Van Horn must replace a solid group of players
FAYETTEVILLE - Junior third baseman Bobby Wernes and fourth-year junior right fielder Tyler Spoon will join sophomore center fielder Andrew Benintendi and junior pitcher Trey Killian as drafted Razorbacks to turn pro early, Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said Thursday during his season wrap-up press conference.
All four were pivotal players to the Razorbacks rallying from an 11-12 start to finish 40-25 among the Elite Eight playing for the national championship at the College World Series in Omaha.
The Razorbacks were eliminated at Omaha with 5-3 and 4-3 losses to Virginia and Miami and met Wednesday and Thursday with Van Horn in Fayetteville before scattering for their summer destinations.
For Benintendi, first-round draft of the Boston Red Sox; Killian, the Norfork native and Mountain Home High graduate drafted in the ninth round by the Colorado Rockies; Wernes, drafted in the 30th-round by the Houston Astros; and Van Buren native Spoon, drafted in the 35th round
a by the Boston Red Sox, those destinations ultimately will be a minor league team somewhere.
Benintendi and Killian already have said it’s their intention to sign. On Wernes and Spoon, Van Horn said on Thursday that they will sign.
“We knew Tyler (a UA sports management graduate in May) was going to sign if he had the opportunity,” Van Horn said. “Bobby got drafted in the 30th round, but they are offering him a lot more money than 30th-round money. It’s probably in his best interests to take the money.”
Spoon’s stats, hitting .327 with six home runs and 54 RBI, and a fine, strong-armed right fielder, indicate he should have been higher than a 35th-round draft choice, but the scant likelihood of much improving that stock as a fifth-year senior makes it all the more likely for him to move on.
“I didn’t expect him to stay,” Van Horn said. “He has got his degree and it’s decent money. Go play some pro ball and if it doesn’t work out, he can start in the real world and start working. If he did come back, he would have to start