Three Big Questions as Hogs Baseball Gets Ready to Heat Up

Arkansas Razorbacks vastly short on familiar faces in 2026

Arkansas Razorbacks shortstop Kuhio Aloy against the Missouri Tigers at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark. | Nilsen Roman-Hogs on SI Images

With snow blanketing the ground and the air bitter cold, it's clearly what for many Arkansas fans is their favorite time of year — baseball season.

There's not a lot that gets a Razorbacks fan's blood boiling more than the sound of baseballs smacking leather and the metallic clink of the Hog Pen being opened before a game.

With a new season about to start, meaning once again fans are dreaming of how head coach Dave Van Horn can finally get the national championship so many across the state want him to hoist while trying to avoid nightmare scenarios in their heads, it's time to address a few key questions.

Can the Razorbacks overcoming losing so much talent?

Arkansas lost pitcher Gage Wood and shortstop Wehiwa Aloy. That alone is a big blow as it means parting ways with a man who threw the first no-hitter at the College World Series in 65 years and the Golden Spikes Award winner who has anchored shorstop for multiple years now.

Throw in Zach Root, Aiden Jimenez, Parker Coil, Ben Bybee, Landon Beidelschies, Charles Davalan, Christian Foutch, Brent Iredale, and Justin Thomas all showing up in the Major League Draft and it appeared last summer that the Hogs were suddenly down a weekend rotation, a large chunk of the bullpen and multiple guys who can squeeze out a key hit when needed.

If the Razorbacks are going to find a new source of power either at the plate or on the mound, it will probably come in the form of a new face.

As for this season, a quick glance down the roster shows there's not a lot of familiar faces. Cam Kozeal and Nolan Souza will be back to battle it out for the rights to second base and both can provide a pop every now and then.

Meanwhile, junior pitcher Gabe Gaeckle will hope to extend his work late in the season more consistently across an entire schedule. He entered last year on a ton of preseason lists, including both as an All-American and also as a Golden Spikes watchlist nominee.

However, it wasn't until the postseason that Gaeckle really hit his stride on the mound, so Arkansas fans are left to hope he can hit the ground running while spending the season climbing the draft boards.

Beyond that, the familiar faces are few and far between. Ryder Helfrick should continue to be a high level performer behind the plate and he will pair nicely with Coil.

That's right. While he was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 16th round, Coil chose to take one more stab at making a big run on the mound with the Razorbacks.

As for power, Kuhio Aloy, brother of departed shortstop Wehiwa, has a really good sound in his bat this winter. He appears to have bulked up just a tad more with good lean muscle and has added just enough extra pop to sound like a shotgun being fired when he makes contact.

Aloy will likely have to play a bigger role in the field with the Razorbacks this year. While he was an All-American last season, that was with him primarily serving as a designated hitter who racked up 13 home runs and a team leading 70 RBIs while also scoring 52 runs. He also had 15 doubles, a 12-game hitting streak, 20 multi-hit games and also a 21-game streak where he got on base.

Kuhio Aloy (@RazorbackBSB) went yard early and often en route to claiming the 2025 @OfficialCCBL HR Derby crown! @kuhioaloy25 blasted 12 in the first round, 12 more in the finals, then 4 in extras to seal it 🏆💣

More from @DSeifertD1PBR on the CCBL derby and ASG ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/w6kmjoAPB5

— D1Baseball (@d1baseball) July 22, 2025

"Few swing it as powerfully as Kuhio Aloy, and it’s fun to watch the speed in which he unleashes the bat head. The righthanded hitter is simply one of those who make it sound different off the bat."

Read more on @RazorbackBSB's @kuhioaloy25 and other @BourneBraves hitters ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/4XzrAXHY9b

— D1Baseball (@d1baseball) September 5, 2025

Will Arkansas continue to care, dominate as much with Vitello gone?

The Razorbacks were the last team former Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello wanted to see come up on the schedule. He took over the Volunteers in 2018 and won only two games and no series against his former mentor Dave Van Horn.

Still, there was something about him, perhaps the dark facial hair, maybe the bravado, that made fans relish beating up on Tennessee more than usual despite the lack of competitive balance. Since 2017, the Hogs have a 14-2 advantage over the Volunteers.

However, with Vitello gone to the Major Leagues to coach the San Francisco Giants and no Tennessee on the schedule, Arkansas fans will have to either wait at least a year or show up in droves to a postseason game to get a true feel as to whether they feel the same about a Josh Elander led Volunteers team as they did Vitello.

Who actually is the team to beat?

There's the possibility as there always is that Arkansas could be the team to beat in the SEC once again, but there are plenty of teams picked ahead of the Hogs by various national media outlets. The thought is Arkansas has just been hit too hard by the Major League Draft, graduation and portal transfers to be the actual team that wins it all in the SEC.

Instead, the betting world is asking everyone to choose from a list of LSU, Texas, Mississippi State, Auburn, Georgia, and Tennessee. Add in the fact TCU is also projected to finish above the Razorbacks and that not only makes the Hogs a threat to finish middle of the pack in its conference, but to be underdogs against at least four opponents by way of avoiding LSU, Texas and Tennessee, literally the three opponents Arkansas fans look forward to the most outside of perhaps Mississippi State.