Ask Mike: Baseball’s Nose Dive, Arkansas Edge Goes to Court & TeSlaa Rocks in Vintage Lions Jersey

Q. Our first question is from mousetown who wants to know: What is going on with Van Horn? This is one of the most talented teams he’s had but these guys are unfocused and undisciplined. He needs to kick some butt instead of being so calm.

A. That’s not his style these days but that doesn’t make you wrong. A lot of fans want to see him unload on his players after the inconsistent hitting, bad starting pitching and untimely errors they suffered against Florida.

Here’s the crazy part. Arkansas leads the SEC in hitting with .320 team average, 9 percentage points better than LSU at .311. They are 3rd in team E-R-A behind Texas and Tennessee and they continue to lead the league in fielding percentage.

In three series losses going 3-6 they’ve scored 58 runs to 53 by Georgia, A&M and Florida.

That almost doesn’t make sense until you look closer. When these guys win they win big, scoring lots of runs but they tend to lose low scoring games, like beating Georgia 13-3 but losing 7-6 and 7-6 the next two days. A .320 team batting average doesn’t do much when you need a key hit or run and can’t get one. The Team E-R-A is good but when you look closer you see a lot of walks, hit batters and multiple RBI hits given up in key situations.

You’re right. This is a very talented team and for the last three weeks that talent has been, as you put it, unfocused and undisciplined.

Q. sgiles says: I don’t know if it’s Hobbs or Van Horn but once again they didn’t make pitching changes until after the damage was done. Florida’s coach took the opposite approach and after giving up 5 runs in the first two innings he managed to shut Arkansas out for the next 7.

A. I’ve seen a strategy like O’Sullivan used backfire big time but he made it work on Sunday for sure. But look, Arkansas helped. They had trouble hitting average pitchers who executed a game plan of throwing high over the plate, throwing just outside the edges and talking full advantage of guys who were taking very aggressive swings. Florida also threw a lot of off speed pitches which worked well against Arkansas hitters. It would be interesting to know the signals they’re getting from the dugout. There’s a lot of guessing going on and it sure sounds like Arkansas is guessing wrong too often. Either that or the batters are ignoring the dugout signals which doesn’t seem likely.

Q: RazorAlex88, who told us last week that his confidence level in the Razorbacks had dropped 50% after losing series to both Georgia and A&M now says:

My overreaction for the week: 3rd straight series loss. Surely someone’s head must be on the chopping block. Confidence level in this team is 25%.

A. Nobody’s head is on the chopping block right now because Arkansas is still sitting in 2nd place in the SEC. If they break out of this slump then it will have been nothing more than an annoying speed bump. All that matters is how you’re playing once the regular season ends. Needless to sat the Texas series is huge. They are lapping the field with great pitching and good hitting.

Win the series, slow their momentum and the fans will be back on board. Lose two of three or worse, get swept like the Aggies did against Texas, with LSU & Tennessee still ahead and Arkansas might not be a one seed come tournament time. The coaches have their work cut out for them this week.

Q. Cajun Hog says: I appreciate the fact that Kendall Diggs showed a lot of loyalty by coming back to Arkansas after his surgery but he can’t hit anymore. I can’t believe DVH put him in the lineup in such an important series. He looks at strikes and swings at balls.

A. That’s the perception. Van Horn is not cut throat enough to make tough decisions. He leaves pitchers in too long try to show them he has confidence in them. Also he puts hitters into the line up who are struggling at the plate trying to get them going.

Q. Hawgredneck says: Last week you mentioned the slump Brett Iredale was in but you said he would come out of it. Since game three against the Aggies he’s hitting better. Is the slump over?

A. In the last five SEC games Iredale’s gone 5 for 17. That’s good for a batting average of .294. So yes, there are some signs that he’s coming out of it.

Q. HillCountryRazorback asks: What did you think about Gage Wood’s bounce back against Florida? DVH limited his pitch count. I hope he can go longer against Texas. It would make my day if we could win the series against them.

A. I won’t question Van Horn’s decision to lift Wood after just three innings and 42 pitches. The last thing you want is for him to hurt his arm again but by pulling him early Van Horn brought in Gabe Gaeckle in the 4th and had to lift him when he started struggling a bit with one-out in the 7th. If Wood goes 5 innings maybe Van Horn doesn’t have to use Aiden Jimenez and he’s available on Sunday. Hopefully that will happen this week.

Q. Nico Iamaleava’s exit from Tennessee was big news but brother Madden’s spurning of the Razorbacks has made an even biggest splash across college athletics because of the way Arkansas’s AD handled it.

Hogdogger says: So Yurachek sent out a message that there would be repercussions if a so called athlete welched on his commitment but still expected the school to pay out funding. Arkansas Edge must have seen an issue and didn’t want to get burned.

A. First of all it wasn’t a commitment. Madden Iamaleava signed with Arkansas and his Letter of Intent apparently contained a legally binding buyout clause which Yurachek says Arkansas will enforce. The money owed is somewhere around $200,000.

There was an immediate reaction around the country to the effect of, It’s about time. Yes, that is the answer to these athletes taking big money from a school and flying the coupe to another school, in this case UCLA. Most national football commentators are giving Yurachek credit saying he’s ahead of the curve on this issue. However there is still some sentiment that this will hurt Arkansas’ recruiting. To me it might not if college ADs and coaches wake up and join in.

