MLB Draft Rewind: 2004
May 19, 2020
The 2004 season proved to be a special one for Arkansas Baseball fans.
In just his second year at the helm of the program, head coach Dave Van Horn guided the Razorbacks to the promised land in the College World Series for the first time since 1989 and the first as a member of the Southeastern Conference. For DVH, it was his third trip in four years, taking the Cornhuskers down the road to Omaha in 2001 and 2002.
The 2004 squad was a group that was picked to finish 11th in the conference in the preseason, but won the program’s second SEC title in school history, while finishing ninth in batting, seventh in pitching and 11th in fielding in the conference ranks.
Along the way, Arkansas won 19 SEC games, included a weekend series sweep in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, against No. 2 LSU and a top 10 finish in all four major collegiate baseball polls, including a No. 6 ranking by Baseball America.
The Hogs hosted both regional and super regional action, opening the first round with a 4-1 win over Le Moyne, but fell to Wichita State, 4-3, to force a tough road back. No matter, Arkansas dispatched future conference foe Missouri, 10-7, then went on to beat the Shockers twice with their season on the line to advance to the Supers.
Arkansas’ bullpen especially was strong against Florida State in the Fayetteville Super Regional, with no earned runs allowed over 7.2 innings of work, clearing the Seminoles with a pair of 7-5 and 4-2 wins to punch its ticket to Omaha. There’s nothing better than clinching a spot in the College World Series, but ending a 15-year drought at the dance in front of a record crowd 10,027 made this one pretty special.
Unfortunately, the Hogs would go 0-2 at the 2004 College World Series, but the groundwork laid by that team set up the foundation for five future trips to Omaha and proved Arkansas baseball was headed in the right direction.
2004 MLB DRAFT
Jay Sawatski (LHP) – Minnesota Twins – 8th Round (241)
Brady Toops (C) – St. Louis Cardinals – 10th Round (300)
Haas Pratt (1B) – Oakland Athletics – 30th Round (907)
Clint Brannon (LHP) – Texas Rangers – 34th Round (1,011)
Sawatski, an Arkansan from Little Rock, pitched his junior and senior seasons for the Hogs in 2003-04, spending his first two years at Arkansas-Fort Smith after turning down a 40th round selection in the 2001 MLB Draft by the New York Mets. Sawatski won 13 games as a Razorback, with a 10-3 mark, the most on the team, and a 3.38 ERA as a senior, pitching in 31 games in 2004. Pitching in eight more games from the year before, he improved his numbers in several categories, lowering his ERA by .06 after seeing 38.1 more innings, while striking out 86 in his final year, also a team-best. After his time in college ball, Sawatski spent five years in the Twins developmental system, reaching Triple-A Rochester in 2007, spending the majority of his final three years with the club in Double-A New Britain. In 2006, Sawatski worked a 2.87 ERA in 44 games and 75.1 innings, striking out 69.
Toops, a native of New London, Minnesota, was a rare four-year player with the Razorbacks from 2001-04, moving into the starting catching role as a junior in Van Horn’s first year with the club. Toops recorded 110 hits over his last two years, including 61 knocks in 2004, with nine homers. Perhaps his greatest long ball came in the NCAA Fayetteville Regional in 2004, launching a grand slam in the top of the ninth inning to beat Wichita State, later setting up a regional victory and a trip to the College World Series. Toops helped his team in more ways than just the long ball, getting hit by 17 pitches and recording nine sacrifice hits in 2004, both ranking seventh in the respective categories in a single season. After getting drafted by the Cardinals, Toops went on to play three seasons in the minors in the various levels of Single-A ball. He would also go on to be a singer-songwriter and spend a partial season on the hit reality TV show, The Bachelorette.
Pratt, from Wheat Ridge, Colorado, played his first two years of college ball at Miami, putting up decent numbers before joining the Razorbacks in Van Horn’s first season in 2003, putting up back-to-back .310 clips at the plate in his two years with the Hogs. The first baseman tallied 72 hits in 2003, 25 for extra bases with 10 homers, while increasing his hit total to 80, with 13 doubles and eight dingers, as a senior in 2004. Both hit totals led the team, as he also paced the squad in at-bats both years, along with RBIs (52) and homers (8) in 2004. His 68 games played at that year by him and Casey Rowlett at the time were the most ever by a Razorback, before the 2018 trio of Heston Kjerstad, Eric Cole and Dominic Fletcher overtook them with 69 games in their historic campaign. Pratt’s April run helped spark a run to the CWS, hitting .351 with 27 knocks, nine doubles and 21 RBIs. He spent four years in the Oakland club system, reaching Triple-A Sacramento in 2006.
Brannon, another Arkansan from Searcy, pitched for the Razorbacks for three years, seeing most of his time as a starter in his final two years with the program in 2003-04. He posted a 3-1 record with a 3.59 ERA in 2003, started 10-of-13 games, striking out 34 over 52.2 innings pitched. Brannon more than doubled his workload in 2004, working 105.1 frames, finishing the year with a 4-4 record, a 3.76 earned run average and 73 punchouts, the third-most on the team behind Sawatski and Charley Boyce. His 19 starts in 2004 tied with Boyce for a school record at the time and now sits at No. 2 for most in a single season by a Razorback behind DJ Baxendale’s 20 in 2012. Brannon spent two years in the Rangers organization, before playing his final year for the Daytona Cubs in High-A ball.
On May 20, we’ll take a look at the 2005 draft, which featured three Hog selections to big league clubs.
