The Arkansas high school baseball season kicks off on Feb. 26, opening day for regular season action under AAA regulations. Leading up to opening day, we’ll be publishing our team previews ahead of the 2024 spring season, touching on programs spanning all state classifications, counting down through the official Prep Baseball Arkansas Preseason Power 25 Rankings.

Perennially, we’ve submitted a preseason questionnaire to high school head coaches across the entire state. Their responses have been flooding in and we’re using the detailed insight they’ve provided in our team-by-team preseason analysis.

Our 2024 preseason coverage continues today.

High School: North Little Rock
Head Coach: Cody Dillon (1st year here, 4 years HS HC experience)
Classification: 6A
2023 Record: 12-13, lost 1st round of playoffs to Cabot.

 

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2024 SEASON OUTLOOK

No. of Returning Starters:

3

Top Returning Players:

Jackson Estes: P/OF/1B - 6'3 220 lbs, Junior, L/L, upper 80's on mound, good speed in field and hits for both power and average. Leader on the team and everyone respects him. He is a difference maker against any team on the mound or at the plate.

Will Jones: P/INF/C - 6'2 - 175 lbs, R/R Sophomore, Low 8's on mound, excellent baseball awareness, constantly improving, loves to work hard, good with the bat and great with the glove. Already a leader as a 10th grader.

Aiden Sartain: P/OF - 5'10 170 lbs R/L (Senior) Extremely fast OF with a strong arm who has improved greatly over the summer at the plate. Can handle the bat from bunting to line drive gap shots.

Brett Faulkner: C (Senior) R/R 5'11 165 lbs. Has improved every year for us behind the plate and now has improved in the box with his stick. Low 2 Pop Time with consistent ability to block and throw out runners. Brett has a short mentality approach and will run in to a wall to make a play for his teammates.

Cooper Taylor: P/INF (Sophomore) (R/R) - A strike thrower in the mid to high 7's. Skilled infielder just about anywhere. Improving everyday with his bat, will hit for average and eventually power.

Leonard Johnson: INF (Sophomore) (R/R) - Hits for big power and average, will provide a lot pop and RBI potential at the plate. Has improved on his quickness and speed since last year and continues to better himself.

Brooks Blaine: INF (Sophomore) (R/R) - Very skilled and smooth 2nd baseman with a consistent line drive approach at the plate. One of the most improved players from last season.

Blaine Theodore: C/INF/OF (Sophomore) (R/R) One of the toughest kids I've met and one the most consistent QAB players we have. He will see anywhere from 5-8 pitches every plate appearance and hits for average and gap shots. Very solid defensively behind the plate with room to only get better.

Top Newcomers

Aiden (Thomas) George: INF/OF/P (Freshman) High 7s Low 8 on mound, solid utility guy with a chance to play a lot as a freshman. Solid in the field at any position and with the stick. Has the ability to be a real game changer this season for us.

Evan Cox: P/INF/OF (Freshman) 6'3 180 lb (R/R) Low 8's on mound, heavy ball. Shown the most consistent low 8 velocity this fall with great control. Will be a great addition on this pitching staff this season and will get a lot of opportunities. His will play the field/hit some as well. Excited to see the player he will become for us over the next few years.

Hayden Hall: P/OF (L/R) 5'11 160 lbs - Has one of the most impressive pickoff moves I have seen and throws a lot strikes (high 7/low 8). Will get a lot of experience on the mound as a freshman and excited to see how far he takes his abilities over the next few seasons with us.

Coach’s Insight:

“Our team is a group of younger players who have played together for most of their lives. They mesh well and are hungry to prove themselves to the rest of the conference. This is one of the most coachable teams I have ever been around and can't wait to see how they develop over these next few seasons. We will be a solid team defensively and have a pretty good amount of young talent on the mound that can give us a great chance to compete and win. We will have a very very fast outfield this year and be a team who has to execute at the plate to win. We have a very confident mindset and have bought in to what it will take to win as a unit. Going to be an exciting and awesome season for these guys. We are a very young team this year after graduating 12 seniors after last season, but we have been fortunate enough to have the younger guys step up and fill those roles.
This group is gritty and plays the game hard. We have a lot of young talent arms with a couple of 9th-10th graders who are high 7's & low low 8's, so we are very excited to see how they develop as they will be getting a lot of Varsity experience this year.” – Cody Dillon, head coach

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Find more information on the 2024 North Little Rock program below:

+ Follow them on X: @NLR_BASEBALL.
+ Visit Prep Baseball Arkansas’ 2024 AAA Season Preview page to learn more.

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