Arkansas junior pitcher Brady Tygart has been drafted 357th overall by the Boston Red Sox in the 12th round of the 2024 MLB Draft. Tygart is the fourth Razorback pitcher to be selected in this year's draft, as he joins Hagen Smith (White Sox), Mason Molina (Brewers) and Jake Faherty (Marlins).
Head coach Dave Van Horn's program is up to eight draft selections following Tygart going to the Red Sox, who also drafted Arkansas catcher Hudson White in the ninth round Monday.
The 2024 season was Tygart's first as a full-time starter for the Razorbacks. The Hernando, Mississippi, native logged 13 starts and 14 appearances with a 4-3 record, 3.94 ERA, 69 strikeouts and 36 walks in 59.1 innings of work.
Tygart's lone double-digit strikeout performance featured 10 punchouts across 5.0 innings of one-run ball March 2 against Murray State in Fayetteville. He posted three quality starts on the year against Oklahoma State, South Carolina and Florida.
Things dropped off near the end of the year for Tygart, who didn't go longer than 3.0 innings in each of his final three outings before he was declared unavailable for the Fayetteville Regional, which Kansas State won.
"Tygart, one really good inning, struggles, probably won’t be on the (27-man roster) because he doesn’t feel very good," Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said May 30. "So we’ll leave it at that. And even if he was, it would be one inning. We’ve got guys that can throw one inning and do a great job. I just want healthy people out there."
Van Horn later said it was "more like a shoulder" injury for Tygart at the end of the year and it was something that just needed time. Tygart also dealt with a sprained UCL during his sophomore season in 2023, which saw him post a 3.20 ERA, 31 strikeouts and eight walks across 10 appearances in 25.1 innings pitched.
A 6-foot-2, 215-pound right-hander, Tygart was named to the Freshman All-SEC team and he was a Perfect Game First Team Freshman All-American in 2022. That year, Tygart logged eight saves, seven of which came in SEC play. He limited conference batters to a .160 batting average that year.
"Tygart, put quite simply, has some of the most insane stuff the 2024 class has to offer," Future Star Series wrote of Tygart. "Blessed with an absolute hammer slider with immense sweep and a mid-90s heater that bores in on righties, Tygart is a huge weapon out of the bullpen.
"There's considerable effort in his delivery and just about everyone is convinced he's destined for high-leverage roles at the next level. That said, the pure stuff here is unmatched and Tygart represents the type of talent that could force his way onto a competing big league bullpen in September 2024 after he's selected."
The Razorbacks have now had at least one affiliated player taken in every MLB Draft since 1975. Arkansas’ streak of 50 years is tied with Auburn - assuming it has a player drafted - for the second longest active streak in the SEC.
