Cats that Transferred

[Comebakatz3]

Randomly cruising Twitter and came across a kid that was recruited by UK and was on the 2018 roster, but left after a year or so to go elsewhere. This made me think about this and to look at some guys who were on UK's team and transferred:

Austin Marozas - The guy who I originally saw. Was a pretty big RHP recruit in 2017, was the 6th best player overall in Illinois. Came to UK as a freshman in 2018 and was recovering from Tommy John's. He left after 2018 and no longer appears on that roster for some reason. He transferred to San Jacinto College after the first year and now is pitching for Charlotte. He is listed as a redshirt sophomore and has 8 starts and 12 appearances. He carries a 5.19 ERA through about 43 innings. One of his best outings came against Tennessee where he pitched 6 full, gave up just 5 hits, 0 runs and struck out 3 in a 9-0 win over the Vols.

Brad Dobzanski - Another 2017 class pitcher who came to UK with an arm injury. He was on the UK roster for a few years before transferring. He is now on Old Dominion where he has been a dominant force out of the bullpen. He carries a 1.93 ERA in 14 appearances and 9 innings of work. He is listed as a redshirt sophomore, so I imagine his workload might increase as time goes on.

Grant Macciocchi - Pitched for a year or two for UK before transferring this off season. He is working his final year with the Indiana Hoosiers. He's been used sparingly on the mound, but I am not sure if he's gotten hurt or what. He has a 0.00 ERA in 3.1 innings of work and 2 appearances. He has been used more in the field as he has 29 at bats under his belt this year. He's hitting .241. Surprisingly, he's played shortstop when he's played in the field.

Spencer Harbert - A freshman in 2018 transferred to JUCO and now plays for Ohio. He is hitting .272 while playing RF, but he's listed as an IF. He is a redshirt junior with 7 home runs and 25 RBIs.

Tanner Johnson - A catcher in 2018, transferred to JUCO and then to WKU. Played in a handful of games in 2020, but I don't see him on the roster in 2021, so I don't know what happened to him.

Brayden Combs - Big first baseman that a lot of UK fans were excited about. He came to UK in '17 and redshirted and was on the roster in 18. Transferred out after that and went to Walters State before finally stopping at Rice. He started 10 games for the Owls in 2020 at 1st and at DH, but he really struggled hitting just .125 on a bad Rice team. He is still listed on the roster for 2021, but he has not played in a game. Don't know if that is because he has been replaced or due to an injury.

Joey Bellini - Came to UK in 2017 as a freshman and transferred afterwards to St. John's River State College. He's now at Cincinnati where he absolutely tore it up in 2020 hitting .429 with 4 doubles. He has come back to earth some this year hitting .295 with 8 doubles and 3 home runs. I believe that he too is playing short stop.

JP Bitzenhoff - Also at Cincy, Bitezenhoff was at UK with Bellini in 2017 (UK did not retain main freshmen that year), but he is no longer on their roster. Did limited things in the 2 years he was there. A catcher.

Tanner Holen - Also a catcher, he was a transfer to UK and spent two years there before transferring to Cincy. He started 16 games and is hitting .321 with 3 home runs, 3 doubles and a triple.

Jared Freilich - A RHP, came to UK as a freshman by way of Massachusetts. Spent one year at UK before heading to JUCO and then ending up at Penn State where he has been used a pretty good amount over three years. He is struggling this year with an era above 13.00. He had a 1.92 ERA in limited work in 2020. I think the conference only schedule is hurting him a lot.

Alex Bibb - Plays OF and 1st and hit .294 in 2020 for North Carolina A&T. He was at Walters State for 2 years prior. Has not played much at all in 2021, just 1 plate appearance. Maybe injured?

Josh Smith - RHP in 2017 and 2018, only appeared in about 4 games. Was a big prospect I believe. Went JUCO 1 year and then professional. Now playing for the Down East Wood Ducks, a low A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. He is a reliever.

This is all for now. Might try to do 2019 tomorrow. I think a chunk of them are in JUCO.

 

[167Hike]

Is it me or is this just not a good look for us? Both in the amount of transfers out but also not really any talent that would help our cause even if they would have stayed here.

 

[Comebakatz3]

Is it me or is this just not a good look for us? Both in the amount of transfers out but also not really any talent that would help our cause even if they would have stayed here.