Q. Edward Clutch says: I give money to Arkansas Edge and I am furious that part of my hard earned money went to some guy who bolted as soon as he legally could. I hope Edge sues that guy, his “handlers” and even UCLA for tampering.

A. Right now they’re simply asking for money owed for breaking the contract. There will be no lawsuit if somebody comes up with the money. If no payment is made then I’m sure a lawsuit will follow.

Q. whippersnapper says: We reportedly gave a guy that was here for 4 months and bolted with $500K but we couldn’t give that to Luke Hasz for example to stay here for another year?

A. First of all the coaches did not know that the kid would come in and leave at the end of spring practice but with the amount of money he was paid Arkansas put a buyout clause in this Letter of Intent in case he did not fulfill his part of the agreement.

As for Luke Hasz what actually happened was never explained in detail but I’m pretty sure Bobby Petrino told Sam Pittman that Hasz’ agent was asking too much and they decided to let him go to Ole Miss. I guess we will see this fall if that was a mistake but both Petrino and tight ends coach Morgan Turner say they really like the players they brought in out of the portal.

Q. DWR asks: What are the chances Arkansas gets any money back from these players who left? I thought all were paid up front. I doubt they get a single dime back.

A. I noticed that Finebaum said the same thing and he’s usually wrong. Arkansas has hired one of the top litigators around. Tom Mars has a reputation of getting his clients exactly what they are asking for. So far there’s been no reaction from Madden or his family or UCLA. However there is a second former player involved. Arkansas also wants money from former receiver Dazmin James who caught 3 passes for 137 yards and a touchdown in Arkansas’ Liberty owl win over Texas Tech. Apparently he had just agreed to a new NIL deal before the bowl game. James attorney admits that his client broke the contract but says no money was actually paid to him before he left and therefore there was no real damage done to Arkansas.

The two situations are very different. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Q. PopularPorkster says: I know you said you’re not a big NFL draft guy but to you what was the biggest thing about this year’s draft?

A. Nationally most people would say all the drama surrounding Shedeur Sanders but to me the highlight was Isaac TeSlaa getting picked by the Lions in the 3rd round which happened to be his favorite NFL team. That doesn’t happen very often. I’m sure no matter which team drafted him he would have been excited. But apparently it was a total surprise. The Lions organization had no idea he’d been a Detroit fan virtually his whole life. When TeSlaa met with them for the first time he wore a Lions jersey that he’d had since the 8th grade. This was a totally cool situation and he deserves it with the way he worked to get his draft stock up.

Q. BigPigAidsap says: The first Hog off the board is the one fat butt refused to use because he gave all his targets to rock hands Broden.

A. I can only assume he’s not referring to Taylen Green who is anything but overweight.
Since Bobby Petrino is also not overweight that leaves Sam Pittman, who by the way, has lost a lot of weight since his hip surgery.

Pittman had almost nothing to do with the number of times TeSlaa was targeted. That was mostly Green and we all know that he prefers to throw to guys who are tall and guys who tend to get separation from defenders. Broden was given a starting spot coming out of August Camp last season because he was 6-6 and had 4.3 speed. He ended up dropping a lot of passes and Petrino probably stuck with him for too long because, no doubt, he figured that Broden would come around. By the way he did sign a free agent contract.

None of this had anything to do with Pittman. If Bobby Petrino is your offensive coordinator you don’t go around second guessing his decisions.

Q. Pigsfeat asks: Are you a little surprised that TeSlaa was drafted and Armstrong wasn’t?

A. No because there was a lot of pre-draft talk that TeSlaa had these amazing numbers at the combine. Some of the best in the history of the draft. What suprised me is that he went ahead of Landon Jackson. I had no idea that there was a team out there that was so impressed that they would trade up for him.

The Lions GM said it had less to do with the combine and more to do with that he saw while watching the Senior Bowl. TeSlaa impressed him with is size and the way he was blocking defensive backs. Driving them crazy, he put it. He also indicated that TeSlaa will be used some initially on special teams while they are working with him to improve as a receiver.

Supposedly a lot of teams questioned Armstrong’s 40 time at the combine and the fact that while he led the SEC is receiving he only caught one TD pass last season. Well he had five the year before. These GMs and owners ignored a guy who had 134 catches for 1,904 yards over the last two seasons. He did that against some of the best defensive backs in college football. The NFL draft has a long history of players going undrafted and making a big impact in the league. It will be up to Armstrong to prove that a whole lot of experts got it wrong with him and that the Dolphins got him in a steal. I think he will.

Q. KyHog wants to know: What’s the holdup on Cal adding one more high scoring player? Once again the media has been talking about this for over a week and once again we hear nothing.

A. There’s has been a rumor. mostly pushed by Arkansas fans, that Arkansas was looking hard at Auburn guard Chad Baker-Mazara. Courtney told us last week that wasn’t happening. She was right. Baker-Mazara is headed to USC to play for Eric Musselman.

Q. T.L.Slaten says: What a turnaround by Arkansas’ softball team. They’ve been quietly moving up for several weeks. It’s been impressive to watch.

A. For the last six weeks actually. From 9th in the SEC to a game out of 4th after winning five straight conference series. They started at 1-5, then won two of three from number 7 Tennessee, swept Kentucky, took 2 of 3 from number 2 Florida, 2 of 3 from number 10 South Carolina and 2 of 3 from number 1 Texas A&M. Today they are ranked number two in the nation in the latest Softball America poll, Arkansas’ highest ranking ever in softball. They have one series left at home against LSU which is currently 10th in the SEC.