2026 Razorback Baseball

[BleedinRed]

Sousa watches the perfect pitch go right down the middle to even the count 1-1. 

I just don't get it. 

[Son of Spam]

8 of our last 12 runs have scored either by a wild pitch or a walk. Not a good look.

[BleedinRed]

Well, I guess if you're down 3 and the tying run comes to the plate, Aloy is a good option at the plate.  

I bet he takes strike one down the middle, swings at something outside and away for strike two and swings through an elevated pitch for strike three.  

[BleedinRed]

Had strike one and two backwards.  He did halfway swing on strike 2 though.  So that was good.

Well, he made contact at least. 

[Son of Spam]

Sousa watches the perfect pitch go right down the middle to even the count 1-1. 

I just don't get it. 

Nearly all of our hitters do this. Mind boggling. I wonder if they are being told to take it. If so, whoever is doing that needs to be fired. They also do not protect the plate when they get 2 strikes.

[Son of Spam]

And we lose 7-4. Not enough wild pitches or walks.

[Thin Red Swine]

When was the last time we lost a series at home?

[Feral]

And we lose 7-4. Not enough wild pitches or walks.

I said early in the season that I was extremely uncomfortable with how much of our scoring in non-conference games was charity runs via errors, walks, and wild pitches.

I thought maybe we'd find it at the plate, but we seem to getting markedly worse in SEC play.

[Show-Me Hog]

When was the last time we lost a series at home?

They showed the graphic during the game. The last series of last year, 2025, against A&M. Before that, 2022.

[BleedinRed]

They also do not protect the plate when they get 2 strikes.

This is my biggest pet peeve.  You are taught in tee ball that if you have two strikes, anything close. 

[Thin Red Swine]

This is my biggest pet peeve.  You are taught in tee ball that if you have two strikes, anything close. 

In tee ball, aren't they all close?

[Barton Fink]

DVH looks increasingly frustrated. Right now we aren't doing anything well.

[Son of Spam]

DVH looks increasingly frustrated. Right now we aren't doing anything well.

I don't think we are in the top 10-15 in hitting, fielding, or pitching categories in the nation . That is not us.

[Barton Fink]

Usually you can count on decent pitching and elite defense. We're having to play guys out of position because our offense is so bad. Brumbaugh and Pompey not hitting has been a huge issue.

[Pig Benis]

Did we just whiff in the portal this year? Pompey and Niu have obviously disappointed. Were we expecting too much from a freshman Brumbaugh? He was D1 Baseball's preseason SEC freshman of the year so we weren't alone.

[Barton Fink]

Seems that way

[Feral]

Usually you can count on decent pitching and elite defense. We're having to play guys out of position because our offense is so bad. Brumbaugh and Pompey not hitting has been a huge issue.

Did we just whiff in the portal this year? Pompey and Niu have obviously disappointed. Were we expecting too much from a freshman Brumbaugh? He was D1 Baseball's preseason SEC freshman of the year so we weren't alone.

At the end of the day, this is just a shit job of roster construction. Hell, DVH would probably say as much over a beer. For whatever reason these guys haven't gelled, aren't producing, and haven't lived up to billing.

Stewart has been absolutely horrendous against SEC pitching. He's hitting .069 in conference games.

Pompey is a guess hitter who has a ton of swing and miss and is incapable of drawing walks. He can crush it when he barrels one up, but that's too infrequent for the astronomical number of strikeouts and horrendous swings he takes, especially in 2 out situations. He has 42 (!) strikeouts on the season and just 9 walks. For context, no other player even has 30 (next highest is Niu with 28).

Pinning our hopes on Brumbaugh (and him being a complete failure as a freshman) at shortstop also put us into a hole on the left side of the infield. I certainly didn't expect him to be the second coming of Aloy, but I also expected him to be better than John Bolton.

Hell, even our lineup anchors like Helfrick, Kozeal, and Aloy have sucked as well. Aloy has sucked out loud while the other 2 have flowing under the radar. 2 of those guys are under the Mendoza Line in SEC play, and Helfrick isn't far off.

Robinett is also more miss than hit. I may be old school, but I hate getting nothing offensively from first base under any circumstances, and I'd certainly prefer to get better than a .567 OPS. The last few years we seem to be getting these glorified .200 hitters in guys like McLaughlin, Robinett, Rocco Peppi, et al. at first base. Maybe I'm over-emphasizing it, but first base seems to be a position we've been consistently whiffed on offensively in the portal and HS recruiting.

Ruiz seems to be the lone bright spot out of the portal this year.

[Show-Me Hog]

Pinning our hopes on Brumbaugh (and him being a complete failure as a freshman) at shortstop also put us into a hole on the left side of the infield. I certainly didn't expect him to be the second coming of Aloy, but I also expected him to be better than John Bolton.

This guy? I think he played alongside Wee Willie Keeler.

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[BleedinRed]

In tee ball, aren't they all close?

Touché.  lol.  

[BleedinRed]

DVH looks increasingly frustrated. Right now we aren't doing anything well.

I don't know why he is frustrated.   He assembled the talent.  All the same issues we have had year to year are still present and accentuated by the lack of talent this year.   Nate still sucks as a hitting coach.   I'll give Hobbs a pass as our pitching staff should be better than what it is.  With that said, if DVH didn't see this coming then I don't know what to say.