Smith Named Finalist for Dick Howser Trophy
DALLAS – Arkansas pitcher Hagen Smith has been named a finalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, which is presented annually by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association to the top player in college baseball.
Given in memory of the former Florida State All-America shortstop and major league player and manager who died of brain cancer in 1987, the Dick Howser Trophy is regarded by many as the baseball equivalent of the Heisman Trophy. Criteria for consideration of the trophy include performance on the field, leadership, moral character and courage.
The Razorback ace is one of five finalists, as well as Oregon State infielder Travis Bazzana, Wake Forest pitcher Chase Burns, Georgia infielder/outfielder Charlie Condon and Florida two-way player Jac Caglianone, up for this year’s award. The 37th Dick Howser Trophy will be presented at 10 a.m. Friday, June 14, at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Neb.
Smith made his case as the best pitcher in all of college baseball, completing the 2024 campaign with a 9-2 record, 2.04 ERA and 161 strikeouts in 84.0 innings over 16 starts. The junior left-hander, named the Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Year after going 7-0 with a 1.35 ERA and 110 strikeouts in 60.0 innings over 10 SEC starts on the mound, led the country with an NCAA-record 17.3 strikeouts per nine innings on the season and finished ranked first nationally in hits allowed per nine innings (4.4), second in strikeouts (161), fourth in ERA (2.04) and seventh in WHIP (0.89).
The Bullard, Texas, native posted a team-leading 11 quality starts and logged a program-record 11 double-digit strikeout games on the year, becoming the program’s all-time career strikeout king and single-season strikeout leader during his historic 2024 campaign. Smith, who raised his career strikeout total to 360, overtook Razorback great Nick Schmidt (345) for sole possession of Arkansas’ career strikeout mark in addition to surpassing Razorback great David Walling’s single-season strikeout record of 155 set in 1999 to move atop the program’s single-season strikeout leaderboard (161).
In one of the greatest pitching performances in program history, Smith tied Arkansas’ single-game record with his 17-strikeout gem on 78 pitches over six shutout innings against Oregon State on Feb. 23 in the Kubota College Baseball Series at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. Smith matched Razorback great Jess Todd’s single-game strikeout record (17), doing so in 40 fewer pitches than Todd threw against South Carolina on May 24, 2007, in the SEC Tournament.
Smith would be the third Razorback in program history to win the Dick Howser Trophy, joining outfielder Andrew Benintendi (2015) and pitcher Kevin Kopps (2021). Arkansas is one of only seven schools, along with Texas (4), Clemson (3), Florida (2), Florida State (2), Georgia Tech (2) and LSU (2), to claim multiple Dick Howser Trophy winners.
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