Arkansas baseball head coach Dave Van Horn confirmed Thursday that junior pitcher Cooper Dossett suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) requiring Tommy John surgery that will keep him out for the 2025 season.
A right-hander out of Springdale Har-Ber High School, Dossett appeared in 14 games for the Razorbacks during the 2024 season. He had a 3-1 record, 5.17 ERA, 20 strikeouts and seven walks in 15.2 innings pitched as a sophomore.
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Dossett's last appearance was May 18 against Texas A&M and he suffered an arm injury in that game that eventually ended his season. Van Horn said in June that Dossett was in Fayetteville working out and no surgery was needed for the injury. Of course, that has since changed.
"It wasn't completely torn, it was just kind of weak" Van Horn said. "They thought they could rehab it back, and it didn't. It was just too much pain in there and it was bothering him kind of to the point where we went and had it evaluated again and it got a little worse. Just decided to get it fixed."
Unfortunately, Dossett won't be able to get healthy in time for the 2025 season.
"He’s just got to get strong," Van Horn said June 26. "He’s had injury issues since his senior year, the summer before his senior year. That injury was really scary when it happened, he thought he had really torn his elbow, he didn’t as far as we know. That’s MRIs and using every avenue to figure out what up there. I think mentally he’s okay. Now he’s just got to recover and if he stays healthy, he’s going to be really good.
"He throws that cutter and that slider. Fastball is in the mid 90s, bigger and stronger. Great kid, works extremely hard, you couldn’t ask for anything more but when you are a pitcher and your arm’s bothering you, that’s not a good thing. We’ve got to get him healthy and feeling good about it."
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The Diamond Hogs are set to host Oklahoma State on Friday and Saturday for exhibition matchups at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville. Friday's game will start at 6 p.m. CT and Saturday's will begin at noon CT. Both exhibitions are open to the public.
