Ask Mike: Aggies Slow Down Arkansas’ Hitting, Ament To Tennessee & Will NIL Buyouts Stop Portal Snatching?

Q. Our first question is from Razoralex88 who asks: Can you tell that I’ve officially hit the panic button for Razorback baseball? Losing two of three to those A&M bozos is NOT acceptable. My confidence in them reaching Omaha went from near 100% to 50%.

A. You’re right. losing a series at home to the Aggies is awful. But I still think some team is going to burst their bubble. They caught several breaks in the two games they won at Baum-Walker. As far as the Hogs chances of going to Omaha being reduced by 50%, well, in 2021, 2023 and 2024 Arkansas didn’t lose a single home series but also didn’t get to Omaha. In 2022 they lost a home series and went to Omaha. So we’ll see if history repeats itself.

Q. Hawgredneck says: I figured if we lost a series against A&M it would be because our pitchers gave up double digit runs. They didn’t. We lost game one and game three because we didn’t hit. When we did hit we beat ’em.

A. You are correct. Arkansas is averaging 9.6 runs per game. They scored 4 runs in game one and lost. They scored 11 runs in game two and won. They scored 2 runs in game three and lost. The pitching was more than acceptable in the first two games. In game three because of the 90 minute rain delay Van Horn didn’t want to bring Aiden Jimenez back out an risk injuring him. He went with two freshmen and they got knocked around. If the Hogs had not had trouble scoring runs they would have won that series and many have gotten a sweep.

Q. Cajun Pig wants to know: What has happened to Iredale? lately he’s been coming up empty in critical situations where we need a hit big time.

A. He was up around .400 early in the SEC race. He’s under .300 after the A&M series. He’s gone 5-24 in the last six SEC games. That’s a .120 batting average. Just from personal observation he’s looking off too many pitches right down the pipe while swinging and missing on borderline strikes. All hitters go through slumps. Hopefully he’ll bounce back and be a .350 range hitter as the Hogs close out their regular season schedule.

Q. Axle says: Don’t know if you had anything to do with this but I’m giving you credit for getting the centerfield camera moved. It certainly makes a difference . The old location was a joke

A. It had nothing to do with me. Going all the way back to the Jeff Long days I had been stressing the need to move the centerfield camera platform next to the batter’s eye and raise it several feet. I was told at the time that unless the ESPN crew complained about it it would stay the way it was. That was at least 13-14 years ago.

On Monday I was told that the new camera position which is elevated and embedded inside the batters eye is something they’ve been working on for a while. In addition to giving a better over the shoulder view each pitch as it approaches the batters the camera is no longer subjected to wind or rain being positioned inside the batters eye.

I’m glad they did this and congratulations to the athletic department for their forward thinking. Fans watching from home will certainly notice a difference.

Q. WVHogfan says: USA Today ran a story about adding buyout clauses to athlete NIL contracts. What are your thoughts about this proposal?

A. Making a school pay back an athlete’s NIL money before taking him in the portal would go a long way toward stopping agents from shopping their clients to other teams. I still think revenue sharing will be the biggest help (If congress ever gets around to approving it). But NIL money will still be there even if it’s reduced. Putting a buyout clause into every NIL deal will further reduce portal snatching.

Q. CowHog 32 says: I would like your assessment of Hunter Yurachek. Overall do you feel the fans should should be satisfied with the job he’s done?

A. I would never presume to tell fans how they should feel about a coach or AD. I do give my opinion which they can take or reject. Hunter Yurachek is facing issues no other AD at Arkansas has ever had to deal with. In addition to all these NIL problems, with revenue sharing he is having to generate enough revenue to meet the salary cap that all schools will have. If you don’t meet cap it will affect recruiting and the retention of current players. Yurachek’s had to make difficult decisions to raise donation levels for the retention of season tickets for baseball and basketball. It’s something that had to be done.

I’ve give him an A on hiring coaches which is one of the most important things an AD does. He revived the basketball program with the hiring of Eric Musselman and his hiring of John Calipari was a major coup. He’s been standing behind Sam Pittman. It remains to be seen if that hire will prove to have been a good one.

