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A new era

Hello HOB. Today was UK Baseball Media Day, so we'll get our 2024 season thread started with notes from the festivities.

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KENTUCKY BASEBALL HC NICK MINGIONE Q&A:

* Opens by saying it's hard to believe he's entering his 8th year year. Seems like just yesterday he was being introduced to the media. Looking forward to building on what they accomplished last year in reaching the Super Regional.

* Praised team for having 13 players record a 4.0 GPA this year. Pretty crazy number.

* Unselfish group of players. Committed to doing anything to help the team win. To win a championship, you have to have people like this.

* On the pitching staff... Mason Moore is back, expected to be one of the guys to lead the staff. "A special arm." He'll move into a starting role, which should be big for the team. Travis Smith is also back. Was a mid-meek guy for first part of the year, then developed into a guy they could count on in the rotation late in the season. Big arm. Hits upper-90s, great slider and cutter. A couple others who have stood out as leaders in the off-season: Evan Byers and Ryan Hagenow. Have been in the program for a while, know what it takes to win. Jackson Nove has also shown he's ready to "take a step to the next level."

* Thinks they had the best defense in the nation last year and no reason to think it can't be as good or better this season. Calls them elite. Key pieces in place.

* On the lineup... Led the SEC in hitting (AVG) in league play. Hoping to build on that. Devin Burkes is great to have back at catcher, the ultimate leader. Grant Smith at shortstop, a Gold Glove-level guy. Had surgery on a hip in the off-season. Now primed for a big year, fully healthy. Amazing leader. Pitre back at second. Second-team All-SEC. Nolan McCarthy back and ready for a big year. Reuben Church. James McCoy. Ryan Waldschmidt. All familiar names back. Waldschmidt is coming off surgery and should be back in March.

* Schedule challenging, of course. Paid off last year with their RPI. Play 12 games vs. Preseason Top 10 and 18 vs. Top 25. Open up at USC Upstate, who has won 110 games the last 3 years, one of the best winning % of anyone in college baseball those three years.

* Fall scrimmages were crazy-competitive. Same thing has carried over into preseason play. He's seen some of the best defensive plays he's ever seen.

* On being described as a "sleeper" team this year... Mingione says until they start doing it year in and year out, maybe that's a fair label. It's up to them to change that narrative. "Whatever it is, as long as we make it, they can call us whatever."

* On who might replace Hunter Gilliam at 1B... Ryan Nicholson (Grad SR transfer from Cincinnati) has really stepped up with his offense and defense.

* Last year, a lot of transfer portal guys helped them fill key roles. This year, they'll have some more of those guys, but you're starting to see more of the home-grown HS guys emerge and ready to play bigger roles.

* On NIL... Work in progress. You can never have too much. ... "There's a lot of people who love Kentucky, and they want to help." Will not pit baseball against football or basketball or any other sport. Wants them all supported. "Whatever they can do to help, it's much appreciated."

* On third base battle... They've had a ton of guys competing there: Reuben Church, Mitch Daly, Nick Lopez, Pat Herrera... Been a major battle. May play a bunch of guys there. "Maybe our most competitive position... but we feel good about the options we have." A big key is defense, gotta have an attacking mindset at that spot.

*****

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Starting to get a sense of what the 2025 class could potentially look like for Kentucky.

Braylon Mullins: Feel strongly that Kentucky is in the top three here and they’ll have a very solid shot until the end. If he’s going to leave the state of Indiana I think Kentucky and UConn are the best bets there, with Kentucky being much closer to home and UConn being the top dog in the sport currently.

Malachi Moreno: Kentucky’s right at the top here. Don’t think it’s a lock that he ends up there, but there’s a very good chance. Other teams have and staffs have been recruiting him a long time and are still putting in work for him consistently.

Tounde Yessoufou: Another one Kentucky’s firmly in the mix with. Other schools I’ve heard recent buzz about in conversation are Arizona and Tennessee. Kentucky is getting the last visit.

Jasper Johnson: Don’t think Kentucky is out of it, but I wouldn’t tab them as the leader here. He has a final five but I’d bet on it coming down to Alabama, Kentucky, and North Carolina.

