Feels really weird to post this so early, but by popular demand I am getting a jump on things. Obviously, regardless of what happens this weekend (or next) we've had an oustanding year. Co-SEC Regular Season Champions and most SEC wins in UK baseball history. Huge accomplishments from Mingione, SEC COTY, and his team. I am not sure how much crow is left, but looks like I need to go back for seconds. Still, I think all of us want to see UK being consistently a contender and the next step in that process is 2025. Here is a very very early look of what that might look like. I'll try to continue to update as more information comes in throughout the next weeks/months. Also, as usual, if there is anything I have gotten wrong, please reply and correct me and I will be more than happy to fix it.
No Eligibility:
Ty Crittenberger (OF)
Nick Lopez (DH)
Ryan Nicholson (1B)
Mitch Daly (3B)
Rueben Church (3B)
Grant Smith (SS)
Cameron O'Brien (P)
Dominic Niman (P)
Johnny Hummel (P)
Trey Pooser (P)
Ryan Hagenow (P)
Draft Eligible:
Pitre (2B) - Drafted 58th overall.
Burkes (C)
McCoy (OF)
McCarthy (OF)
Waldschmidt (OF) - Drafted 31st overall
Herrera (UTL)
Higdon (OF)
Smith (P)
Hogan (P)
Moore (P)
Robinson (P)
Hise (P)
Byers (P)
Nove (P)
Frieda (P)
A lot of names here, but I just don't see a ton of them drawing a ton of interest from the major leagues at this point and time. I highlighted the two most likely to take the leap to the MLB, but I could also see Pitre taking a long look. Smith taking a long look and possibly Hogan. Burkes is an interesting one as at the end of last year I had him on my likely to leave list and do not have him there this year. Burkes is a RS Junior this season, so he can return next year but there are some advantages to trying to get drafted in your junior year and going rather than coming back for a senior year. One of those being that you have more leverage for some more money if you can threaten to return to school.
Departing/Transferring
Skowronski (UTL)
Howe (P)
Higdon (OF)
McCarthy (CF)
Fawley (C)
Smith (RHP)
Schramm (OF)
Frieda (RHP)
Applegate (RHP)
Hise (RHP)
Lafferty (RHP)
Bowen (UTL)
Depth Chart:
1B: Hage, Brown, Koontz
2B: Bell
SS: Gargett, Hindle, Franklin, Lawrence
3B: Herrea
C: Burkes, Small, Pelletier
RF: McCoy, Hansen
CF: Cameron, Montoya, Marcy
LF: Pratt, Harris
DH: Hage
First thing to note is that this isn't a depth chart in the sense that I think these people will start as much as it just is a glance at where I think guys might be competing for playing time. Obviously, things change a lot if certain players decide to leave/return and there are a lot of guys who could play multiple spots.
I want to note here that I am not sure if Gargett, Hindle and Cameron will classify as redshirts. I know the rule now is that you can play a certain number of games in a season and still redshirt, but I am not sure if they fall under that. I am going to still list them as redshirts because I think that they likely did, but I could be incorrect here.
A lot of yellow here indicating that we could be a really young team next year. The fact that there are a lot of yellow spots leads me to believe that UK will likely dive deep into the transfer portal to find some older guys to plug into some positions where they might not feel they are strong/deep. 1B looks like a place where we might have a need as does LF. Right now, I just don't have anyone in my head that fills that hole in left. Even Pratt and Harris kind of seem to fit the RF mold more than LF given their size as freshmen and UK has only sparingly used freshmen under Mingione, so I am inclined to believe that they'd have to be real special (or UK real desperate) for those guys to become everyday starters in 2025.
Pitre going so high in the draft takes him off the board for UK in 2025. That was likely, but not a foregone conclusion. So, UK will need to replace their steady Eddy at 2nd. That will be a tall task given that Pitre was not only a fantastic defensive 2nd baseman, but also a strong hitter near the top of the lineup.
Key:
Freshman
Redshirt Freshman
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
Grad Student
JUCO/Transfer Portal
PITCHING
Friday Starter:
Saturday Starter:
Sunday Starter:
This is scary. No one at the moment appears to be a clear favorite to land in these roles, at least to my knowledge. UK brought in transfers, and of course, there will be development with returners. However, UK returns just 1 start. Not 1 starter... 1 start, out of 60. Cooper Robinson holds that lone start. However, it is unlikely that he fills one of these roles (he's started just 3 games over 3 years, 1 per year). Most of our guys that are incoming transfers, to my knowledge, don't appear to have been starters from their numbers. So, UK might be looking at returners to fill these roles. Hogan would be a guess of someone who might step into one of them. After that... well, someone more connected to me will have to fill in those gaps.
Weekday Starter:
Anyone's guess here. Last year we went with a redshirt freshman with Lafferty. Lafferty headed to Pitt, so he's no longer an option, but I could see UK working another RS freshman in this role. I could see someone like Cleaver stepping into this role. Still, there are a ton of options here, so the fall will be telling.
Relief:
Jake Titus (RHP)
James McCoy (RHP)
Hayden Smith (LHP)
Robert Hogan (RHP)
Raymond Saatman (RHP)
Cooper Robinson (RHP)
Evan Byers (LHP)
Jackson Nove (LHP)
Jacob Price (RHP)
Ben Cleaver (LHP)
Evan Hart (LHP)
Tommy Skelding (RHP)
Nile Adcock (RHP)
Scott Rouse (RHP)
Nic McCay (RHP)
Ethan Walker (LHP)
Oliver Boone (RHP)
Chase Alderman (RHP)
Cole Hentschel (LHP)
Simon Gregersen (RHP)
Adam Hachman (RHP)
We lose a whole lot of reliable arms to graduation, but we get a chunk of them back. Hogan returns and he has the most innings out of the bullpen this year with 36. Nove isn't far off at 27.2. Byers has also been leaned on heavily. We also have a lot of lefty options, which we don't always have.
Rouse was a starter at Radford, but the ERA doesn't jump out at you as being overly impressive at 5.94 with 69.2 innings pitched and 14 appearances. 78 strikeouts and 33 walks.
Adcock will be a junior next year (I believe) and is 6'2 180. Not the ideal makeup for a starter, but he was a starter in JUCO, starting 13 games and having a 2.92 ERA through 74.1 innings pitched with a real good 94 strikeouts. Walked just 25. I think he's heading to UK, but a google search has very few mentions of him that link him to Kentucky. Basically one article by DT and this thread. Other articles don't seem to mention him. So, can someone confirm?
FRESHMEN
Tyler Bell (SS) - Drafted 66th overall - still heading to UK.
Leighton Harris (LHP)
Bradley Ferrell (RHP)
Nate Harris (OF)
Zak Spurrier (RHP)
Nolan Belcher (C)
Logan Grubb (LHP)
Tristan Hunter (RHP)
Aidan Larkin (SS)
Hayden Mains (RHP)
Khaleel Pratt (OF)
Jack Sams (SS)
Cameron Owens (SS)
Obviously Bell hasn't signed at this time, but being taken so high is a very big indication that the team feels like they can and will sign him. So, I would next expect him to make it to campus.