DVH Goes Back to the Well with Hogs’ Latest Mid-Major Transfer

Carson Hansen, Milwaukee baseball, Arkansas baseball, transfer portal
photo credit: Milwaukee Athletics

After a slow start to the transfer portal season, Arkansas baseball is picking up steam with its second commitment in three days, as Carson Hansen went public with his decision Sunday.

The rising junior is an outfielder from Pewaukee, Wisc., and spent his first two seasons at Milwaukee, where he was a first-team All-Horizon League selection this past season.

According to 64Analytics, Hansen (6-2, 220) is the No. 210 overall prospect in the portal this cycle. The Razorbacks are now up to three total transfers, as he joins Kuhio Aloy from BYU and Charles Davalan from Florida Gulf Coast.

Even with the expected losses to the MLB Draft, those three transfers, plus the incoming high school and junior college signees, put the Razorbacks at 48 players for next season, according to Best of Arkansas Sports’ projected 2025 Arkansas baseball roster. Hunter Grimes – who was believed to be out of eligibility – is the only Arkansas baseball player in the portal so far.

The NCAA has expanded its roster cap for college baseball again for next season, but it is still a 40-man limit. That means Arkansas will inevitably see a few more players leave at some point, especially considering it’s still believed to be active in pursuing other players in the transfer portal. There’s also a chance it loses some of its signees to the MLB Draft.

Carson Hansen with Milwaukee Baseball

Playing at the same high school that produced the NFL’s Watt brothers, Carson Hansen wasn’t a highly touted recruit despite hitting .490 and leading Pewaukee High to the state semifinals as a senior.

Perfect Game tabbed him the No. 536 overall outfielder and 45th-best player from Wisconsin in the 2022 class, but the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association named him the Division 2 Player of the Year. He also played quarterback and linebacker on the football team in high school, helping the Pirates win the state title his senior year.

Hansen opted to stay close to home and play at Milwaukee, where he got sparse playing time as a freshman. In 2023, he appeared in just 23 of 57 games, with only 14 of those being starts.

When given the opportunity, Hansen performed well. He slashed .298/.369/.351 with one double, one triple and 11 RBIs in 57 at bats. He was also 6 of 7 on stolen base attempts. That earned him a spot on the Horizon League’s All-Freshman Team.

As a sophomore, he moved into a full-time starting role. Hansen appeared in all 55 games and started all but one, primarily in right field. He was named first-team All-Horizon League after slashing .315/.404/.601 and led the Panthers with 25 doubles, 11 home runs and 63 RBIs, plus adding seven stolen bases.

What it Means for Arkansas Baseball

Arkansas is once again replacing its entire starting outfield and got a jump on that by landing Charles Davalan from Florida Gulf Coast via the transfer portal Friday afternoon. (Not to mention Kuhio Aloy, shortstop Wehiwa Aloy’s younger brother, who could potentially play in the outfield after being a designated hitter and first baseman at BYU this season.)

While Davalan seems to fit the description of an athletic guy who can run that Dave Van Horn laid out following the season, Carson Hansen seems to be more of a traditional mid-major pickup for the Razorbacks.

The 11 home runs Hensen hit this year may not seem like a lot, but he did it playing up north, where it’s cold for a longer portion of the season, and in a large stadium that Milwaukee shares with an independent minor league team.

While Baum-Walker Stadium is 320 feet down the lines and 400 feet to center, Franklin Field is 330 to left and right field and 408 to center. Those dimensions are similar to Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, where former Arkansas outfielder Jared Wegner hit 11 home runs in 181 at bats for Creighton before hitting 15 in 147 at bats for the Razorbacks.

Hansen also hit 25 doubles, which are tied for seventh-most nationally. A year in Arkansas’ offseason program, coupled with a smaller ballpark, might help him turn some of those into home runs.

Of course, given his quarterback/linebacker background in high school and limited success stealing bases at Milwaukee, Hansen also has some athleticism to go along with what Arkansas hopes is solid power.

At least on paper, this seems to be another quality mid-major pickup for Van Horn, who has had a knack for landing those kinds of players. Wegner is a perfect example, as are Trevor Ezell (SEMO), Cullen Smith (ETSU), Michael Turner (Kent State) and, to a lesser degree, Jared Sprague-Lott (Richmond).

If Hansen and Davalan can be the Razorbacks’ latest success stories, they’ll help them get significantly more production from the outfield in 2025.

As things currently stand, their top competition among returning players are Jayson Jones and Will Edmunson. Perhaps Jones finally lives up to the hype he had coming out of high school or Edmunson takes a significant step forward in his second season with the program after transferring in from a JUCO, but adding players out of the transfer portal gives the Razorbacks even more options than they already had.

Arkansas could also move Nolan Souza to the outfield or play Kuhio Aloy out there if their bats demand playing time and they don’t fit anywhere else. It is adding a JUCO transfer in Justin Thomas, as well, plus a handful of high school outfielders in Brenton Clark, Sam Lee and Eli Lovich.

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Here are some clips of Carson Hansen:

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More coverage of Arkansas baseball and the transfer portal from BoAS…

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