Texarkana’s Ty Waid excited to become a different kind of Razorback next season
By Steve Andrews
With the Class 5A state tournament getting under way in Marion this week, the state’s top-rated player, Texarkana’s Ty Waid, is beginning his final stretch of high school baseball before taking his talents to the Arkansas Razorbacks next season.
The Texarkana Razorbacks (19-4) face Vilonia at 3 p.m. Thursday.
“We feel good heading in, because we know we have a pretty good shot at making a run for it this year,” Waid said this week. “We have all the pitching we need, with a good lineup at the plate. I think our lineup can out-hit anybody in the state right now. But I think it will all come down to how well we pitch and play defense.”
The 6-foot-2, 220-pound Wade is rated the ninth-best catcher in the nation but has also established himself as one of the top hitters and pitchers in the high school ranks.
He is hitting an astounding .495 this season and currently leads the state with 12 home runs. And all that while also leading the state with 37 bases on balls, including 22 intentional passes.
“It gets a little frustrating, depending on the situation,” Waid said of teams pitching around him, “But it’s understandable and really just a sign of respect. A lot of the other coaches would talk to me about it at the end of the game and explain that there were no hard feelings.”
The right-handed hurler has also been flawless on the mound, sporting a perfect 9-0 mark, while surpassing the 100-strikeout plateau last week.
He will be listed as a catcher when he arrives on campus in Fayetteville this fall, but with his big bat and versatility, he may fill various roles for head coach Dave Van Horn.
“He told me I will be listed as a catcher, but that doesn’t mean I will end up catching,” Waid explained. “He said that as long as I am hitting the ball, he will find somewhere to put me. But I will probably either catch, play first or third, or be a corner outfielder. I’ve played everywhere in the field at one time or another.”
Van Horn and his staff have landed a historic incoming freshman class for next season, according to Perfect Game and Baseball America. Not only do the Razorbacks have the No. 1 ranked class for 2023, but 12 of their 20 commits are ranked in the Top 100, nationally. That is the most any school has ever had since Perfect Game began its ranking in 2011, when Florida garnered nine of the Top 100.
Granted, some of those recruits may opt to play professionally after the MLB Draft in June, but Perfect Game’s Jheremy Brown has high praise for Arkansas’s class.
"To have this type of talent is pretty incredible," Brown said. "In my 10 years of looking at it [recruiting classes], this is one of the best classes I've ever seen come across. Of those 12, six of them are ranked in the top 50 and six of them are Perfect Game All-Americans."
Waid committed to Arkansas just after his freshman season at Texarkana, following his first tournament with the Arkansas Sticks, a high-level travel team, affiliated with the Chicago White Sox. He will be roommates with fellow incoming freshman Kade Smith, another blue-chip recruit out of Harding Academy in Searcy. The two were teammates on the Sticks last summer, along with seven other Razorback commits.
“It’s a great feeling, knowing that when I get up there, I’m already going to know and be friends with half the team,” Waid said. “We’ve all played together for the past two years. So, it will make it a lot easier to adjust. Cade and I have become really close friends, so I’m really looking forward to it.”
Waid grew up a devout Razorback fan and calls it a dream come true to play for the home-state school.
“I’m super excited, especially going to play for one of the best teams and one of the best coaches in the country,” he said. “I’m looking forward to the competition and playing against some of the best players every single weekend. I grew up always wanting to play in the SEC, because it’s the best conference there is in college baseball.”
He fondly remembers the call he received from assistant coach Nate Thompson back in 2020 offering him a scholarship. It will be etched in his memory for ever.
“I was actually working out with [current Arkansas pitcher Cody Adcock] that day and when I got the offer it didn’t even seem real,” he said. “It was one of those feelings where you can’t stop smiling, because you are just so happy.”
Waid was one of the better youth players in Texarkana growing up, but didn’t realize how good until he started playing against tougher competition with the Sticks. After shining in his first tournament, following his freshman year, he began getting some college interest, mainly from Arkansas, Little Rock and Texas A&M.
“That’s when colleges really started talking to me and I started thinking this could really work out,” he said.
His father, Billy, actually played for Van Horn from 1990-92 at Texarkana Community College – DVH’s first coaching gig after graduating from Arkansas.
“When he played for Coach Van Horn, coach was only 25 or 26 at the time, just out of college himself,” Waid said with a laugh. “With all the stories I heard from my dad, I was scared to death to even meet the guy. But I think he has kind of mellowed out a little bit, so once I met him, I just loved talking to him and knew he was the guy I wanted to play for.”
The younger Waid is also close with Cody Adcock, another Texarkana alum who is now a junior pitcher at Arkansas. Waid’s sister is married to Adcock’s older brother.
“We have worked out quite a bit together over the years, and he is like family to me,” Waid said. “So, he has really helped me prepare to move up to the next level.”
Waid has not been able to attend many games at Baum-Walker Stadium, due to conflicts with his own schedule, but he will be in Fayetteville Sunday when the Razorbacks host South Carolina.
“I just love the atmosphere at that stadium and the fans are just the best in the country,” he said. “I’m just so excited that I’m getting ready to be a part of it.
He is now focusing on his conditioning and nutrition as he prepares to step up to the SEC, and has already cut his body fat down from 18 percent to 11 percent.
“I’m not so much really trying to lose weight, but to get my body in better shape and add some muscle’,” he said. “I’m hitting it very heard with the weight room and conditioning every day.”
Arkansas is sending Waid and Smith up to Ohio this summer to compete in the 18U Connie Mack Diamond League, before reporting to campus in Fayetteville on Aug. 9.
Not only is he going to be a Razorback athlete, but he is also excited about experiencing the college life, which includes being a student and, of course, Calling the Hogs.
“I’m going up there to play baseball, but I’m also looking forward to going to the football and basketball games and cheering those guys on, too,” he said. “I’m going to try to go to a lot of the sporting events up there. I look forward to experiencing it all.”
