Arkansas baseball has cut ties with another transfer portal commitment, as Maximus Martin announced he won’t play for the Razorbacks after all.
Instead, the Georgia State transfer will head to Kansas State, which will be his third school in three years after beginning his career at Rutgers. He announced the flip via Instagram late last month.
It is the second time Arkansas has “lost” a portal pledge to another high-major program, with the first being former Milwaukee outfielder Carson Hansen flipping to Kentucky.
When that happened, Best of Arkansas Sports reported that it was likely a mutual decision based on how the Razorbacks came out of the MLB Draft. That is likely the case with Martin, too. But don’t take our word for it.
“We kept a lot more than we expected, to be honest with you,” Arkansas baseball coach Dave Van Horn said in a radio interview last week. “This is a really good problem to have… We had a couple kids committed through the transfer portal and we talked to them and talked to their agents and said, ‘You better not come now. It’s not going to be a good idea.’ We had a couple kids that were coming that are now going to other universities.”
Unfortunately for him, Martin being one of those two unnamed players Van Horn mentioned made a lot of sense.
He was never going to supplant Wehiwa Aloy at his natural position of shortstop, but Arkansas might have needed him at second base or as a top backup infielder. The latter would be similar to Jared Sprague-Lott last offseason, depending on how things went last month.
However, the Razorbacks landed a premier second baseman out of the portal in Camden Kozeal from Vanderbilt and then star JUCO signee Brent Iredale, a natural third baseman, went undrafted. They also have Nolan Souza coming back, as well as a couple other JUCO infielders coming in.
Simply put, there was no clear path to playing time for Martin. In a similar situation to that of Hansen, it’s a win-win for both parties involved to part ways.
What it Means for Arkansas Baseball
Don’t get it twisted: That is exactly what played out with Maximus Martin flipping his commitment to Kansas State – and Carson Hansen flipping to Kentucky.
Given the current state of college athletics, especially in football and men’s basketball, it’s easy to assume something nefarious or NIL-related happened to get them to bail on the Razorbacks.
The propensity of some fans to jump to conclusions based on the postseason results of this past season could also lead to hot takes that Arkansas is falling down the pecking order in college baseball.
After all, Kansas State beat the Razorbacks head-to-head in the winner’s bracket game of this year’s Fayetteville Regional and eventually advanced to the super regional. Kentucky, meanwhile, shared the SEC regular-season title, won three of four against Arkansas and made it all the way to Omaha.
However, that’s not what happened at all. Despite still not having a national title trophy, the Razorbacks are viewed as a premier program that gets its pick of the litter in the transfer portal.
Hansen and Martin picked Arkansas because they knew it provided them a great opportunity for individual development and team success. The only reason they ended up at Kentucky and Kansas State, respectively, is because they no longer had a spot with the Razorbacks. Those teams having better 2023 seasons is just coincidental.
Top Transfer Portal Classes in College Baseball
Now that most players have landed at new schools or signed professional contracts after being selected in the 2024 MLB Draft, the transfer portal classes have pretty much taken shape.
According to 64Analytics, which could best be described as a KenPom for college baseball, Arkansas once again has the No. 2 transfer portal class in the country. It ranks behind only LSU and just ahead of Georgia.
As you might imagine, the SEC dominates those rankings. Here’s the full top 10…
1. LSU – SEC
2. Arkansas – SEC
3. Georgia – SEC
4. Wake Forest – ACC
5. Auburn – SEC
6. Texas – SEC
7. Texas A&M – SEC
8. Miami (Fla.) – ACC
9. Kentucky – SEC
10. Kansas – Big 12
Arkansas Baseball’s Transfer Portal Haul
As a reminder, here’s a look at the Razorbacks’ transfer portal haul after the “losses” of Maximus Martin and Carson Hansen…
- DH/1B/OF Kuhio Aloy — BYU
- OF/INF Charles Davalan — Florida Gulf Coast
- OF Logan Maxwell — TCU
- LHP Landon Beidelschies — Ohio State
- OF Rocco Peppi — Fresno State
- RHP Aiden Jimenez — Oregon State
- OF Carson Boles — Lincoln Memorial
- 1B Michael Anderson — Rhode Island
- LHP Zach Root — East Carolina
- INF Camden Kozeal — Vanderbilt
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Here’s a look at the projected 2025 Arkansas baseball roster after the “loss” of Maximus Martin:
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