Its Game Week!!!
- Thread starter Big_Blue_1018
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Might try to get y'all an Upstate scouting report tomorrow. If I have time.
Have we heard or seen anything on a starting lineup?
I know we have some guys coming back from summer injuries.
Don't be surprised if Ryan Waldschmidt actually gets cleared to DH on opening weekend.
He has been for all spring scrimmages but doctors haven't/hadn't cleared him for game participation yet. Original prognosis was week before SEC play.
Also heard Cleaver was lights out this past weekend. Maybe our weekday starting pitcher. On the bad side, heard Howe got lit up. Hope just a bad day at the office.
Your Kentucky Wildcats will open the season with a 3 game set this weekend against USC Upstate in Spartanburg, South Carolina at Harley Park. USC Upstate will be a pretty solid starting test for UK. USC Upstate is not a big time name in baseball, but they are one of those schools that seems to have some pretty solid consistent success. A year ago USC Upstate went 38-22 overall and 21-6 in conference. They lost to Campbell in the conference title which found them on the outside looking in of the NCAA tournament. This was their first ever appearance in the Big South title game. Their head coach Mike McGuire is entering his 5th year and seems to have the program on the rise.
In 2023 Upstate hit .284 as a team with 107 doubles, 11 triples and 53 home runs. In other words, offensively, they were similarly built to UK and were more of a small ball and hit and run type team than they were a power team. The numbers UK had for 2023 and the numbers they had are really close (i.e. UK had 54 home runs and Upstate 54, UK had 433 runs and Upstate had 439). They also loved to swipe bases with 110 swipes on 137 attempts.
Key Losses on offense:
1. Cole Caruso - third baseman and short stop for Upstate that hit .319 with 15 coubles. I believe he led off for Upstate last year, so their point man who scored 45 runs (third most on the team) a year ago is gone.
2. Noah Rabon - Hit .287 while starting 31 games and playing in 32. Big loss on the basese as he was 16 of 19 in stolen bases.
3. Ty Tilson - .267 hitter a year ago played some OF and DH in 29 starts and 43 appearances. 6 doubles and a couple home runs. Pretty solid RBI guy with 25 in 120 plate appearances.
Possible starters (not in order):
RF- Grant Sherrod - led the team in hitting in 2023 with a .335 average and also led the team in home runs with 15. Takes a good chunk of strikeouts (50) compared to walks (34).
LF - Daniel Gernor - .283 with 8 doubles and 9 home runs with 30 walks to 51 strikeouts. Another steal threat with 15 of 15, a perfect score at bag swipes. Gernor can play either corner OF position. Will crowd the plate, got plunked 16 times last year, a team high. He hit both at the top and the bottom of the lineup as well.
CF - Kyle Henington - .275 in 2023 with 9 doubles and 1 home run. Went 9 for 12 on stolen bases and 29 of 34 with walks to strikeouts.
2B - Easton Cullison - .302 a yeara go with 14 doubles, but 0 home runs. A huge threat to steal with 25 swipes in 30 attempts and did a solid job of drawing 23 walks to 28 strikeouts.
SS - Troy Hamilton - .324 a year ago at the plate with 5 home runs and 7 doubles. He too struggled some with the walk to strikeout ratio and isn't a huge threat to steal, but did go 8-9 a year ago.
DH - Jace Rhinehart - .310 a year ago with 8 doubles and 7 home runs. Also did some time behind the plate, so could see him mix it up with Pereira.
C - David Pereira - .261 at the plate a year ago with 6 doubles and 3 home runs. Did great at walk to strikeouts with 16 and 17 and was 5 for 7 on stolen bases.
3B - Jake Armsey - .224 a year ago. Obviously struggled at the plate, but I think they wanted the redshirt freshman to step up and be their 3B a year ago and he just didn't have it in him at that time. He should get another chance in 2024. Has some base stealing ability with 6 for 6.
1B - Noah Sullivan - .311 in 2023. Two way guy that played some DH and 1B a year ago. Grant Sherrod was a typical starter at first, but I think to maximum the roster they may put Sullivan here and move Sherrod into RF. Sullivan was a freshman all american. Might have been hurt some in 2023 as he only played in a handful of games. So, I would imagine that USC anticipates him coming back in a big way.
Johnny Sweeny could also see time at 1B or at DH. He played a lot last year with 41 games and 32 starts but struggled with a .221 average.
