Had a great run in 2023 and it came to an end last night, but we should have a pretty good core group to work with heading into 2024. A lot of guys still have eligibility left, but with the transfer portal and all of that they have a whole lot of options. So, I am going to try to do a breakdown of who we have right now that can return and we will try to adjust as we go on. Please feel free to fix any of my mistakes. I will not get offended. Things get a little dicey to me with the covid year still in play for many.
No eligibility:
Gilliam (1B)
Stanke (C/DH)
Felker (3B)
Gray (CF)
Byars (IF)
Giles (P)
Williams (P)
Bosma (P)
Draft Eligible:
Smith (SS)
Ewell (OF)
Church (DH)
Burkes (C)
McCoy (RF)
Chavez (P) signed with Rays
Strickland (P) signed with Pirates
Cotto (P) signed with Pirates
Hagenow (P)
Martin (P) signed with Royals
Hise (P)
Byers (P)
Lee (P) signed with Tigers
Moore
Departing/Transferring:
Kim
Seth Logue
Reed Gannon
Ewell
*Note that I put those most likely to forgo eligibility in Bold Italics. This just means they are the most likely to and does not guarantee that they will leave.
1B: McCoy (RS), Nicholson, Klein
2B: Pitre
SS: Smith, Applegate
3B: Church, Herrera, Daly
C: Burkes, Fawley
RF: Schramm
CF: McCarthy, Crittenberger
LF: Waldschmidt
DH: Higdon, Paige
Let's talk about this for a second. First things first, this isn't necessarily a true depth chart. So, Ewell being ahead of Schramm is not really an indication of who I think will or won't start. This is mostly about what position I imagine they'd play. I am leaving it a little bare right now because frankly... I don't know who the heck might fill some of these holes. The freshmen are not on the list because where they played in HS is a poor indication of where they might land in college. So, guessing where they will be right now is just outright difficult. I expect UK to hit the portal hard to find a 1B and a C. McCoy is at 1B right now because he has had some time practicing there in the Fall. However, he could move to several positions, possibly third or in the OF. Might depend on what UK gets in the transfer portal. For now, I will stick him at 1B. Church remains interesting to me. Seems to love playing at UK, so I don't think he leaves, but I am also not sure how he can remain overly happy not finding a home defensively, and continuing to almost split time at DH. Ewell is another one that seems like he could be an odd man out character if Schramm lives up to expectations.
Higdon is a JUCO transfer from John A Logan. I would consider him a bit of a utlity type guy as he played 1B, RF and hit DH for them. So, UK has some options with him. He hit .459 with 21 home runs in 2023 through 209 at bats. He struck out a bit more than you probably want to see (51), so UK might work on his approach. He hits lefty, but fields righty, so UK might not want him at 1B, but will probably enjoy having him in the lineup. Could see him and Church do what they did this season with righty/lefty matchups.
Paige is a transfer from Deleware State. 6'0 215 and looks to be built like a brick house. Hit .372 with 14 home runs. Has some speed as he stole 10 bases on 14 attempts. Could possible fill in at 3B as well. He will be a senior.
Daly transferred from Texas. A great defensive player and a great teammate by all accounts. Has not hit the ball overly well. I don't know what UK expects to do with him given that he projects (IMO) as more of a middle infielder and we have that MIF pretty well locked up as far as I can tell. So, I have to guess that he will be looked at mostly for third base.
Friday: Smith, Travis (RS)
Saturday: Moore
Sunday: Niman
I think that these three have locked in pitching on the weekends for the most part. How they will shake out in terms of what days is probably more up in the air. I think Smith has Friday night stuff, so I put him there and think if he continues to progress then he more easily solidifies that role. Lee lately pitched his way into that Friday role, but they may like that he can give them a strong Sunday start as well. Moore seems to fit Saturday pretty well I think merely because he throws a sinker/slider combo and is a bit less overpowering. Still, he also pitched his way to putting his name in for Friday. Either way, I think as long as those three return, they have solid weekend roles.
