Now it’s time to think about the summer off-season and for Van Horn that means dealing with the MLB Draft.
The gift and the curse of having a good team in college athletics is the professional leagues are going to come for your best players. Overall, the Hogs has four player on the roster that are top 200 prospects, Bohrofen (No. 61), Hollan (No. 83), Wiggins (No. 99) and Josenberger (No. 114)
Van Horn isn’t a fan of the MLB draft process because it leaves him trying to figure which of his players are going to play professional baseball or come to college.
The MLB is scheduled for July 9. Last year, Van Horn called out the owners calling the draft a “joke” for having it during All-Star Weekend. This year he is taking a different approach.
“I’m done complaining about it and I think every division one coach talked about it until we’re blue in the face,” Van Horn said about dealing with the timetable of the MLB Draft. “The draft should have been two weeks ago, or at the very latest, maybe now, so at least we can move on.”
The Hogs have the top recruiting class this year, but 10 players are in the MLB’s top 200 prospects, half in the top 100.
Van Horn and the rest of his staff (like other college coaches) must figure out how to manage the roster and if they should hit the portal sooner than later.
“We don’t know whats going on with Aiden Miller or Walker Martin. I can on and on. We are talking to them to try to figure out what kind of money they’re going to demand to sign and what they are really thinking, if they really want to go to school. You’re having all those conversations. [It’s] just what you do.”
Martin said he is still excited to be a Hog but he is still mulling the option of jumping to the big leagues, currently ranked as the no. 12 propect. If Martin does decides to skip the draft and bring his talents to Fayetteville, he is expected to be the starting shortstop with Harold Coll entering the transfer portal.
Van Horn is still confident he will be able to keep some of the guys who are on the MLB’s radar. The Hogs also some good players coming in from the Portal, and returning starters like Kendall Diggs.
Bringing back those MLB prospects would surely make the Diamond Hogs a pre-season CWS favorite but like Van Horn, can’t complain about it.