This is an older team. A lot of these guys played a lot of games a year ago. There could be some newcomers and some guys that find their way into the lineup, but given that a lot of these numbers were fairly high, sans Armsey, they have probably done a decent job solidifying their spots.
**Pitching breakdown in the next segment**
In 2023 Upstate hit .284 as a team with 107 doubles, 11 triples and 53 home runs. In other words, offensively, they were similarly built to UK and were more of a small ball and hit and run type team than they were a power team. The numbers UK had for 2023 and the numbers they had are really close (i.e. UK had 54 home runs and Upstate 54, UK had 433 runs and Upstate had 439). They also loved to swipe bases with 110 swipes on 137 attempts.
Key Losses on offense:
1. Cole Caruso - third baseman and short stop for Upstate that hit .319 with 15 coubles. I believe he led off for Upstate last year, so their point man who scored 45 runs (third most on the team) a year ago is gone.
2. Noah Rabon - Hit .287 while starting 31 games and playing in 32. Big loss on the basese as he was 16 of 19 in stolen bases.
3. Ty Tilson - .267 hitter a year ago played some OF and DH in 29 starts and 43 appearances. 6 doubles and a couple home runs. Pretty solid RBI guy with 25 in 120 plate appearances.
Possible starters (not in order):
RF- Grant Sherrod - led the team in hitting in 2023 with a .335 average and also led the team in home runs with 15. Takes a good chunk of strikeouts (50) compared to walks (34).
LF - Daniel Gernor - .283 with 8 doubles and 9 home runs with 30 walks to 51 strikeouts. Another steal threat with 15 of 15, a perfect score at bag swipes. Gernor can play either corner OF position. Will crowd the plate, got plunked 16 times last year, a team high. He hit both at the top and the bottom of the lineup as well.
CF - Kyle Henington - .275 in 2023 with 9 doubles and 1 home run. Went 9 for 12 on stolen bases and 29 of 34 with walks to strikeouts.
2B - Easton Cullison - .302 a yeara go with 14 doubles, but 0 home runs. A huge threat to steal with 25 swipes in 30 attempts and did a solid job of drawing 23 walks to 28 strikeouts.
SS - Troy Hamilton - .324 a year ago at the plate with 5 home runs and 7 doubles. He too struggled some with the walk to strikeout ratio and isn't a huge threat to steal, but did go 8-9 a year ago.
DH - Jace Rhinehart - .310 a year ago with 8 doubles and 7 home runs. Also did some time behind the plate, so could see him mix it up with Pereira.
C - David Pereira - .261 at the plate a year ago with 6 doubles and 3 home runs. Did great at walk to strikeouts with 16 and 17 and was 5 for 7 on stolen bases.
3B - Jake Armsey - .224 a year ago. Obviously struggled at the plate, but I think they wanted the redshirt freshman to step up and be their 3B a year ago and he just didn't have it in him at that time. He should get another chance in 2024. Has some base stealing ability with 6 for 6.
1B - Noah Sullivan - .311 in 2023. Two way guy that played some DH and 1B a year ago. Grant Sherrod was a typical starter at first, but I think to maximum the roster they may put Sullivan here and move Sherrod into RF. Sullivan was a freshman all american. Might have been hurt some in 2023 as he only played in a handful of games. So, I would imagine that USC anticipates him coming back in a big way.
Johnny Sweeny could also see time at 1B or at DH. He played a lot last year with 41 games and 32 starts but struggled with a .221 average.
This is an older team. A lot of these guys played a lot of games a year ago. There could be some newcomers and some guys that find their way into the lineup, but given that a lot of these numbers were fairly high, sans Armsey, they have probably done a decent job solidifying their spots.
**Pitching breakdown in the next segment**
On the mound in 2023 the Spartans weren't exactly amazing with a 5.28 ERA and things don't get a whole lot easier as they lost their best statistical pitcher in Reese Dutton who had a 3.29 ERA, as well as Chase Matheny who had 9 starts and 20 appearances with a 5.37 ERA. Two-way player Al Holguin is also gon. He had a 4.79 ERA and pitched in 16 games with 4 starts throwing 41.2 innings. They'll miss him eating those innings up.
