From @masonchoate:
Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn and his staff managed to get a few of their top high school recruits from the 2024 class to campus, including a pair of stud pitchers in Carson Wiggins and Cole Gibler.
Van Horn and pitching coach Matt Hobbs have seen freshmen arms put together big-time first seasons in recent memory, including names such as Hagen Smith, Brady Tygart and Gabe Gaeckle, to name a few.
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The younger brother of former Razorback pitcher Jaxon Wiggins, Carson Wiggins was rated by MLB Pipeline as the No. 79 overall prospect for the 2024 MLB Draft.
The 6-foot-5, 220-pound right-hander out of Roland, Oklahoma, was rated by Perfect Game as the top pitcher in the state of Oklahoma for the 2024 class.
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"I think he’s going to be a starter eventually here," Van Horn said Oct. 4. "It could be this year. We have some good options if everybody stays healthy. With the schedule we’re playing this year in ’25, we’re going to need them all."
Wiggins appeared four times and threw 3.2 live innings in the fall, according to stats compiled by local media. He gave up five earned runs on six hits while striking out five and walking none. Wiggins pitched a perfect inning of relief with two strikeouts in the Oct. 4 Fall Classic at Baum-Walker Stadium.
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"The stuff’s amazing," Van Horn said Oct. 4. "Obviously he’s 18-years-old. You don’t know how they’re going to respond out here in this atmosphere. He’s gotten hit a little bit, but his stuff’s been amazing in our scrimmages. Tonight, they didn’t hit him. Fastball is 97, 98 miles an hour. Throwing strikes. Got a good breaking ball. Looked like a guy that can help us right away tonight."
Wiggins also touched 101 mile per hour, according to TrackMan data, during the Oct. 11 exhibition win over Oklahoma State at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville. He will be a draft-eligible sophomore in 2026, as his birthday lands within 45 days of the draft.
Rated by MLB Pipeline as the No. 128 overall prospect in last year's draft, Cole Gibler hails from Blue Springs High School in Blue Springs, Missouri. Perfect Game rated Gibler as the No. 1 left-handed pitcher prospect in the state of Missouri for the 2024 class.
Gibler was arguably as successful as any Arkansas pitcher in the fall, as he gave up just two earned runs on three hits across five total appearances, four of which were starts. He pitched 7.2 total innings and tied for a team-best 14 strikeouts to go with five walks.
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"Gibler’s been amazing," Van Horn said Oct. 4. "He’s been 94-95 almost all fall for us. These guys are working and lifting, I don’t know, maybe a little tired. But yeah, he’s been real reliable. I think he threw five balls in a row (today). We hadn’t seen that all fall. Then he got it back together. That was good to see. He’ll be a big part of our staff in the spring."
MLB Pipeline said Gibler has good depth on his curveball, which sits around 80 miles per hour, plus he has a "bat-missing sink" to his changeup, which will be in the mid-80s.
Perfect Game put out preseason rankings of the top-75 freshmen in college baseball, and Wiggins checked in at No. 12, while Gibler was ranked 57th.
The Razorbacks will open their season Friday, Feb. 14, against Washington State at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville.