To be fair, baseball is weird. They over recruit and people get cut in the fall. So recruiting classes that make it to campus can be different in the spring and then you can lose them later as well. So, it happens to everyone that there is high turnover. I think UK at one point relied much too heavily on JUCO, so that helped run off some younger players.

 

[SeanCain]

To be fair, baseball is weird. They over recruit and people get cut in the fall. So recruiting classes that make it to campus can be different in the spring and then you can lose them later as well. So, it happens to everyone that there is high turnover. I think UK at one point relied much too heavily on JUCO, so that helped run off some younger players.

Yep. Baseball is different than basketball and football in that you can be recruited to play but you actually have to make the team. Baseball only has, correct me if I’m wrong, but 12 scholarships per season. I believe private schools, like Vandy, have more. I agree it looks like we lost a bunch but it’s more normal in baseball. I do agree that the quality of recruits is lacking and if Comebak is right, and we lose all those kids, next year will be a total disaster.

 

[Comebakatz3]

Yep. Baseball is different than basketball and football in that you can be recruited to play but you actually have to make the team. Baseball only has, correct me if I’m wrong, but 12 scholarships per season. I believe private schools, like Vandy, have more. I agree it looks like we lost a bunch but it’s more normal in baseball. I do agree that the quality of recruits is lacking and if Comebak is right, and we lose all those kids, next year will be a total disaster.

11.7 scholarships and if you give a scholarship you have to give 25 percent.

Vandy doesn't have more scholarships, but it's been said that they can basically give academic scholarships to those that qualify, which many of their baseball players likely do. I don't know if they do this to any advantage, but that's what's been said. I'll also say that Vandy does an exceptional job keeping those they recruit. So, they recruit top players and bring them to campus while a top UK recruit may commit but will go pro.

 

[enjyretirement2020]

Yep. Baseball is different than basketball and football in that you can be recruited to play but you actually have to make the team. Baseball only has, correct me if I’m wrong, but 12 scholarships per season. I believe private schools, like Vandy, have more. I agree it looks like we lost a bunch but it’s more normal in baseball. I do agree that the quality of recruits is lacking and if Comebak is right, and we lose all those kids, next year will be a total disaster.

The 11.7 scholarships with 25% minimums are across the board, unless you are private. Vanderbilt has a "fund' they can pull from being as they are a private school. So who wouldn't go to a school when you can get a fully funded scholarship compared to another school that has recruits that have to weigh their options to pay an out-of-state tuition, or another recruit that needs to stay at their home school?

Vanderbilt, after the minimum 25% has been given, can then make up the cost difference from their fund. It's fair practice, but not equal when it comes to recruitment.

So according to what I've read on the board, Hendersons' recruits had a really good season when Mingione came aboard. So this 4 yr senior class should been Henderson recruits also, correct? So of this class, who is left? Anyone? Is the entire team made up of Mingione recruits? If so, then the Head Coach has no excuse for the way his recruits have been managed.

 

[Comebakatz3]

So according to what I've read on the board, Hendersons' recruits had a really good season when Mingione came aboard. So this 4 yr senior class should been Henderson recruits also, correct? So of this class, who is left? Anyone? Is the entire team made up of Mingione recruits? If so, then the Head Coach has no excuse for the way his recruits have been managed.

I think that is also something that is hard to know. Baseball recruiting, as best as I can tell, happens years in advance. You have kids that will commit in 8th or 9th grade and they will stick with it. So, even now, you could conceivably have had a kid that Henderson recruited and that committed to Henderson who could come to UK this fall. Of course, Mingione would have given the final say on that sort of thing, but the point there is just that the recruit very far out and not just as juniors or seniors like in basketball and football.

In terms of the current team... I know there are a handful that were/are Henderson recruits. However, most of the players on the roster are Mingione guys.

Also remember that UK has had a ton of JUCO guys. This year's roster, if I am not mistaken, features 9 players that are either transfers or former JUCOS. I think since we'll say 2017 UK has had like 27-30 JUCO players or transfers in. Some of those big contributors and others didn't play at all. I am not entirely sure, but that seems high compared to what we were doing under Cohen and Henderson. However, that could just be me making things up and maybe it is no different than in the past.

 

[SeanCain]

11.7 scholarships and if you give a scholarship you have to give 25 percent.