**One big note is that USC Upstate has just two lefties on their entire roster. So, UK will see an absolute parade of righties. This could also give UK a big advantage against the USC Upstate hitters in the first weekend as USC Upstate might not be as used to seeing a guy throwing from that side and UK can throw Niman, Byers and Nove as lefty options, as well as 3 freshmen I wouldn't expect to see as much**
Possible Starters:
Curtis Mathieu - A 6'5 freshman righty returns. He was Big South All Freshman team player a year ago and had 13 starts and 15 appearances. The Spartans moved him into the Sunday role later int he season. He had a 5.66 ERA as a freshman with 34 walks to 50 strikeouts. Opponents hit .278 against him. I could see him as a sophomore growing up and moving to the Friday role. Seems to have some good power with 50 strikeouts in 68.1 innings, and he limited hitters to just 4 home runs.
Saturday starter Henry Proger returns. He is a senior left hander with a 4.17 ERA a year ago. He threw 73.1 innings with 13 appearances and 13 starts. He struck out 69 while walking just 21. Struggled with keeping the ball down as he gave up the most home runs on the team with 10. Opponents hit .254 against him. Just going off of stats and the fact that he's 6'0 225, I am guessing this kid isn't necessarily a power lefty and probably relies more on accuracy and some junk to get outs. With that being the case, I am hard pressed to think that he'll jump into a Friday role and likely stays on Saturdays.
Noah Sullivan. This is such a guess as no one really strikes me as being the guy that will for sure take the third spot on the weekend. It is possible that Sullivan even starts on Friday given his pedigree, but there are some cause for concern. A year ago Sullivan pitched in 6 games and threw 12.1 innings in relief. He had a 0.00 ERA and opponents hit just .100 against him. Just 4 total hits while walking 7 and striking out 16. He also appeared in 17 games at the plate. Those low numbers make me think he likely got hurt a year ago. Especially when as a freshman he was an All American and played in 58 games at the plate and also pitched in 9 with 5 starts. As a freshman he threw 32.2 innings in those 9 games and had a 3.31 ERA with a BAVG of .188, striking out 26 and walking 11. Given that USC didn't really grab anyone out of the portal (that I noticed) that seems to be an heir apparent to a weekend role, it makes sense to me that they believed he could step in and shoulder this.
Likely relievers:
Jake Cubbler will likely be a guy we see a chunk of this weekend. A redshirt junior righty carried a 1.51 ERA a year ago while playing in 23 games with 1 start. Threw 41.2 innings and had 37 strikeouts to 19 walks. Opponents hit just .191 against him. It is conceivable that he could move to a starting role. but his only start was in the conference tournament where pitching gets short. He did good in that spot going 6 full with just 4 hits and 1 earned run. Still, I imagine we see him in the short relief type role and possibly see him more than once this weekend. Against Winthrop, for instance, he threw in all three games going 2.2 innings total, and against Cambell to close out the regular season he threw 5.1 innings across 3 games.
David James a 6'4 righty sophomore will also probably look to take a step forward in 2024. He appeared in 14 games with 1 start and threw 20.2 innings with an 8.27 ERA. Opponents raked against him hitting .282, but he also had 16 strikeouts in those 20 innings and walked 13. So, if he can take that step forward and locate he might be a guy that is a bit more dangerous.
Western Kentucky transfer and Louisville native Beau Coffman comes to Spartanburg for his senior year, the 6'1 righty was mostly used as a relief pitcher at WKU with 15 appearances in 14 games with one start, throwing 28 innings. He had a 4.18 ERA and opponents hit just .204 against him. Not sure if he can or will take a step up to a starting role or if he'll settle into being an often used reliever.
Tommy Henninger, another Louisville, KY native transferred to USC Upstate from Ole Miss. He didn't get much time there throwing just 4.1 innings, but prior to that he was at John A. Logan where he started 15 games and appeared in 16 with a 4.58 ERA. He is a good candidate to step into maybe a Sunday role with his previous background as a starter. Maybe this stop is a good middle ground from JC to the SEC and he can find a home on the weekend. Either way, expect to see him in some capacity.
The other lefty is Jagger Jefferis who transferred from Eastern Michigan. He threw in 13 games with 10 in relief, throwing 23 innings total. Had a 6.55 ERA at EMU and opponents hit .239. However, he did have an 11.74 strikeout per 9 total, so he can sit them down at times.
Trent Hodgdon is a junor 6'3 righty. He had a 5.51 ERA a year ago in 18 relief appearances he threw 16.1 innings. Struck out 24 and walked 21 while opponents hit just .203. I imagine that his numbers go down a good bit if he can get those walks reduced. Also gave up just 5 extra base hits, 3 homers and 2 doubles. So, the walks were really killer. He might take a step forward in his third year in college baseball and second in Spartanburg (he spent his freshman season at WVU).
