Arkansas hopes they just found the newest power bat for a team needing those.
Outfielder AJ Evasco picked the Razorbacks on Tuesday after a transfer portal stretch that had nearly every program in the country calling his name.
Evasco didn’t just pick any school.
He chose Arkansas over Florida after taking visits to both campuses, and he becomes the Diamond Hogs’ sixth portal addition this cycle.
The Lincoln, Neb., native ranked as the No. 6 overall player in the portal according to 64 Analytics, making him the highest rated name Arkansas has landed so far this offseason.
His bat speaks for itself. Evasco slashed .348/.415/.548 across 210 at-bats this past season at Kansas State, piling up 73 hits, 10 doubles, 4 triples, 8 home runs and 51 RBIs. He drew 19 walks against just 30 strikeouts in 52 games, showing he doesn’t chase much.
In the field, he posted a sharp .987 fielding percentage in right field with only one error on 77 putouts.
That kind of production isn’t new for him. Evasco broke out as a true freshman in 2025, hitting .311 with a .554 slugging percentage and a .380 on-base mark. He set Kansas State freshman records for homers and RBIs, smashing his 11th homer of the year against Texas on June 1 to set the new RBI record in the same swing.
D1Baseball named him a Freshman All-American, and the Big 12 put him on its All-Freshman Team after he earned league Player of the Week honors back on March 17.
He’s built for the moment too. Evasco hit .418 with runners in scoring position as a freshman and came up big in conference play, batting .324 with 28 RBIs and a team-best 34 runs scored across Big 12 games.
He delivered a pair of walk-off three-run homers in the same season, one against William & Mary and another versus Utah, and went 4-for-10 with four RBIs in the NCAA Austin Regional while homering twice off Texas.
Scouts see even more in his swing going forward.
He’s a 6-foot-6 lefty with a clean line-drive stroke, and some believe his future sits at first base rather than the outfield. He’s not flying around the bases, but he moves well for his size.
The real question scouts are asking is whether Arkansas hitting coach Nate Thompson can help him add more loft, since Evasco tends to keep the ball on a line instead of in the air.
Evasco’s path to Fayetteville started early. He starred at Lincoln East High School, where he earned Rawlings Gold Glove honors and made First Team All-American lists.
He hit .480 as a senior with 14 doubles and eight home runs. He’s also got baseball in his blood as a cousin of big leaguer Jake Diekman.
Evasco will be a draft-eligible sophomore but enters as a junior by eligibility in 2027, giving the Hogs a proven bat with multiple runs left on campus.
