Those of you who check out the baseball notebook on the front page will see this, but Brayden Combs, Joey Bellini, Brett Marshall, J.P. Bitzenhofer and Luke Heyer are enrolled and taking classes.
Several players already enrolled from 2016 class
- Thread starter Derek Terry
- Start date
That is great news, hate to see that Tillo is transferring. I believe he could have helped us next season.
Looks like the starters will be between Z Logue, J Lewis, Z Pop, and maybe L Salow. Of course someone could always surprise.
I think Lewis needs to develop another pitch and Pop needs to get more consistent and learn to control that heat. Hjelle could also be a starter, I was impressed in the game where he ended up going something like 4 innings before we finally got the win. There are some options, but it is the first time in a long time that we've had an entirely bare cupboard when it comes to weekend pitching. Pretty scary.
JuCo pitcher Alec Maley will be joining the team. He had 38 strikeouts and only 6 walks in 30 innings this year but also had an 8.80 ERA.
Holy hell... those are weird stats. 40 (30 earned) runs off of 39 hits. People hit .443 against him. Any idea why this kid's stats might look like this?
I'll take a guess: curveballer primarily, some kids simply can't hit it, others go to the plate guess hitting for the curve and BOOM when they guess right.
It's a pretty lengthy list. JaVon Shelby (and Dorian Hairston to some extent) is the only regular starter who won't be back. Pitching took the biggest hit with Kyle Cody, Dustin Beggs and Zack Brown departing.
Evan White and Zach Reks are the two best hitters coming back statistically. Riley Mahan hit over .300 last season. I could see him taking another really big leap next season. He's crushing the ball in the Cape Cod League. Mingione is going to have to decide if he wants to leave him at shortstop or try him at a different position because of the amount of errors he makes.
North Carolina transfer Joe Dudek enters the mix and freshman T.J. Collett was one of the best pure hitters in all of high school baseball. It's obviously going to be a different ballgame from him but I'd be shocked if he's not in the lineup in some capacity.
I'm not sure how much pure hitting talent is in the lineup, but you'd certainly hope for an increase in production with most of these guys entering at least their second year in the lineup.
@Derek Terry if you were to guess, who do you think will be in the weekend rotation? I'm thinking in no particular order, Zach Logue, Justin Lewis and maybe Zach Pop
I think Logue will be in the rotation for sure. Then I think Sean Hjelle has the next best chance. Then Lewis is next most likely of the guys coming back, but I wouldn't be surprised to see a freshman earn a spot. Machamer might have good enough stuff but if Thompson or McGee enroll then they're probably more likely to get a spot than Machamer. Personally I'd keep Pop in the bullpen. The bullpen is going to need some power arms and he provides the best one.
Neither have signed with the Rays but I'd still expect McGee to do so. Thompson I think will end up at UK but that's just a guess.
Here is what we got:
1B - Evan White, Gunnar McNeill
2B - Luke Becker, Tyler Marshall
3B -
SS - Riley Mahan, Connor Heady
C - Kole Cottam, Troy Squires
RF - Marcus Carson
CF - Storm Wilson, Tristan Pompey
LF - Zach Reks
These are the guys that return that started. Some of them were moved around. For instance, Heady played some second as well. Marshall may have played third some with Shelby being a bit injured, but it is a pretty big hole.
We have Joe Dudek that can play first, but may take McNeill's place as DH. Depends on what the coaches want to do with White.
Zeke Lewis is a pretty prolific player that could play somewhere in the middle infield, but it will depend on his bat.
Marshall Gei has always been a guy I think could play for us. He could get time at catcher or at 3b.
Newcomers: (So far)
Brett Marshall is the younger brother to Tyler Marshall (UK junior utility player). He is slotted as a 3B, but I am not sure how good he really is.
JP Bitzenhofer is a catcher/outfielder from Lexington. He has some talent, but the problem is that UK is loaded at cathcer.
TJ Collett - Speaking of catchers, here is the man. This guy is a big bat and will likely find a way to play.
Brayden Combs - 1st baseman that has the physique of AJ Reed. A lot to live up to.
Joey Bellini - SS. Don't know much about this kid.
Joe Dudek - 1B. Transfer who will most definitely play a role somewhere this year.
Luke Heyer - 3B JUCO kid who hits very well. Could be the guy at 3B.
If you notice... you will see a problem and that is a log jam at 1B/Catcher. White and McNeill both play 1st and newcomer Joe Dudek has to be in the lineup somewhere. So, do you move White to the outfield or do you DH Dudek? If you DH Dudek then what do you do with TJ Collett and his good bat? TJ could just split time, but if he hits as well as we hope, you won't want him splitting time. McNeill struggled to hit sliders last year and SEC pitching keyed in on that and he struggled, so unless he fixes that he likely won't be a factor. White could play the outfield because Carson/Wilson/Pompey haven't really shown a propensity to be consistent with the bat. We also don't, to my knowledge, have any prolific outfielders coming into the fold. So, it probably makes the most sense to move White to right, but then you lose one hell of a first baseman.
The other problem you run into is that the talent in the infield is not extremely trustworthy. We have no solid 3B and no solid 2B. Even SS is a bit shaky defensively. So, do you have Heady in at 2b despite an atrocious bat? Who can adqeuately fill the role at 3B? Hard to say.