Michael Kilker is one to note as he also comes to Spartanburg from WVU. He played 2 years in Morgantown. Last year was unremarkable. However, in 2022 he appeared in 11 games, 9 in relief and posted a 14.18 strikeout per 9 total while holding opponets to .191 against. Had a 6.08 ERA, so had some struggles keeping the ball down, but seems like a guy who can be a possible good short relief pitcher.
Darin Kuskie is a freshman 6'3 righty. Not sure what to think of him, but in HS he had a strikeout per 9 of 20.40 in 3A Maryland baseball.
There are a few more that could eat innings, but these were the ones that stood out. I guess we can also note that Oliver Kerns from Burlington, KY's Conner HS is a freshman righty for USC Upstate.
Summary:
Very little about this pitching staff is scary. I could barely pick 3 to be weekend starters for them, so I have to think that UK could hit a lot against them. This team gave up double digit run totals in 16 games last year. That happened to UK only 7 times last year, 3 times against LSU alone. I imagine the staff for USC probably took a step back instead of a step forward, so I am hard pressed to believe that UK can't have a great weekend of hitting. Again, I think it is a big advantage for UK that we will only see 2 lefties all weekend, and one is a starter, so that means that an opponent can't do much matchup stuff and can't kind of throw you off by giving completely different looks on the mound. UK should sweep this weekend and I think they should do it without breaking much of a sweat.
**One big note is that USC Upstate has just two lefties on their entire roster. So, UK will see an absolute parade of righties. This could also give UK a big advantage against the USC Upstate hitters in the first weekend as USC Upstate might not be as used to seeing a guy throwing from that side and UK can throw Niman, Byers and Nove as lefty options, as well as 3 freshmen I wouldn't expect to see as much**
Possible Starters:
Curtis Mathieu - A 6'5 freshman righty returns. He was Big South All Freshman team player a year ago and had 13 starts and 15 appearances. The Spartans moved him into the Sunday role later int he season. He had a 5.66 ERA as a freshman with 34 walks to 50 strikeouts. Opponents hit .278 against him. I could see him as a sophomore growing up and moving to the Friday role. Seems to have some good power with 50 strikeouts in 68.1 innings, and he limited hitters to just 4 home runs.
Saturday starter Henry Proger returns. He is a senior left hander with a 4.17 ERA a year ago. He threw 73.1 innings with 13 appearances and 13 starts. He struck out 69 while walking just 21. Struggled with keeping the ball down as he gave up the most home runs on the team with 10. Opponents hit .254 against him. Just going off of stats and the fact that he's 6'0 225, I am guessing this kid isn't necessarily a power lefty and probably relies more on accuracy and some junk to get outs. With that being the case, I am hard pressed to think that he'll jump into a Friday role and likely stays on Saturdays.
Noah Sullivan. This is such a guess as no one really strikes me as being the guy that will for sure take the third spot on the weekend. It is possible that Sullivan even starts on Friday given his pedigree, but there are some cause for concern. A year ago Sullivan pitched in 6 games and threw 12.1 innings in relief. He had a 0.00 ERA and opponents hit just .100 against him. Just 4 total hits while walking 7 and striking out 16. He also appeared in 17 games at the plate. Those low numbers make me think he likely got hurt a year ago. Especially when as a freshman he was an All American and played in 58 games at the plate and also pitched in 9 with 5 starts. As a freshman he threw 32.2 innings in those 9 games and had a 3.31 ERA with a BAVG of .188, striking out 26 and walking 11. Given that USC didn't really grab anyone out of the portal (that I noticed) that seems to be an heir apparent to a weekend role, it makes sense to me that they believed he could step in and shoulder this.
Likely relievers:
Jake Cubbler will likely be a guy we see a chunk of this weekend. A redshirt junior righty carried a 1.51 ERA a year ago while playing in 23 games with 1 start. Threw 41.2 innings and had 37 strikeouts to 19 walks. Opponents hit just .191 against him. It is conceivable that he could move to a starting role. but his only start was in the conference tournament where pitching gets short. He did good in that spot going 6 full with just 4 hits and 1 earned run. Still, I imagine we see him in the short relief type role and possibly see him more than once this weekend. Against Winthrop, for instance, he threw in all three games going 2.2 innings total, and against Cambell to close out the regular season he threw 5.1 innings across 3 games.
