wheels came off.  A 4-13 finish — which included losing their last eight — left the final conference record at 14-15.  The finish made the run to Omaha that much more improbable, but sweet nonetheless.

In many ways, 2009 was really setting up the Hogs for this year’s 2010 run.  During several games down the stretch, and even in the postseason, Arkansas started six freshmen…SIX!  That’s unheard of in the SEC.

Van Horn: “We’re looking to pick up where we left off and that was playing some pretty good baseball at the end of 2009.  Our team is very confident.  They’ve been around and they feel like anything less than a National Championship is a disappointment.”

In part two of this series next week, we’ll take a position-by-position look at the everyday players for 2010.

If the recent “crash and burn” of the Razorback basketball team has done nothing else, it has given fans a yearning to look forward to other things.  Coach Dave Van Horn’s Diamond Hogs will be filling that void starting this Friday as they host Washington State on Opening Day.

The Razorbacks start the year ranked #22 by Baseball America, and expectations are extremely high.  Players and coaches still seem to have a bad taste in their mouths after last year’s 0-2 showing in the NCAA Regional at Stanford.  Van Horn and others have openly talked about the improved “chemistry” on the 2009 squad, and we get the feeling that this is more “his kind of team”…hard-nosed, fight you to the death types.  

Last year the Hogs went on the road in the pre-conference portion of the schedule and played the likes of Nebraska, Arizona State, and Texas A&M.  This year, several of these teams return the favor with a game (or games) in Fayetteville, thus making the 37-game home schedule the most attractive in recent history.  Season and single-game attendance records are likely to fall.

If the Hogs have moderate success playing the likes of Washington State, Kansas, California, Nebraska, Arizona State and Oklahoma on top of the murderous SEC schedule, they should have a top 10 RPI, and a shot at hosting one of the 16 coveted NCAA Regionals at the end of the year.

The schedule though isn’t the big news of the pre-season.  Van Horn announced last week that, after 19 seasons, he is giving up coaching third when the Hogs are at the plate.  Hitting coach Todd Butler will coach third this season.    

“I just feel like I can control some more things over there in the dugout, looking at the players eye to eye and face to face,” Van Horn said. “I might get a better feeling for some things, like being able to talk to kids when they come back from hitting.”

Does anyone else think he’ll make a return to the field if the Hogs lose a few in a row?

Basically all of the position players from the 2008 squad return, with an exciting freshman third baseman to bolster the troops.  A few new arms have joined in the pitching parade too.  On Thursday, we’ll take a position-by-position look at the Diamond Hogs, and make some prognostications on what the 2009 season has in store.

Since the Razorbacks defeated Florida State on June 12, 2004 to advance to the College World Series, their NCAA postseason record stands at a dismal 5-10.

Four of those five wins have come over the perennial baseball ‘powerhouses’ of Miami (Ohio), Princeton, Creighton and Albany.  Against the ‘real’ teams (Big 12 and Pac-10 conference) during that time frame, the Hogs’ postseason record is a pitiful 1-8.

What makes those stats even more maddening for Hog fans is that Coach Dave Van Horn has produced teams since his Arkansas tenure began in 2003 that have been very competitive.  They have frequently been ranked in the top 25 and consistently collected regular season wins over top-notch competition.

So just to be clear…no one is stupidly calling for Van Horn to leave.  Among other things, his winning percentage and two SEC division titles in six seasons have more than proven that he’s a solid head coach.

But here’s the problem…a precedent has been set over the past several years with the Razorback football and basketball programs:  Just making bowl games or ‘March Madness’ isn’t enough.  Winning some of those postseason games is also required.

If losing five out of seven bowl games puts pressure on the football coach, it can’t be any different with the baseball coach.  If just qualifying for (but not winning) NCAA tournament games isn’t enough to keep the basketball coach off the hot seat, it can’t be any different with the baseball coach.

One of the criticisms since Van Horn became a major college coach in 1998 is that, while he has successfully taken his teams to the College World Series three times, he has never won a game at the postseason classic.

But at this point…I think most Razorback baseball fans would gladly accept the postseason success of just making it back to Omaha again.  Even if that meant quickly losing two games and then coming home.

“Earl gave me his version of what happened and asked me not to suspend the umpires.” — Lee MacPhail, former American League President, recounting a meeting with Earl Weaver, whom he subsequently suspended three days for arguing with umpires.

Laden with eight upperclassmen, Coach Heath and the Hogs appear to be middle of the pack, at best, in the SEC again.  And a program that was once a national power continues to swim in a sea of mediocrity.

Stan pulled us out of the ditch after Nolan left…no doubt about it.  You have to give him credit for the rebuilding job he has done given the mess he inherited.  He put us back on the road.  But now some are asking, “the road to where?”

Assistant Dan Hipsher has helped Heath somewhat since joining the staff last year.  And new assistant Glynn Cyprien, who has a good resume and comes highly recommended, should as well.  But entering his fifth season at Arkansas, Heath is still learning the ropes, and there’s nothing like “on-the-job training” for a college head coach.  Mike Anderson and his Missouri Tigers took us to school in the thumping they put on us in Columbia last month.  And Bobby Knight and Texas Tech did the same last Saturday.

As much as I pull for our team and for Stan, this team will not be competitive for a SEC title, a Western Division title, or for that matter, a NCAA tournament birth.  Is this acceptable for Arkansas basketball?

I hate to use the University of Texas as an example, but watching how they have reloaded after graduating their entire Elite Eight team (starting four talented freshmen and beating LSU last week), it makes you wonder what in the world we are doing.

After watching first-hand how Junction City’s James Anderson tore up the Holiday Hoops Tournament, the loss of him signing with Oklahoma State last month was critical.  It was unnerving, to say the least, to watch him on the same floor as our two recruits from Springdale Har-Ber High.  The Har-Ber players (one signed) are good.  Anderson is great.  The takeaway: we should not be settling for signing good players in a year where we only have one or two scholarships to offer.

The success of Nutt, Van Horn and their teams this season will mask it for a while, but eventually fans will demand excellence in Razorback basketball again.  Until then, we’ll have to enjoy our relegated spot as third or fourth in the West, eighth or ninth in the SEC, and home court advantage for all the NIT games we can eat.

Also:

• Chris Cocoles: Hogs work on shoring up pitching for run at CWS