I have to say, I don't know that we really have any actual 'roles' with relief pitching, so I am not going to try to guess it. More than anything what Roszel has seemingly tried to do is get as much as possible out of every single pitcher. So, we had more long relievers than we really did situational pitching and setup men and closers. So, it will be boring but here is the list:
Hagenow
Frieda
Lafferty
Hayden Smith (LHP)
Blum (LHP)
Hise (RS)
Nove
Byers (RS)
Howe (RS)
Hummel (RS)
Pooser
Niman
O'Brien (RS)
Hogan
**A note here, McCoy saw some time in relief this year with 2 appearances. Applegate is one that has been talked about in the past as also being a potential two-way player. So, we might see one or both of these guys in some spots in 2024.
Hummel is a 6'0 180 pound righty grad student from Division 2 Erskine. He threw 33.1 innings in 14 appearances this season and had a 1.35 ERA. Struck out 62 and walked just 15. He has what is described as a 'lethal' curveball as well as a cutter/slider and a fastball.
Niman, by all accounts, is also a projected starter. The transfer from Central Conneticut State started 15 games this year (13 a year ago) and threw an eye popping 104 innings, an average of almost 7 per start. Keeping with the pitching theme lately, he struck out 94 while walking just 26 (8.13 K per 9). He is a lefty so that is a huge attritube. I will look to move him into that starting role once we get a clearer picture of the UK future after today (7/10).
Here is our list of freshmen that I am aware of:
Hindle (SS)
Small (C)
Skelding (RHP)
Brown (1B)
Bowen (3B)
Cameron (OF)
Cleaver (LHP)
Franklin (SS)
Fugate (RHP)
Gargett (SS)
Hamilton (SS)
Hart (LHP)
Saatman (RHP)
Skowronski (3B)
Titus (RHP)
I honestly do not have enough knowledge to know or guess which ones of these guys will contribute in year 1 at UK. Last year we redshirted all 8 of our freshman. This class is currently ranked 38th and I believe they have some guys that are pretty well thought of Hindle is ranked a 10 on PG. That could make him a candidate to take the 3B position. An interesting part of this is that Mingione and the staff made sure that they made a hard emphasis at the start of the year that the transfer portal was important, but that they really wanted to compliment HS players with the portal instead of relying on the portal heavily. So, will we see that more with this class or will they go out and fill holes with transfer guys? I think I listed 29 players above, so I think UK has plenty of room to give some of these guys some playing time in 2024.
Key:
Freshman
Redshirt Freshman
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
Grad Student
JUCO/Transfer Portal
No eligibility:
Gilliam (1B)
Stanke (C/DH)
Felker (3B)
Gray (CF)
Byars (IF)
Giles (P)
Williams (P)
Bosma (P)
Draft Eligible:
Smith (SS)
Ewell (OF)
Church (DH)
Burkes (C)
McCoy (RF)
Hagenow (P)
Hise (P)
Byers (P)
Moore
Departing/Transferring:
Kim
Seth Logue
Reed Gannon
Ewell
*Note that I put those most likely to forgo eligibility in Bold Italics. This just means they are the most likely to and does not guarantee that they will leave.
1B: McCoy (RS), Nicholson, Klein
2B: Pitre
SS: Smith, Applegate
3B: Church, Herrera, Daly
C: Burkes, Fawley
RF: Schramm
CF: McCarthy, Crittenberger
LF: Waldschmidt
DH: Higdon, Paige
Let's talk about this for a second. First things first, this isn't necessarily a true depth chart. So, Ewell being ahead of Schramm is not really an indication of who I think will or won't start. This is mostly about what position I imagine they'd play. I am leaving it a little bare right now because frankly... I don't know who the heck might fill some of these holes. The freshmen are not on the list because where they played in HS is a poor indication of where they might land in college. So, guessing where they will be right now is just outright difficult. I expect UK to hit the portal hard to find a 1B and a C. McCoy is at 1B right now because he has had some time practicing there in the Fall. However, he could move to several positions, possibly third or in the OF. Might depend on what UK gets in the transfer portal. For now, I will stick him at 1B. Church remains interesting to me. Seems to love playing at UK, so I don't think he leaves, but I am also not sure how he can remain overly happy not finding a home defensively, and continuing to almost split time at DH. Ewell is another one that seems like he could be an odd man out character if Schramm lives up to expectations.
