From @masonchoate:
Arkansas baseball fans might not realize just how far super senior right-handed pitcher Dylan Carter has come since undergoing Tommy John surgery after tearing his UCL during the 2023 season.
Head coach Dave Van Horn and pitching coach Matt Hobbs have once again put together one of the nation's best pitching staffs, headlined by names such as Zach Root, Gabe Gaeckle and Landon Beidelschies. It's safe to say Carter isn't going to get the same recognition as the others on the Razorbacks pitching staff entering the 2025 season.
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Back in the spring of 2023, Carter stepped up big-time in the midst of plenty of arm injuries. The Bentonville (Ark.) product logged 16 appearances that season and posted a 6-0 record with a 3.65 ERA, two saves and 26 strikeouts in 37.0 innings of work. Carter's own arm injury cut his season short in April, unfortunately.
Carter, who spent his first two seasons in 2020-21 at Crowder College, rehabbed back and made an early return last season on March 10, 2024. While he wasn't leaned on much, the Bentonville West High School product did log eight appearances and he allowed 10 earned runs on 12 hits with six walks and six strikeouts.
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During the Oct. 4 annual Fall Classic intrasquad scrimmage in Fayetteville, Carter struck out all three batters he faced — including transfer Kuhio Aloy and Charles Davalan — during his first inning of relief. He returned for a second frame and left the bases loaded despite allowing two hits in the inning.
"It was really good to see Dylan Carter like he did," Van Horn said. "This is a guy that, two years ago when we were already having all kinds of injuries and the weather was terrible that spring it seemed like, he just kept going out there and pitching for us and he hurt himself. Last year didn’t go quite as good because he was a year out of Tommy John.
"The control a lot of times is the issue, the command. His velocity got up last spring, but the command was there. Today and what I’ve seen this fall, he’s been commanding the ball and still throwing the fastball in the mid-90s. He can pitch. He did a great job."
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Carter has some work to do in order to become a significant part of the pitching staff in 2025. According to stats compiled by local media, he appeared five times in the fall and he gave up five earned runs on eight hits in 9.0 inning pitched. Carter struck out 11 and walked five of the 36 batters he faced.
Van Horn said in May 2024 that Carter was touching 98 miles per hour in bullpen sessions. That has yet to be seen in live action, but it could definitely help the team this spring. The Hogs will open their season Friday, Feb. 14, against Washington State at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville.
