One Year Removed from Tommy John, Jimenez Breaking Out for Hogs

Oregon State transfer adds another weapon to already vaunted bullpen for Razorbacks

Aiden Jimenez works his way back from Tommy John Surgery with the Arkansas Razorbacks in Fayetteville, Ark / Jason Jimenez

OXFORD, Miss. — Right-hander Aiden Jimenez remembers the date well. March 5, 2024.

It was the day he had Tommy John Surgery to repair a partial tear to his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL). For pitchers, it's the equivalent of a football player having ACL surgery and it comes with a lot of worry.

Now barely past his one year anniversary and wearing a Razorback jersey, Jimenez has not only overcome one of the scariest injuries for any pitcher, but has become a secret weapon of sorts for coach Dave Van Horn out of the bullpen.

"It felt good to get out there and get some get a few innings under my belt in one outing," Jimenez said after pitching three scoreless innings against Ole Miss and striking out six in a 12-3 win.

In nine innings this season, Jimenez has pitched to a 2.00 ERA with 12 strikeouts. He has slowly shown entering more leverage situations, picking up his first save of the season, albeit an unconventional three-inning save in a six-run game.

"He’s throwing the ball in the low-90s with sink and command," coach Dave Van Horn said. "The command’s the thing and he’s throwing a cutter, his fastball’s kind of a heavy ball. It was fun to watch him pitch."

As Jimenez continues to get zeroes, he'll slowly get even more pressure situations.

"It helps us to put him out there in tough situations," Van Horn said. "Tonight wasn’t super stressful, but he still had to get these guys out and they showed they can score quick and he did a great job."

Jimenez's three innings was also the longest outing of the year. The decision was made to send him back out for the ninth after the Hogs tacked on three more insurance runs.

By only using seven pitchers in the first two games of the series, the likes of Christian Foutch and Carson Wiggins are both available out of the bullpen for their first appearance of the series if a close game arises Sunday.

"He kept his focus in the dugout," Van Horn said. "Lot of times when you have a pretty good lead and you add to it, you might lose a little focus. I watched him throughout the inning [the top of the ninth], he stayed really focused. You could just tell he was really excited to go back out again."

Despite it being just the first SEC series of the year, Arkansas has won the opening series for seven straight seasons, something Van Horn is keen on keeping intact.

"Both teams have to play in it [the windy conditions]," Van Horn said. "You just put together at-bats and score when you get the opportunity. Tomorrow's a big game."

First pitch of the rubber match between Ole Miss and Arkansas is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. and will be streamed on SEC+.

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