The questions get even harder on the pitching staff. Here are returning SEC starters:
Yea... it's blank. Logue has one SEC start, but I really can't project him as a starter. I just don't know that he has the stamina to really be an SEC weekend starter. He's never thrown over 6 innings, and on weekends it is pretty key to get past that point. I think it is more proper for him to be a long reliever. It is also somewhat telling for me that he is pitching in the Cape Cod League, but isn't starting for that team. He is one of their better relievers and is doing pretty well in the league.
Other returning pitchers:
Justin Lewis - Lewis was pretty good, but my problem with him is that he has a limited pitch repertoire. I think SEC pitching began to key in on that and he became a little more human after they figured him out. Right now in the Cape Cod League he is struggling with an ERA over 8.00 as a reliever. He projects as a possible starter, but I really think he needs to develop a third pitch before he can be an everyday weekend guy.
Zach Pop - Another Cape Cod guy. The fireballer struggled last year, but came in during the SEC tournament and was extremely impressive when he hit 100mph on the gun. However, he is struggling once again in the Cape with an ERA of 5.62. He's another guy that is pitching as a reliever in the Cape. UK has tried to use him as a starter and a reliever. He's got to get more consistent to really stick at either role.
Logan Salow - The senior returns, but his career hasn't exactly been stunning. He pitched in 18 games last year and was a very serviceable reliever, but he wasn't anything spectacular. He is currently a starter in the Northwoods league and has a 3.28 ERA in 4 starts. Not sure he projects to be a weekend starter, but he is someone that Belanger should rely on as a decent steady arm.
Brad Schaenzer - Junior lefty is also a starter in the Northwoods league with an ERA of 3.76. He didn't play a big role for UK last year due to the fact that he struggled in his one inning of work in the SEC. He pitched 10 innings overall. Don't project him to start, but will likely be another reliever.
Sean Hjelle - Was the closer for UK last year and for a time was basically unhittable. Unfortunately, he showed that he wasn't invincible later in the year and he got hit pretty hard. He largely only worked one inning, but against one SEC team (USC I think) he did go 4 innings showing that he might have some stamina. Right now he is pitching in the Perfect Game league and has an ERA of 4.80. He has started 3 games and gone 6 innings in one of them. Seems to be struggling with some control. He could very well be a weekend starter.
Austin Keen - A sophomore/rs freshman who didn't pitch any in 2016. He is currently in the Perfect Game Collegiate league and has started 5 games with a 0.37 ERA. He's been pretty dominant, but the fact that he's never pitched for UK makes it hard to believe he'd be able to work his way to an SEC weekend role.
Dima Ballard - Not sure where he is playing summer ball. He didn't pitch for UK in 2016, so he might be a sophomore or redshirt freshman. He's a short lefty from Lexington. Not sure how he projects going forward.
Jake Hamilton - Another lefty that didn't pitch in 2016. He had tommy john surgery and so he redshirted in 2015. Again, not sure how he projects.
Josh Smith - Another lefty. He got to pitch in 4 games last year, but never really showed that he could slam the door as a reliever. He'll have to make big strides to make an impact. Not sure of his summer plans.
Newcomers:
Alec Maley - As discussed, this guy is a JUCO transfer who is a bit scary. He has some good stuff it would appear, but also gets hit pretty hard.
After that I don't think we have any new pitchers coming in. Right now the class has kind of fallen apart, but I am sure the coaches will be working on getting guys in. Problem is that this late in the game it won't be easy to recruit guys because many of them are already locked in. Belanger is going to have a huge task in front of him finding three guys who can be consistent starters every weekend. Henderson really left the cupboard extremely bare in that regard. The talent is there, but I don't think it has been developed extremely well and there is little to no experience.
When is the deadline for draftees to sign and where does the rest of UK signees stand on signing?
^^ July 15 is the deadline to sign. Not sure who is still hanging around for us to sign. I think Thompson is still in the air, though.
I think you're putting a lot of unfair pressure on these kids. Brayden Combs is the same size is Reed so he's supposed to be just as good? Josh Smith pitched in 4 games and you're already giving up on him? Give them a chance to prove themself before you write them off.
I don't think I wrote off anyone. I just said that Josh didn't show the ability in his first year and will have to make strides into his second to make an impact. Not that he can't do it.
In terms of Combs, I didn't really make that comparison. Others have. I simply referenced it. I don't know much about Combs or what his potential might be. I didn't want to really talk about what he could do because I don't know, but I know he was compared to Reed, which is interesting but entirely unfair.
In fact, I think that's the point of about 75 percent of our roster... we don't know what we're going to get. It's hard to understand just how good those guys may or may not be because we haven't seen them. I tried to use the summer leagues for pitchers as a measurement tool but couldn't find Josh in the leagues.
I didn't mean to come off too negative but I do think we have to be realistic about our lack of experience.
Last year I got a roster in January. That was still a few weeks before UK ever announced it I believe.
The MLB draft deadline for players to sign is today. Zack Thompson is the only UK target left. It's been quiet on his front, but I would expect him to go to school. One source said he was a guy who had planned on going to school prior to Henderson resigning. Think he's been taking his time to get to know the new staff.
Simply put, he's a huge prospect. Kentucky needs pitching and to lose a guy this late would be a pretty big blow, especially considering I was told he was about $200,000 off the number he wanted from the Rays.
He's going to announce his decision this afternoon.
Simply put, he's a huge prospect. Kentucky needs pitching and to lose a guy this late would be a pretty big blow, especially considering I was told he was about $200,000 off the number he wanted from the Rays.
He's going to announce his decision this afternoon.
We need him so badly. Really we just need arms. So much inexperience that we need options to turn to.
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