Arkansas baseball coach Dave Van Horn and his coaching staff have landed three commitments in the class of 2025 since last Saturday.
Perfect Game rates the class No. 3 nationally, trailing only Tennessee and Texas.
Outfielder Cooper Auschwitz started off the commitment fireworks with his pledge on Saturday. Auschwitz, 6-1 and 175 pounds, of Owasso, Okla., attended an Arkansas summer camp, which helped lead him to pick the Razorbacks over Oklahoma.
“I chose Arkansas because the people in Fayetteville love the baseball team and always have good crowds, and they have some of the best facilities that I’ve seen along with them being right on the baseball field,” said Auschwitz, who also plays linebacker for the Rams.
“Coach Van Horn is great at making players better and getting them to the next level.”
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He is teammates with 2024 left-handed pitcher Jackson Farrell, who committed to Arkansas last October. Because he plays football and competed in several 7-on-7 tournaments, Auschwitz played a limited summer baseball schedule.
“I did compete in the PBR Futures games in Georgia at the end of the summer [and] I went 4 of 7 with a home run, triple, double and two singles against the top competition in the country and won MVP of one of the games,” he said.
An official visit to Arkansas over the weekend was enough to convince third baseman/shortstop Cayden Mitchell that he wanted to be a Razorback, and he went public with his pledge Tuesday.
Mitchell, 6-2 and 185 pounds, of Mansfield (Texas) Timberview, chose Arkansas over Baylor, Arizona State and Kansas State.
“I chose the Razorbacks because I love what they stand for,” Mitchell said. “Player development at Arkansas is the best in the country. I just love how they operate and go about things, and they expect the best – nothing less.”
He was startled by the support of Razorbacks fans.
“The love and the support for athletes at Arkansas is unreal,” Mitchell said.
Catcher Carter Rutenbar, 5-11 and 190 pounds, of Midlothian (Texas) Hertiage, also committed to the Razorbacks. He did so Monday.
Rutenbar and Mitchell have known each other since the age of 12 and were teammates on the Texas-based Stix Baseball summer program.