Smith draws eyes from MLB scouts
FAYETTEVILLE — Hagen Smith was no secret to MLB scouts heading into this year, but his performances early in his junior season have them buzzing.
Seven scouts were on hand to watch Smith and the Razorbacks face Murray State on Friday at Baum-Walker Stadium, according to a team spokesperson. They watched Smith, who was 16th in Baseball America’s 2024 MLB Draft prospect rankings in the preseason, throw 6 innings and allow 1 run on 1 hit and 1 walk while striking out 12.
“That’s an elite first-rounder; that’s a lot of money,” one scout said Saturday, requesting anonymity. “And a great kid. We root for guys like that.”
Smith’s strong start Friday followed up his program record-tying, 17-strikeout performance against Oregon State last weekend in Arlington, Texas.
That performance made Smith a national headline. Scouts were thoroughly impressed, to be sure, but not exactly surprised.
“Everybody knew about this guy,” the scout said. “It wasn’t surprising; it was enjoyable because you like the guy. You want him to do well. He’s a great kid. The industry is pumped up.
“It was a great outing, and he followed it up really well. But now you’ve got a bullseye on your back. You’ve got to do it all the time.”
Smith’s season didn’t start with such gaudy numbers. In his Opening Day start against James Madison, he didn’t make it past the first inning after giving up a 3-run home run and 2 walks with 2 strikeouts. Scouts saw that, but they saw what happened after, too.
“The good thing about Weekend 1: It was bad, but then he came right back,” another scout said. “His arrow is trending up. … The ball is in his court now.”
The first scout said that in years past, Smith had shown some inconsistency in throwing strikes. But in watching him Friday, he saw that Smith had seemingly found a better release point.
He said he thinks Smith benefited from his time pitching with the USA Collegiate National Team last summer. Pitchers make their biggest jumps in summer leagues, he said, when “the light goes on” and players become more mature and take coaching more seriously.
The second scout said Smith can maintain his pitches throughout a start, and his breaking ball is extremely effective.
“It’s very rare you see a kid that can manipulate the shape of the breaking ball and land it,” he said. “I was talking to [Murray State Coach Dan Skirka] last night, and he said his hitters said they couldn’t see the breaking ball.”
More scouts will surely flock to Baum-Walker throughout the season to see Smith and other Arkansas players before the 2024 MLB Draft in July. In SEC play, there will be weekends when both lineups feature high-level draft prospects, such as the March 28-30 series against LSU and April 26-28 series against Florida.
But the second scout said to watch for something else.
“You know how you can tell when a guy is really elite? His last few starts, the crowd [of scouts] will start getting real small,” he said. “It’ll be just the people with the top 10 picks.”