Knight took the ball in Arkansas’ season opener Friday, holding Bucknell hitless across five innings en route to a blowout win for the Razorbacks. He struck out four and walked two, throwing 47 of his 67 total pitches for strikes (70%) and working efficiently through the outing. Knight breezed through his last three innings of work, retiring nine straight before being pulled after the fifth inning.

The lean, wiry-framed righty used four pitches on Friday, sitting 92-to-93 mph with his fastball and reaching back for a handful of 95s. He pitched with above-average velocity for a starter, and his fastball featured lively arm-side run and downhill angle. Knight’s primary off-speed pitch is a mid-80s slider that he’s able to keep around the zone, and he snapped off a handful of big league quality breakers down and away from righties. He mixed a loopy curveball (74-to-78 mph) and low-80s changeup through the outing, showing both pitches more often to left-handed bats. The changeup is behind his fastball/slider combo and is still a developing pitch; it flashed occasional diving action, but Knight often slowed his arm and didn’t finish the changeup with much conviction. His curve likely always will be a fringy complement to the slider, but it’s enthusing to see any college pitcher have the feel to show two different looks at their breaking ball in the first place.

Knight’s calling cards are a quality fastball and solid slider, both delivered from a good frame and very quick arm. While he isn’t a guaranteed reliever, he’ll need to show more of a changeup and clean up aspects of his delivery to project safely in the rotation. Even so, the body and two-pitch mix are good enough to fit a big league profile in some capacity.