Backroads and Ballplayers #71
Stories of the famous and not-so-famous men and women from a time when baseball was "Arkansas' Game." Backroads and Ballplayers Weekly is always free and short enough to finish in one cup of coffee.
The Lost Story of Hughie Critz and a New Arkansan in the Show
Meet Arkansas’ Latest Big Leaguer
Jaden Hill is a great example of the way young players are evaluated these days. The 24-year-old pitcher for the Colorado Rockies has pitched in four big-league games. He has not allowed an extra-base hit, his WHIP is .750, and his major league ERA stands at 2.25. Based on this small sample, Hill has posted better stats than at any time in his career at any level.
Hill was born in Ashdown, Arkansas, attended Ashdown High School, and pitched in three seasons for the LSU Tigers. In his last year with the Tigers, he appeared in seven games and posted a 6.67 ERA, but stats alone do not indicate the potential of the big right-hander from Southeast Arkansas.
A former Gatorade Player of the Year, Hill was off to a great start in his second year at LSU when the COVID-19 epidemic halted the college baseball season, and his last season in Baton Rouge ended with an elbow injury that ultimately resulted in Tommy John surgery.
Backed by little statistical evidence, Colorado drafted Hill in the second round of the 2021 MLB Draft and signed him for about 1.6 million dollars. The Rockies obviously relied on analytics far beyond the usual baseball statistics.
By 2024, Hill had moved up through the Rockies system to AA Hartford and AAA Albuquerque where he struck out 69 batters in 45 combined innings with the two minor league clubs. On September 5, 2024, Jaden Hill from Ashdown, Arkansas, became the latest Arkansas-born player to reach the major leagues. Hill made his big league debut on September 7, with a perfect inning against the Brewers in Milwaukee.
So far so good! Congratulations Jaden Hill. We are proud of you!
“Hughie”
In 1918, Hugh Critz Sr. became the President of the Second District Agricultural School (Arkansas Tech University). Soon after Critz assumed his position, his family joined him in Russellville. That family included a future major leaguer who became known locally as Hughie to differentiate the younger Hugh Critz from the Agricultural School President.
Hughie Critz had gone all in for his new hometown. He even changed his hometown in the Mississippi A&M yearbook from Starkville, Mississippi, to Russellville, Arkansas. Hughie Critz would become one of the most outstanding second basemen of the 1920s and come within a few votes of winning the MVP Award. Below is the link to Hugh Melville Critz’s lost story.
Please click this link to read: Hughie Critz in Only in Arkansas
Please share this lost story with folks who would enjoy reading about Hughie Critz.
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