Vandy doesn't have more scholarships, but it's been said that they can basically give academic scholarships to those that qualify, which many of their baseball players likely do. I don't know if they do this to any advantage, but that's what's been said. I'll also say that Vandy does an exceptional job keeping those they recruit. So, they recruit top players and bring them to campus while a top UK recruit may commit but will go pro.

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[SeanCain]

The 11.7 scholarships with 25% minimums are across the board, unless you are private. Vanderbilt has a "fund' they can pull from being as they are a private school. So who wouldn't go to a school when you can get a fully funded scholarship compared to another school that has recruits that have to weigh their options to pay an out-of-state tuition, or another recruit that needs to stay at their home school?

Vanderbilt, after the minimum 25% has been given, can then make up the cost difference from their fund. It's fair practice, but not equal when it comes to recruitment.

So according to what I've read on the board, Hendersons' recruits had a really good season when Mingione came aboard. So this 4 yr senior class should been Henderson recruits also, correct? So of this class, who is left? Anyone? Is the entire team made up of Mingione recruits? If so, then the Head Coach has no excuse for the way his recruits have been managed.

Very informative and thanks for the clarification on scholarships.

 

[SeanCain]

I think that is also something that is hard to know. Baseball recruiting, as best as I can tell, happens years in advance. You have kids that will commit in 8th or 9th grade and they will stick with it. So, even now, you could conceivably have had a kid that Henderson recruited and that committed to Henderson who could come to UK this fall. Of course, Mingione would have given the final say on that sort of thing, but the point there is just that the recruit very far out and not just as juniors or seniors like in basketball and football.

In terms of the current team... I know there are a handful that were/are Henderson recruits. However, most of the players on the roster are Mingione guys.

Also remember that UK has had a ton of JUCO guys. This year's roster, if I am not mistaken, features 9 players that are either transfers or former JUCOS. I think since we'll say 2017 UK has had like 27-30 JUCO players or transfers in. Some of those big contributors and others didn't play at all. I am not entirely sure, but that seems high compared to what we were doing under Cohen and Henderson. However, that could just be me making things up and maybe it is no different than in the past.

I bet we hit the JUCO ranks hard to fill in the huge gap we’re going to have with all those kids leaving. Mingione, in my opinion, gets too many JUCO kids and not enough high quality high school kids.

 

[Comebakatz3]

I bet we hit the JUCO ranks hard to fill in the huge gap we’re going to have with all those kids leaving. Mingione, in my opinion, gets too many JUCO kids and not enough high quality high school kids.

I don't know what will happen after this season ends, but if what I have heard is true then there will very possibly be a lot of transfers that will deplete our roster. So, I think UK will also have to hit the transfer market hard to replace what we lose.

As for JUCOs... I try to check out Perfect Game to figure out who we have committed. JUCO players in that are the hardest to figure out because they don't put them with the class that they will arrive with at UK, but will put them with their freshman class. So, for instance... it will have Oraj Anu as a 2017 recruit for UK even though he didn't get to UK until 2019. So, sorting that can be hard.

As of right now, I don't see any JUCO commitments in the 2019 class. Not sure if it is too early for it, or we just haven't hit the JUCO ranks that hard. JUCO focus may have been a bigger part of the Roland Fanning strategy and WIll Coggin may be focusing more on HS. Not sure.

 

[SeanCain]

I don't know what will happen after this season ends, but if what I have heard is true then there will very possibly be a lot of transfers that will deplete our roster. So, I think UK will also have to hit the transfer market hard to replace what we lose.

As for JUCOs... I try to check out Perfect Game to figure out who we have committed. JUCO players in that are the hardest to figure out because they don't put them with the class that they will arrive with at UK, but will put them with their freshman class. So, for instance... it will have Oraj Anu as a 2017 recruit for UK even though he didn't get to UK until 2019. So, sorting that can be hard.

As of right now, I don't see any JUCO commitments in the 2019 class. Not sure if it is too early for it, or we just haven't hit the JUCO ranks that hard. JUCO focus may have been a bigger part of the Roland Fanning strategy and WIll Coggin may be focusing more on HS. Not sure.

I won’t ask you to disclose your sources...but what are you hearing about a bunch of kids transferring and any certain reason why?

 

[Comebakatz3]

I won’t ask you to disclose your sources...but what are you hearing about a bunch of kids transferring and any certain reason why?

