When the No. 5 Arkansas Razorbacks (4-0, 0-0 SEC) face the Kansas State Wildcats (1-4, 0-0 Big 12) in the College Baseball Series tonight in Arlington, Texas, they'll square off against a near-transfer Hog who's red-hot at the plate.
Maximus Martin, a 6-foot-0, 190-pound shortstop out of Edgewater Park, New Jersey, announced his commitment to Arkansas on June. 19 after hitting the transfer portal from Georgia State.
Once the 2024 MLB Draft concluded July 16 and it was clear Arkansas was adding junior college third baseman Brent Iredale to its roster, plus Vanderbilt transfer second baseman Cam Kozeal who committed earlier in the month, Martin flipped his pledge to the Wildcats on July 26.
It was likely a tough situation to be in for the once highly-touted prospect, who hit .297 for the Panthers in 2024 and .203 at Rutgers as a freshman in 2023. Before that, Martin was the No. 82 overall player in the country in the class of 2022, according to Perfect Game.
But the move has seemingly paid off for Martin, as he's sporting a .667 average through six at-bats with three runs, one double, one home run, three RBIs, two walks and only one strikeout for Kansas State.
In his Tuesday start against No. 6 North Carolina, a game the Tarheels won 12-9 despite trailing 6-5 after the top of the seventh, Martin finished 3-for-3 at the plate with two RBIs, his lone long ball of the season and both of his walks.
"(Kansas State) lost a tough one last night," coach Dave Van Horn said Wednesday. "Had an opportunity to watch it live, as I think all the coaches did, and they played a few different people and they swung the bats pretty good. It’s a different team than last year, couple, three starters back and couple guys they filled in are guys we knew about that were in the transfer portal.
"Other than that, just what we’ve seen, they’ll be scrappy and I feel like they probably feel like they should have won last night’s game. We’ll be getting their best effort on Friday."
Martin told HawgBeat on Wednesday that he's "excited to compete against (Arkansas) if given the chance, 100%" in Friday's game, which serves as a revenge matchup for Arkansas after it was defeated by Kansas State in the 2024 Fayetteville Regional.
For Van Horn's club, though, it's just the next game on the schedule.
"Well, it’s not something that we address," Van Horn said. "Obviously it’s a different year. We’re just going to try to beat K-State on Friday and we’ll do what we need to do...But yeah, I don’t feel like it’s that way. In baseball, it’s year to year and then when you get to that year, it’s weekend to weekend. We’re just going to try to play well in the game that’s in front of us."
Arkansas will face Martin and the Wildcats on Friday at Globe Life Field in Arlington. First pitch is set for 7 p.m. CT and it will stream on FloSports.
