Offensive catcher gives Van Horn, Razorbacks rare luxury

Playing in the SEC is incredibly difficult. The league is on track to send 13 teams to the NCAA Tournament and is by far the toughest conference in the country.

Playing catcher in the SEC just adds another level of difficulty.

Pitchers often throw triple digits before spiking an offspeed pitch two feet in front of the plate. To play catcher at Arkansas, you also have to learn to call your own game. Which is why a lot of times, the offense ends up taking a backseat.

With Ryder Helfrick, though, his bat may be the biggest attribute. His .605 slugging percentage is now good enough for third on the team, only behind the Aloy brothers, Wehiwa and Kuhio.

"They take a beating," Hogs coach Dave Van Horn said. "Up and down and crouched, and they got to think because we let our catchers call the game.

"Pitcher has an option to shake them. We call in some pitches. Suggestions. And you know, you have to be a really dedicated person to your physical being."

It's no surprise that most of the top teams in the league have a catcher that can hit. Helfrick just missed the All-SEC team honors, but the two catchers that earned the honor ahead of him are on two of the hottest teams down the stretch.

First-teamer Luke Heyman of Florida hit in the middle of the order as part of the 14-4 surge down the stretch in SEC play. He finished the year hitting .301 with 13 homers before suffering a season-ending injury.

Texas' Rylan Galvan, hit in the No. 2 spot in the order for a Longhorns team that finished 22-8 in SEC play. Galvan, the second-team honoree, hit .299 with 14 homers, including one against Arkansas in an otherwise quiet offensive weekend for Texas.

The SEC leader in batting average amongst catchers is Auburn's Chase Frelick (.354) after Ike Irish moved to the outfield after starting 12 games behind the dish.

Irish picked up first team honors as an outfielder as Auburn finished with the No. 6 in the SEC.

Van Horn has long compared Ryder Helfrick to James McCann, one of the best catchers in Razorback history and MLB All-Star.

Even when Helfrick was a freshman and behind Hudson White. Van Horn brought up that comparison again after Helfrick hit the go-ahead grand slam against Tennessee Saturday.

"James McCann really hit his junior year," Van Horn said. "Didn’t hit as a freshman and he started the last 25 games all the way to Omaha in 2009 as a true freshman. And then his sophomore year was better, but his junior year he might have led our team in hitting. And that was the year, 2011, that the bats were pitiful."

Helfrick not only has the bat to be a premium catcher in the SEC, but the intangibles too.

"I kidded with Ryder today right after we stretched," Van Horn said. "I just said, ‘hey, how you feeling?’ He said, ‘I feel great.’ I said, ‘you know, you’ve got to be tough to be a catcher, and you’ve got to be mean’. He goes, ‘yeah, I know’. I said, ‘you’re that guy right?’ He said, ‘yeah’."

Arkansas awaits the winner of Ole Miss and Florida in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday and will be broadcast on SEC Network.

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