I think there is a lot of dislike of this staff and how they handle things. I think that the staff does a poor job of communicating with the players and their families and helping them to understand their roles for the team and what they need to do in order to excel in their program. They regularly get mixed messages. I think the staff makes decisions regarding playing time and/or roles and the players aren't necessarily told why they made those decisions or what the player needs to do in order to make the staff change their minds again, etc.

I think from this you have a lot of unhappy players and unhappy families. That being the case, they do not want to stick around and continue to play for this staff.

This seems to be coming not only from players that are not playing, but even those that are playing. Some of them fearful of doing poorly because they might be replaced, some frustrated that other players get numerous chances despite playing poorly. So, this unfair treatment is always on their minds. I have also heard that there has been some rebellion at times.

Again, we've discussed some player treatment stuff in the past and how that hurts team morale. I think there is a new one that has arisen as well and we will see what comes of it in the near future. I might discuss that more after it happens, but for now I don't want to disclose too much about it.

This is just stuff I have heard. I am not in the clubhouse and I live in TN, so I can't really speak to the veracity of this, but I don't have a real reason to believe it isn't true.

 

[SeanCain]

I think there is a lot of dislike of this staff and how they handle things. I think that the staff does a poor job of communicating with the players and their families and helping them to understand their roles for the team and what they need to do in order to excel in their program. They regularly get mixed messages. I think the staff makes decisions regarding playing time and/or roles and the players aren't necessarily told why they made those decisions or what the player needs to do in order to make the staff change their minds again, etc.

I think from this you have a lot of unhappy players and unhappy families. That being the case, they do not want to stick around and continue to play for this staff.

This seems to be coming not only from players that are not playing, but even those that are playing. Some of them fearful of doing poorly because they might be replaced, some frustrated that other players get numerous chances despite playing poorly. So, this unfair treatment is always on their minds. I have also heard that there has been some rebellion at times.

Again, we've discussed some player treatment stuff in the past and how that hurts team morale. I think there is a new one that has arisen as well and we will see what comes of it in the near future. I might discuss that more after it happens, but for now I don't want to disclose too much about it.

This is just stuff I have heard. I am not in the clubhouse and I live in TN, so I can't really speak to the veracity of this, but I don't have a real reason to believe it isn't true.

If things are this bad on the inside I don’t see how you can keep Mingione. Knowing baseball parents like I do, I’ll guarantee if they are not happy Mitch will be made aware. If some type of rebellion happens that would be a huge negative all around.

 

[Comebakatz3]

If things are this bad on the inside I don’t see how you can keep Mingione. Knowing baseball parents like I do, I’ll guarantee if they are not happy Mitch will be made aware. If some type of rebellion happens that would be a huge negative all around.

I am not sure there will be a rebellion so much as there will just be players that decide they aren't going to deal with it anymore at UK and they leave.

When I mentioned rebellion in my previous post that was in regards to some players actually speaking up and voicing their dislike of certain decisions. I might speak to that more once the season is over, but we will see.

 

[MAYHOO22]

Been gone for a bit. Catching up. Comebakatz 3 is correct. New issue, same issue. Same result.

 

[MAYHOO22]

Church, Hagenow, Harmon.....where you been?

 

[167Hike]

Church and Harmon have been MIA due to not being able to hit a lick since SEC play started. And it’s real hard to play Harmon as he forces Anu into playing left field.

I do like the current lineup with Lewis at 2nd, Hill in CF (finally), Schultz in LF and Anu DH’ing. I just don’t get why we don’t give Plastick more run at 3rd. Hell if we are going to just move Estep over from 2nd to 3rd why not just give Grace some run there too. I mean, in my eyes, we have a large enough sample size from both Church and Estep that they are struggling at the plate (Church more than Estep) and we almost have a good sample size for Plastiak but I’d be willing to see him run a little more....but in all honesty all 3 are currenl liabilities at the plate. Grace is probable no better but why not give him some time to prove it or not.

 

[SeanCain]

Church, Hagenow, Harmon.....where you been?

Church and Harmon almost zero offensive production since SEC play started. Estep not a whole lot better.

 

[Comebakatz3]

Church and Harmon have been MIA due to not being able to hit a lick since SEC play started. And it’s real hard to play Harmon as he forces Anu into playing left field.

