Now that the regular season is over, I want to look deeper into what is probably the best hitting team in the regular season that Arkansas has had. If you watched the telecast this past weekend versus Tennessee, the announcers mentioned that this year tied the most homers in a season for Arkansas (109 so far, tied with the 2021 team ). While that is nice and all, I think we all remember how that team ended – #1 seed crashing down in the Super Regional versus NC State. Will this team repeat the same story?

Read more: The Power of Arkansas Hitting

First, let’s look at the most basic baseball stats everyone knows – number of homeruns and batting average. From the graph below, I have pulled the data from 2015 to 2025. This 2025 team will end the year not only with the most homers in the last 10 years but also the highest batting average. That should be a good sign going into postseason. If you compare the .316 average to the last 2 National Champions (LSU and Tennessee), it is similar – .310 for Tenn and .308 for LSU. This is a significant improvement from the previous years, and you can see a significant flaw in those 2021-2022 teams, as exciting as they were.

Okay, okay it is good to see improvement in batting average and homers, but let us look into even more statistics. This team also ranks #1 in On-Base+Slugging % (OPS) of Arkansas teams in the past 20 years. Hits and homers go into that, but their On-Base % is about 30 points higher than any other year. Along with that, if you have seen these guys in person, I am sure they have the highest average Exit Velocity of any Arkansas team. There have been many balls this year hit over 100 mph, and if you did not know, the higher the exit velo, the more likely for a hit (launch angle also plays a role here). Unfortunately, I have not been able to find the college baseball data to give more details. As we look back on it, this team will be in the Arkansas record books as the best overall hitting team ever.

What could be the downfall of this team? Obviously, there is a luck factor, and they could go forward with a low Batting Average on Balls In Play (BABIP) – just meaning they are finding gloves when they hit. I have found another interesting stat though – Strikeout %. Since 2018, Arkansas has been consistently over 20% K rate, which is strikeouts divided by Plate Appearances. So a higher number of Plate Appearances end up in strikeouts. This trend has continued into 2025. This is the Nate Thompson Effect. While homers and slugging % have significantly increased since Thompson joined in 2018, the strikeouts have gone up. To note, Tony Vitello was hitting coach until 2017. It could be trouble if Arkansas faces a crafty pitcher that gets a lot of strike outs.

It will be interesting to watch this team perform in the postseason. So far, there has not been a weekend where the entire lineup went cold. When Wehiwa has been cold, Helfrick stepped up. When Helfrick was cold, players like Kozeal, Davalan and the Aloy’s stepped up. Things like that have happened all year. Previous years, there were 3-4 guys you could rely on, and the rest you hoped would show up. Brent Iredale would be one of the top 4 hitters on previous year teams. The lineup is talented top to bottom. 7 hitters with more than 10 HR and, at one point last week, every hitter in the lineup was over .300. However, that does not make them invulnerable.

References

(2025). Hogs Close Out Non-Conference Weekend Series Slate against Pilots (O. Grigg, Ed.) [Review of Hogs Close Out Non-Conference Weekend Series Slate against Pilots]. https://arkansasrazorbacks.com/hogs-close-out-non-conference-weekend-series-slate-against-pilots/

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