I fully admit I don’t have the in-depth knowledge of the players some posters on here have. Does this team have enough pieces to have a good year?
Can this team make some noise this year?
- Thread starter irishcat1965
- Start date
it comes down to pitching. And based strictly on what returned from last season, I have very little hope of any improvement. But, until the first pitch is thrown no one really knows.
Everything must improve. Everything. Hitting last year (.252) was bad. We struck out way too much (527 strikeouts in 1792 at bats, almost 30 percent of our at bats). Fielding was bad. We were last in the SEC in basically every defensive category a year ago (.963 fielding percentage). Pitching was bad. We finished something like 12th or so in ERA in the SEC (5.10). We lost our best pitcher from a year ago and the only starter that had a winning record (he was 6-1).
Last year our pitching staff featured a ton of freshman. The big hope is that they grew up a lot, along with two sophomores who have to step up on the weekends.
Hitting should improve. The guys we have there have the tools, and I think it will jump. Just how much is the question, and might it be enough to make up for any pitching struggles?
Surely we have no way to go but up, because if this is another down year l think MB is going to have to make changes and that's bad because the other instate team ranked #1 preseason.
Regardless, I am excited and ready for it to start. I don't think any change will be made until after next year, but we're a long way from that and I hope we don't come to it and instead, Mingione puts me and my doubt in my (and its) place.
Opening weekend will tell a lot. TCU would be about 6-7th in the SEC. Play a competitive series with them and maybe even steal a win, there is some hope. Get swept big....get ready for a long long season.
TCU has an amazing head coach and they have been really deep in the post seasons several times. So, I trust that their coach will have them in the right spot. However, they seem to be pretty similar to us in that they have a lot of question marks that will need to be answered early on and they too will likely be looking to find a lot of answers on opening weekend.
TCU is picked to finish 3rd in the Big 12. This series is a conflict for me. I actually lean more towards being a bigger TCU fan that UK. 
IMO, Ming needs to show us something this year. Last year was a total debacle. It surprised me b/c he earned some goodwill around here with his super regional appearance a couple of years ago. I thought we were on the upswing. Throw in what appears to be some player malcontent behind the scenes and it doesn't appear that all is right in the UK baseball world.
Hoping for the best, go cats.
Hoping for the best, go cats.
With a little inside info ...l don't think all is right, but we shall see. I think NM should/must have a very good year to keep his job. No excuses for a repeat of last year.
Its definitely a put up or shut up year. The SEC is absolutely loaded this year so it wont be easy, but the bottom line is the days of fans being passive about baseball expectations are long gone. Zero reason for UK to not be perennially ranked and in the hunt for Omaha. Put the damn resources into it and lets go.
The resources are there. The support from the administration is there. The problem is wether the right coach is here. I hope the boys take a step forward but I’m cautiously pessimistic. But, tonight is game one. Let’s go!
Tell your friend that it is appropriate to watch the entire game during dinner!
Good luck to the Bat Cats this season. I have never been a fan of Mingione, and think that you guys deserve better, but since he is still there, I hope that you have a great season.
I think it is perfectly fine as long as your friend shares the phone time with their significant other. Can't let anyone miss the action. Make it even more romantic and sit next to each other and share headphones, each getting one ear bud.
Its gameday boys! I work second shift so Ill be listening to the call on WLAP.
Go Big Blue!
Go Big Blue!
Just curious, why haven't you been a friend of Mingione? Did you see this coming before we did? He got off to a great start (with his predecessor's players), but it has been ROUGH since that first year.
You all know much more about him than me, but having been married to my Wonderful Kentucky Wife for over 30 years has made me a Kentucky Fan second to the Razorbacks. From what I have seen, he was successful at first mainly due to the players already there. He doesn't seem to recruit or develop SEC talent enough to compete regularly in the brutal SEC.
I have seen many pitching decisions that had me completely scratching my head, from rotation, to relievers, closers, and in game pitching decisions. I never understood why he saved your stud pitcher in a three game SEC Series for a Sunday start. To me, it is kind of like throwing in the towel and hoping to salvage a single win, instead of going all in and trying to win the Friday night game with stud versus stud and a chance to win the series.
Lastly, he comes across as an amateur, bush league, type of coach with some of his antics, such as bringing a questionable player due to injury onto the on deck circle knowing that he is not going to hit at that time.
These are just my thoughts, I could be completely wrong, but if I was the AD, he would have been gone immediately after the last out of last season, and I would have thrown a Brinks Truck full of money at Dan McDonnell, because in my opinion, Kentucky Fans deserve better.
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You're not wrong...Nobody's getting McDonnell, but l most definitely go after William's. NM us not going to get it done here.
Hard to argue with any of that. Obviously, I hope that he proves all of us wrong this year, but I'm not optimistic...especially after last night looked a lot like 2019.
Going to be a long season guys. Im thankful the Reds are looking primed to compete.
I’m trying to figure out how Barnhart didn’t figure out after Ming’s second season it wasn’t going to work. I can see giving him that third season, but after last year he should have been fired. Now the program and fans will suffer through another terrible season.
Barnhart is very forgiving to coaches. He will give Mingione every opportunity possible. His contract expires in 2021. Doubt you see a move until then.
Well heck. I could have sworn I heard that it was 2021. I actually think that might be a reason he gets the boot sooner. Hard to wait another 2 years after this one.
Re: Barnhart, the guy is not pro-active in the 'get rid of coaches' area(which has shown effective in regard to Stoops) sans off-field/court behavior(DeMoss, Clyde). As with Joker, it's apparent Mingione is catering the program and Mitch B's inaction only delays the inevitable and doubles the rebuild time
IF this year is a repeat of last year ...you MUST bite the bullet and pull the eject button on this before you totally lose the fan base
Well heck. I could have sworn I heard that it was 2021. I actually think that might be a reason he gets the boot sooner. Hard to wait another 2 years after this one.
This is bad. Really bad. UK is staring 14th place in the SEC right in the face.
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