I do like the current lineup with Lewis at 2nd, Hill in CF (finally), Schultz in LF and Anu DH’ing. I just don’t get why we don’t give Plastick more run at 3rd. Hell if we are going to just move Estep over from 2nd to 3rd why not just give Grace some run there too. I mean, in my eyes, we have a large enough sample size from both Church and Estep that they are struggling at the plate (Church more than Estep) and we almost have a good sample size for Plastiak but I’d be willing to see him run a little more....but in all honesty all 3 are currenl liabilities at the plate. Grace is probable no better but why not give him some time to prove it or not.

I think the 3rd base situation is a good example of one of the communication things I have spoken about. I want to disclaim this by stating that this is 100 percent speculation and I don't know anything about the situation, so I am just kind of talking hypothetically.

Estep is hitting .181 in league play
Church is hitting .174 in league play (I think)
Plastiak is hitting .275 in league play (I think, just too lazy to double check lol)

Estep seemingly has been moved off 2nd to now play 3rd and that has bumped both Plastiak and Church.

Yet, if I am Plastiak and Church, I need to know why. What is Estep doing or has he done that warrants him starting over either of them? Offensively he isn't all that much better than Church and he's worse it seems than Plastiak. So, is it purely defense?

I don't know the answer, but I don't necessarily need to know. What I am concerned about is that Plastiak and Church also don't know. It wouldn't surprise me if basically one day Plastiak and Church are told that Estep is starting that third and maybe told them it was to give them a rest or something like that and next thing you know, they aren't playing third at all anymore and don't know why. I am not sure they are told what to work on to get back into the lineup and how they can impress enough in BP or whatever to do that. It's those little communication things that can frustrate players and those frustrations reverberate through a clubhouse.

Now, that being said, I don't know the inner workings in this situation and what they have or have not been told, but if it is similar to other situations, it wouldn't surprise me that they are pretty in the dark about it.

 

[MAYHOO22]

From what I know, they have not been told. Plastiak has a pretty good offensive series against UT. Next series against UF, no run at all. Has to be defense, you would think. However, no communication.

 

[Comebakatz3]

From what I know, they have not been told. Plastiak has a pretty good offensive series against UT. Next series against UF, no run at all. Has to be defense, you would think. However, no communication.

That wouldn't surprise me at all. Like I said, has to be really frustrating for a player to not know why they aren't getting a chance, why a change was made and how they can get another chance.

Hagenow is definitely another... we were using him regularly and then he dropped off the face of the earth. I know he was struggling, but to me you help him work through that rather than abandoning him.

You can kind of go down the list with some guys and scratch your head on why they haven't seen more PT. Hudepohl and Degen have both done well, especially in league play and combined they have 9 appearances.

Holt Jones has disappeared. Kammin has been used fairly sparingly. Just go down the list, especially on pitchers, and our bullpen rotation is hard to figure out.

 

[MAYHOO22]

That wouldn't surprise me at all. Like I said, has to be really frustrating for a player to not know why they aren't getting a chance, why a change was made and how they can get another chance.

Hagenow is definitely another... we were using him regularly and then he dropped off the face of the earth. I know he was struggling, but to me you help him work through that rather than abandoning him.

You can kind of go down the list with some guys and scratch your head on why they haven't seen more PT. Hudepohl and Degen have both done well, especially in league play and combined they have 9 appearances.

Holt Jones has disappeared. Kammin has been used fairly sparingly. Just go down the list, especially on pitchers, and our bullpen rotation is hard to figure out.

Exactly! Only at UK can we have a pitcher that was a HS All-American that sits the bench because he had 1 bad outing. Destroys the kids confidence for sure.

 

[dtjr]

That wouldn't surprise me at all. Like I said, has to be really frustrating for a player to not know why they aren't getting a chance, why a change was made and how they can get another chance.

Hagenow is definitely another... we were using him regularly and then he dropped off the face of the earth. I know he was struggling, but to me you help him work through that rather than abandoning him.

You can kind of go down the list with some guys and scratch your head on why they haven't seen more PT. Hudepohl and Degen have both done well, especially in league play and combined they have 9 appearances.

Holt Jones has disappeared. Kammin has been used fairly sparingly. Just go down the list, especially on pitchers, and our bullpen rotation is hard to figure out.

Had to be the same with Cam Hill. Now they he got his chance, he has taken advantage of it.