Higdon is a JUCO transfer from John A Logan. I would consider him a bit of a utlity type guy as he played 1B, RF and hit DH for them. So, UK has some options with him. He hit .459 with 21 home runs in 2023 through 209 at bats. He struck out a bit more than you probably want to see (51), so UK might work on his approach. He hits lefty, but fields righty, so UK might not want him at 1B, but will probably enjoy having him in the lineup. Could see him and Church do what they did this season with righty/lefty matchups.
Paige is a transfer from Deleware State. 6'0 215 and looks to be built like a brick house. Hit .372 with 14 home runs. Has some speed as he stole 10 bases on 14 attempts. Could possible fill in at 3B as well. He will be a senior.
Daly transferred from Texas. A great defensive player and a great teammate by all accounts. Has not hit the ball overly well. I don't know what UK expects to do with him given that he projects (IMO) as more of a middle infielder and we have that MIF pretty well locked up as far as I can tell. So, I have to guess that he will be looked at mostly for third base.
Friday: Smith, Travis (RS)
Saturday: Moore
Sunday: Niman
I think that these three have locked in pitching on the weekends for the most part. How they will shake out in terms of what days is probably more up in the air. I think Smith has Friday night stuff, so I put him there and think if he continues to progress then he more easily solidifies that role. Lee lately pitched his way into that Friday role, but they may like that he can give them a strong Sunday start as well. Moore seems to fit Saturday pretty well I think merely because he throws a sinker/slider combo and is a bit less overpowering. Still, he also pitched his way to putting his name in for Friday. Either way, I think as long as those three return, they have solid weekend roles.
I have to say, I don't know that we really have any actual 'roles' with relief pitching, so I am not going to try to guess it. More than anything what Roszel has seemingly tried to do is get as much as possible out of every single pitcher. So, we had more long relievers than we really did situational pitching and setup men and closers. So, it will be boring but here is the list:
Hagenow
Frieda
Lafferty
Hayden Smith (LHP)
Blum (LHP)
Hise (RS)
Nove
Byers (RS)
Howe (RS)
Hummel (RS)
Pooser
Niman
O'Brien (RS)
Hogan
**A note here, McCoy saw some time in relief this year with 2 appearances. Applegate is one that has been talked about in the past as also being a potential two-way player. So, we might see one or both of these guys in some spots in 2024.
Hummel is a 6'0 180 pound righty grad student from Division 2 Erskine. He threw 33.1 innings in 14 appearances this season and had a 1.35 ERA. Struck out 62 and walked just 15. He has what is described as a 'lethal' curveball as well as a cutter/slider and a fastball.
Niman, by all accounts, is also a projected starter. The transfer from Central Conneticut State started 15 games this year (13 a year ago) and threw an eye popping 104 innings, an average of almost 7 per start. Keeping with the pitching theme lately, he struck out 94 while walking just 26 (8.13 K per 9). He is a lefty so that is a huge attritube. I will look to move him into that starting role once we get a clearer picture of the UK future after today (7/10).
Here is our list of freshmen that I am aware of:
Hindle (SS)
Small (C)
Skelding (RHP)
Brown (1B)
Bowen (3B)
Cameron (OF)
Cleaver (LHP)
Franklin (SS)
Fugate (RHP)
Gargett (SS)
Hamilton (SS)
Hart (LHP)
Saatman (RHP)
Skowronski (3B)
Titus (RHP)
I honestly do not have enough knowledge to know or guess which ones of these guys will contribute in year 1 at UK. Last year we redshirted all 8 of our freshman. This class is currently ranked 38th and I believe they have some guys that are pretty well thought of Hindle is ranked a 10 on PG. That could make him a candidate to take the 3B position. An interesting part of this is that Mingione and the staff made sure that they made a hard emphasis at the start of the year that the transfer portal was important, but that they really wanted to compliment HS players with the portal instead of relying on the portal heavily. So, will we see that more with this class or will they go out and fill holes with transfer guys? I think I listed 29 players above, so I think UK has plenty of room to give some of these guys some playing time in 2024.
Key:
Freshman
Redshirt Freshman
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
Grad Student
JUCO/Transfer Portal
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