Traumatic Path Has Hogs' Reliever Ready for Postseason Battles Ahead

Another overlooked pitcher performing way better than Arkansas Razorbacks fans have acknowledged

Arkansas Razorbacks pitcher James DeCremer throwing against Arkansas State. | Arkansas Communications

Most Arkansas fans don't know it, but the Razorback who has caught their eye recently whom they don't recognize has quite the traumatic story that had to unfold for him to arrive on their radar.

Meanwhile, the pitcher they began to think has fallen off has done the exact opposite and they never even noticed.

Following the Razorbacks wrapping up a series win over Kentucky, giving the Hogs one of their most successful years in terms of winning SEC series, there was plenty of time to talk with Arkansas fans about their thoughts regarding the team.

Almost to a man, the immediate concern of each fan centered around the Razorbacks' bullpen, a first all season. Their focus had been on bigger issues such as hitting in the bottom 2/3 of the line-up or who the Friday night starter would be, but Dave Van Horn's staff systematically plugged the big holes, allowing Arkansas to climb back into Top 10 status and fans began to focus on smaller issues.

Two relievers who appear to be a major part of the solution as of late are Parker Coil and Oregon State transfer James DeCremer. Both have stepped up to the challenge in such a way that if Hunter Dietz can continue to do his thing as the team's ace, these two can permanently join up with whomever Van Horn ultimately decides is the No. 2 pitcher and lock up teams throughout the postseason, leaving only Day 3 of the rotation in question.

Coil is a familar face for fans, although they seem to have lost track of his accomplishments. Commonly, fans asked what happened to him, as if he fell off in production and might require some explanation such as an arm strain.

However, the reality is Coil is handling business better than ever. He has held teams scoreless in six of his last seven appearances while working 12 2/3 innings. 

When the sky was falling against Kentucky in the rubber match Saturday, it was Coil who stepped in and set the world back in order.

Once the chaos was over that allowed the Wildcats to overcome an early 11-0 deficit, tying the game at 12-12 in the bottom of the fifth, Decremer followed Coil with three innings of shutout baseball to secure the 16-12 win.

While Coil has been a victim of misinformation, fans seemed to almost be under the impression DeCremer recently wandered into pitching coach Matt Hobbs' office with a permission slip from his mother to start pitching for the Hogs beginning in May once his family can get him moved into the dorm.

As noted before, DeCremer is a transfer from Oregon State who is far from a dream-filled farm boy who just wandered in from the fields to start playing ball. Yes, he was one of the last couple of additions to the team after the Major League Draft did its damage to Van Horn's recruiting class, but DeCremer has been here all year long.

In fact, as a Phoenix native, he didn't wander over from anything, especially a farm of some sort. If one must declare his shift to the Razorbacks as a move from something, it's starting the regional game that propelled the Beavers into the Corvallis Super Regional.

There was certainly a lull in his action as he disappeared from the mound from April 2 to May 10, but the calf injury that put him on the shelf appears to have fully healed. Perhaps it is because so many Hogs fans were disenfranchised with the team leading into April, skipping the effort needed to find the team on the ESPN App in lieu of using that energy to jerk a crappie out of the water with a jig pole instead, they missed getting to know who he was.

Then, when he popped back onto the rotation against Oklahoma throwing pitches with a bit of movement that stood out among the rest of the relievers, fans got curious as to who the new guy was.

When the Kentucky series rolled around the following week, he got tied to Coil as if they are now the team's new dynamic duo. He followed Dietz in the seventh and immediately struck out the first two hitters he faced.

However, once he gave up his first hit in the way closer than expected battle, Van Horn wrapped DeCremer up and set him aside for Saturday, calling on Coil to shut things down the next 1.1 innings.

Unfortunately, their shutout work wasn't enough as Kentucky ace Jaxon Jelkins offered to sacrifice his upcoming start to guarantee at least one win in the series, 4-3, greatly increasing the chances the Wildcats get into the regionals.

DeCremer is hitting his stride just in time. He is back on his feet following the calf injury, but from a much bigger picture perspective, he is finally fully functional from a moment roughly three years ago that saw him lying in a hospital bed with his back now held together by screws. 

Not exactly the best case scenario for a young man who had dedicated himself to becoming a world class level pitcher. But, that's part of the problem -— the dedication.

DeCremer worked himself too hard and ignored a lot of the warnings often fed to up and coming pitchers that get discarded as old wives tales. By grinding too hard and not following proper technique along the way, the future Beaver turned Razorback quite literally destroyed his back.

It was supposed to be all that comes with one final hurrah at Brophy College Prep in Scottsdale, Ariz. his senior year. Instead, he over-lifted and over-threw his way into a back with multiple fractures that was helped along by terrible mechanics over the years.

He did what he thought it would take to get a shot at pitching for a legendary college program like Oregon State and all he had to show for it was two screws doing their best to secure his hope at what most would consider a normal life.

With nothing promised, DeCremer used that same work ethic that got him into this mess to try to get out as he slogged his way forward through the 18 months that made up Phase 1 of this path.

Finally, his first chances to work from a mound came at Oregon State, which had given him an opportunity to try to resurrect his dream of playing baseball. He spent a while rebuilding his arm and mechanics, then got to begin what would officially become recognized by the NCAA as the beginning of his career.

It was a rocky mess. He had zero faith in what he was calling a fast ball at the time. 

He struggled to control what little he could make look like a college pitch. However, the OSU coaches stuck with him, dropping him into a mid-week game every now and then to evaluate where he was as far as progress.

One thing that would have helped was if he had chosen instead to deal with the travel schedule of literally any other school. Because the PAC-12 folded. the Beavers were an impromptu independent team no one wanted to play.

The staff had to give up literally everything to get games, which meant rarely playing at home. DeCremer and his spine covered 23,465 miles getting to games on the road and at neutral sites.

Despite the worst-case scenario, he slowly recovered to the point the Beavers were willing to turn to him in their biggest time of need. Oregon State lost the opening game of the Corvallis regional in 2025, so they found themselves fighting back through four elimination games.

That's when DeCremer got the literal call. His coaches were letting him know that with the rest of the staff exhausted from doing whatever was needed to keep going, the Beavers were going to start him as a fresh arm.

Facing all that pressure, DeCremer not only went out and threw five shutout innings, he hit 95 mph on the gun and maintained his control as he saved the Beavers' postseason.

Now, with the additional rest and rehab from his calf injury factored in, DeCremer finds himself more solidly in the Razorbacks' postseason plans, while being, more importantly, significantly more solid than this time last year.

His fastball consistently hits 95 and fans have already taken note of his extreme control that has allowed him to eat up significant innings at a time as a reliever.

So, if Arkansas fans are worried about the bullpen, go ahead. There is plenty of room for that.

Just know Coil has shown he is more than up to the task as of late and there may not be anyone more mentally and physically prepared for the resiliency that will be needed for the pressure of the postseason than DeCremer.