Arrested on cruelty to children charges, not his first family violence charge and has a track record. Would imagine this is it for a UGA starter.

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Lamont butler it is.

Penson had been down to Kentucky and Georgia Tech but picked the Yellow Jackets, his home state school.

He told me after the fact that the engineering degree was a big factor in his decision. Sometimes the engineering focus of the school hurts GT with players but in this case it helped so that is something UK would have to overcome.

He has remained open to other schools but told me today that the ball is in Kentucky's court. He is hoping to set up an official visit with CB coach Chris Collins but right now Kentucky seems to be taking a slower wait and see approach. Tells you that they are not pushing overly hard at the moment.

Stanford is the visit that is most likely to happen probably during the fall or in December. Auburn and Georgia have been in contact with Penson and Auburn mentioned the possibility of a visit.

Seems like he is keeping quite the open mind and would be a possibility for Kentucky but they need to decide to move on him for that to happen.

Wondering about your thoughts as well. My thought is if he stays healthy the 2,300 better be hit, in order for the offense to be as good as it needs to be, and he should get there.

My son and I are hoping that every time he gets a sack or great play that the stadium speakers are blasting the Kentucky Headhunters “Dumas Walker” 🤗 GBB🏈

Is there anyway to watch the TBT game tonight or streaming anywhere? Sorry If I missed a thread on this already.

So it's that time of year....we're bored....Stoops has made comments. I truly believe that it's going to be sooner rather than later when it comes to Stoops leaving here or retiring. Many just name names....it's not going to be easy to replace Mark Stoops, but I think it will happen. But I'd like to discuss options if we do have to move on....because he was on the way out last year. So realistically....who are the options?

Please none of the "aww durrr why you making this thread!" and negativity....just a message board offseason hypothetical. I just wanted to see what you guys think...



-Jon Sumrall: He's the fan favorite. He had 2 solid years at Troy and has shown some fire. Can he keep it up at Tulane? We all know him and know he'd be the favorite once is opens. He can recruit...we know that. I would like to see how he puts a staff together and what his plan would be as far as being a program CEO. I mean say he has a 5-7 year at Tulane...would he be the top choice next offseason?

-Neal Brown: He's a really good football coach. Offensive minded guy. He's taken a hit as he took on a tough WVU job with them having to compete in the Big 12 with fewer resources than most in that league. A 9 win season last year and they were in the race for a Big 12 title game berth. He did some big things at Troy against big time teams. Lets see if they have another strong year....I really loved his QB development and the skill guys brought in on his watch....Neal with more resources would be that offensive coach we'd like....

-Gerad Parker: Actually played for Mumme, Morris, and Brooks. He actually was Jon Sumrall's teammate & they graduated together. He has some really good experience being a P5 assistant for the last decade. He served under David Cutfliffe at Duke, James Franklin at Penn State, & was the OC at Notre Dame last season...where they were the 8th best scoring offense in the nation. He's at Troy now and can really show what he can do....keep an eye on him.

-Will Stein: He's coaching at Oregon on one of the best staffs...but he was the guy calling plays. A lot of experience in the Texas area. People will say that he's a Louisville guy....but that's not true all the way. His dad played football at Kentucky and he had season tickets to Kentucky his whole life....he dreamed of playing at KENTUCKY. We didn't offer him and Louisville did. But don't think this job wouldn't be appealing. It's a SEC job that will pay....in the stadium he grew up dreaming of playing in.....plus the Louisville job isn't coming open while Brohm is there anyways.

UK’s star transfer played two seasons at BYU before coming to Lexington, and he compared Chandler’s progress to some of his former teammates during a one-on-one interview with the Herald-Leader. “Yeah, I’ve seen it plenty of times,” Robinson said. “Collin’s picking stuff up quickly. I haven’t seen anyone else move as fast and learn as fast as he is right now, when it comes to the ramp-up. So it’s been cool to see — just him figuring it out and being able to learn everything so quickly. Because it’s a lot of information, and he hasn’t touched the basketball a lot in two years. So, yeah, it’s pretty impressive to watch.”






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