Hogs’ good catch
Poor 2016 season put team on road to land SS Biggers.
HOOVER, Ala. — The Arkansas Razorbacks’ baseball team’s failure to qualify for last year’s SEC Tournament didn’t sit well with Coach Dave Van Horn and a fan base accustomed to postseason play.
But the first year without a postseason for Van Horn since 1998, and the Razorbacks’ first postseason whiff since 2001, triggered a key recruiting triumph.
Instead of coaching at the SEC Tournament and an NCAA regional, assistant coach Tony Vitello scouted the National Junior College World Series in Grand Junction, Colo., to help land a shortstop who would play a leading role in the Razorbacks’ rapid rebound.
Jax Biggers hit .385 as a freshman with 7 home runs and 50 RBI to propel Cisco (Texas) Junior College to
Grand Junction last year and squarely into Arkansas’ recruiting sights. The 5-11 sophomore signed with the Razorbacks to take a spot originally slotted for recruit Cole Stobbe, who signed for $1.1 million — well above his third-round draft slot value — with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Biggers responded with one of the best seasons for a Razorbacks’ shortstop, with a .335 batting average (9th in the SEC), 4 home runs and a .971 fielding percentage heading into Arkansas’ first game at the SEC Tournament on Wednesday in Hoover, Ala.
He said he has baseball in his blood. His father, Brian, was an assistant baseball coach at Lamar in the 1990s and his mother, Christie, coached high school basketball.
“I’ve been on a field since I was 2 years old with my dad,” Biggers said. “I’ve always loved baseball, so I’ve always wanted to learn more.”
Biggers takes his baseball knowledge seriously, as evidenced by his conversations with pitcher Dominic Taccolini, one of his roommates.
“He was actually arguing with me the other day about how much more he knew about baseball than everyone else on the team,” Taccolini said, “and he definitely backs it up.”
Van Horn said early in the year that he expected Biggers
to be the best fielding shortstop he’s had at Arkansas, and the 175-pounder has been smooth in the field, getting to balls up the middle and in the hole with a combination of his instincts and quicks. He also possesses a strong arm.
“I would say it’s been a good season [on defense],” Biggers said. “I’m not going to be cocky about it. I’d say it’s good, but it should be better.”
Biggers had only four errors on the season before committing two in the Razorbacks’ series victory at Texas A&M last weekend.
“I think he’s had a great season, especially for a player that played one year of junior college ball … to come in and handle that position and play pretty much every day out there, and then on the other end, swing the bat and get a lot of big hits for us,” Van Horn said. “He’s kept his average over .300 easy, and he’s done it throughout the season.”
Biggers said his errors — which have come mostly with Trevor Stephan, another
one of his roommates, on the mound — are higher than what he hoped.
“I gave myself a limit of one error before the season started,” Biggers said. “Against Rhode Island, I had an error against Trevor that cost him a win. Against LSU, he didn’t get the win. Trevor’s one of my roommates. I gave him a big hug.”
Arkansas catcher Grant Koch said that Biggers has had a hot bat virtually all season, but particularly of late.
“Offensively he’s coming on strong as of late and he’s just been that rock out there at short and at the plate,” Koch said. “He can do everything. He’s got all the tools and he can run. He’s that allaround player that we need at shortstop. I think the consistency is what sets him apart.”
Vitello took what he called a “hairy” route to see Biggers, driving through the Rocky Mountains in the overnight hours after his flight out of Denver got canceled.
“Jax stood out right away,” Vitello recalled. “I saw him in high school … and he was a nice player, but I thought he was a little undersized. I just didn’t think he was quite ready for our level, and he may not have been.
“But Jax is a guy that you really don’t value high enough until you’re around him every day because he does so many things well. He’s a low maintenance kid who just loves to play and loves to compete.”
Biggers went 6 for 13 with 4 RBI with 2 runs scored in the University of Arkansas,
Fayetteville’s series victory at Texas A&M last weekend. He hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the eighth inning, putting Stephan in line for a victory, in Thursday’s 6-4 10-inning victory, helping atone for his third inning error, which came during a three-run inning against Stephan.
“Biggers, he’s a stud,” senior outfielder Jake Arledge said. “He’s the best, in my opinion, in the SEC as a fielding shortstop. He’s awesome. He works hard. He doesn’t say much. He just goes out and goes about his business and just does it.”
Biggers, who possesses the speed and ability to make contact at the plate that’s characteristic of traditional leadoff hitters, has hit mostly in the 9-hole for the Razorbacks, giving the team what amounts to back-to-back leadoff men.
“He’s done unreal,” Taccolini said. “He’s definitely hit a little bit better than I expected. I felt like he would have hit around .270, .280, but he’s definitely been a tough out at the bottom of the lineup, and he’s a grinder. He works his butt off.”
Vitello made that point after a Razorbacks’ practice last Tuesday that featured oneon-one matchups between pitchers and hitters with no fielders in play.
“He was the last hitter there, and we were joking that this kid could do this all day long because it’s baseball and he’s competing — his two favorite things,” Vitello said.