Q. PopularPorkster asks: How big a loss is Ament to Tennessee? I heard they’re giving him an insane amount of money.

A. Supposedly he wanted 4 million. That indeed is a lot of cash. To me if Ament had picked Arkansas Cal would have lost Wagner and possibly missed out on the shooter/scorer he’s still trying to land. I’ve said this before. You already have Brazile. You’re only going to have each of them for a year. I think Brazile gives you more experience and he’s more physical.
Good Job By Cal.

Q. Hotdogger says: I think it’s a testament to Cal that we only had one loss to the portal. Looks like the guys are good with sticking with Cal and they are what Hog Nation needs next season.

A. He said as much in a video he posted over a week ago. Retaining the core of what he had from last year was a priority. So now you have your main point guard coming back, a versatile inside/outside big coming back and two scoring guards. That’s four key players off of a sweet 16 team. He wanted them to come back, he paid ’em what they needed and they’re staying.

Q. KyHog asks: Is Knox coming back or not? Around here there’s talk that he wants out and is staying in the draft. If that doesn’t work he’ll jump into the portal. Tell me that’s not true. We need him.

A. It’s not true. Don’t listen to Kentucky fans with an agenda. Knox is working out in front of NBA scouts to get feed back from them on what he needs to do in terms of developing his game so he can be a first rounder next season. This happens all the time and it’s a smart move.

Q. Sglies wants to know: What do you think of Ewin & Pringle? Seems like everybody is assuming they will dominate the front court. Why?

A. I think Razorback fans got an eyeful of Pringle in that loss to South Carolina. He scored 18 points with 9 boards. In the SEC Tournament Arkansas targeted him and held him to 3 points and 4 rebounds. The value of having Pringle with Ewin and Brazile is that he’s not usually going to be the only big on the floor. Also they wanted him for the defense he plays.

Ewin is just exciting to watch. He’s extremely mobile. He averaged 14.2 PPG, 7.6 RPG, while leading the ACC in field goal percentage at 59.6%. He needs to work on his defense but some blame Florida State’s switching defensive scheme for the problems Ewin had. Nothing is ever certain but I have to believe that Cal decided those two guys will be a perfect fit for that he wants to do next season.

Q. whippersnapper asks: Why no spring game?

A. The official explanation is there was rain in the forecast but according to our meteorologist, Dan Skoff, he had indicated to the football staff that here was a window from noon until mid afternoon where the rain would hold off.

Q. EddyLynn wants to know: Did Pittman cancel the Red-White game on purpose? He said he believes spring games are important for the fans but it looks like to me he used the chance of rain as an excuse.

A. You’d have to Sam Pittman and his staff to know the answer to that question but it certainly looks suspicious. I have no problem at all with Pittman canceling that game by saying, Look, we don’t want other coaches spying on us looking for portal transfers so until this post spring portal period gets changed we’re not having a spring game.

I also think he wanted to focus on four portal prospects he had on campus Saturday. Arkansas ended up getting commitments from each of them.

Skoff told me he had gotten a few texts from fans blaming him for the cancellation but overall I don’t think the spring game is a big deal for most fans right now. If the program continues to improve and reaches the point where Arkansas could make a slash in the SEC then maybe the interest will pick up. We’ll see.

H.L. McCamish wants to know: How would you rate football’s portal additions so far? The numbers on these guys are impressive but not a single one of them played in a power 4 conference.

Pittman has a history of developing mid major transfers and even D-II transfers into effective SEC players. Isaac TeSlaa had a great bowl game and was impressive in the Senior Bowl in addition to looking really good at the NFL Combine. Andrew Armstrong was a first team All SEC receiver. Led the conference in receiving yards and total catches. You are right. The numbers on all four of the new portal additions are eye catching. We’ll have to wait and see if they can perform like that in the SEC.

ArkTraqman says: Jordan Anthony just set a school record in the hundred meters. First to run it in under 10 seconds. Do you think he will ever play football for the Hogs?

I’m not aware of any comment he’s made about his future with football that but I doubt that he’ll play. After he set the record at the Mt. Sac Relays he did mention the frustration of being hurt so often and how it had affected his track career. At least some of those injuries were football related. Seeing what he’s capable of when he’s fully healthy and not splitting time with football might be the deciding factor.