David James a 6'4 righty sophomore will also probably look to take a step forward in 2024. He appeared in 14 games with 1 start and threw 20.2 innings with an 8.27 ERA. Opponents raked against him hitting .282, but he also had 16 strikeouts in those 20 innings and walked 13. So, if he can take that step forward and locate he might be a guy that is a bit more dangerous.
Western Kentucky transfer and Louisville native Beau Coffman comes to Spartanburg for his senior year, the 6'1 righty was mostly used as a relief pitcher at WKU with 15 appearances in 14 games with one start, throwing 28 innings. He had a 4.18 ERA and opponents hit just .204 against him. Not sure if he can or will take a step up to a starting role or if he'll settle into being an often used reliever.
Tommy Henninger, another Louisville, KY native transferred to USC Upstate from Ole Miss. He didn't get much time there throwing just 4.1 innings, but prior to that he was at John A. Logan where he started 15 games and appeared in 16 with a 4.58 ERA. He is a good candidate to step into maybe a Sunday role with his previous background as a starter. Maybe this stop is a good middle ground from JC to the SEC and he can find a home on the weekend. Either way, expect to see him in some capacity.
The other lefty is Jagger Jefferis who transferred from Eastern Michigan. He threw in 13 games with 10 in relief, throwing 23 innings total. Had a 6.55 ERA at EMU and opponents hit .239. However, he did have an 11.74 strikeout per 9 total, so he can sit them down at times.
Trent Hodgdon is a junor 6'3 righty. He had a 5.51 ERA a year ago in 18 relief appearances he threw 16.1 innings. Struck out 24 and walked 21 while opponents hit just .203. I imagine that his numbers go down a good bit if he can get those walks reduced. Also gave up just 5 extra base hits, 3 homers and 2 doubles. So, the walks were really killer. He might take a step forward in his third year in college baseball and second in Spartanburg (he spent his freshman season at WVU).
Michael Kilker is one to note as he also comes to Spartanburg from WVU. He played 2 years in Morgantown. Last year was unremarkable. However, in 2022 he appeared in 11 games, 9 in relief and posted a 14.18 strikeout per 9 total while holding opponets to .191 against. Had a 6.08 ERA, so had some struggles keeping the ball down, but seems like a guy who can be a possible good short relief pitcher.
Darin Kuskie is a freshman 6'3 righty. Not sure what to think of him, but in HS he had a strikeout per 9 of 20.40 in 3A Maryland baseball.
There are a few more that could eat innings, but these were the ones that stood out. I guess we can also note that Oliver Kerns from Burlington, KY's Conner HS is a freshman righty for USC Upstate.
Summary:
Very little about this pitching staff is scary. I could barely pick 3 to be weekend starters for them, so I have to think that UK could hit a lot against them. This team gave up double digit run totals in 16 games last year. That happened to UK only 7 times last year, 3 times against LSU alone. I imagine the staff for USC probably took a step back instead of a step forward, so I am hard pressed to believe that UK can't have a great weekend of hitting. Again, I think it is a big advantage for UK that we will only see 2 lefties all weekend, and one is a starter, so that means that an opponent can't do much matchup stuff and can't kind of throw you off by giving completely different looks on the mound. UK should sweep this weekend and I think they should do it without breaking much of a sweat.
That would be pretty wild to have a freshman starting on the weekend with the possible weekend staff we have. Moore seems an heir apparent to the weekend, as does Smith. Only question mark with Moore would be that he would be starting for the first time (IIRC). So, maybe they could bump him back to relief, but it seems unlikely. Niman was just given some high pre-season praise, so it would make sense that he likely takes a weekend spot as well.
Surely the staff would have him pitching midweek and then work him into a weekend role similar to Smith.
Glad to see the baseball forum gang is back and ready for another season.
We haven't really used a closer in a while. Not in the true sense. Not sure if they will switch that up this year. Mostly what UK has done is have one game where they try to get 6-7 out of a starter and then bring in one guy to 'close,' out that first game across the remaining innings. That usually means the relief pitcher isn't available to go again that weekend. After that, there still doesn't seem to be a guy that comes in to always get us the hard 3 outs in the 9th. Rather, I think the idea is that if a guy is going well, they'll keep going with him if they can. If they have to change then it could be any number of a guys.
So, I don't know that we'll have a true closer. I think Hagenow makes the most sense to be that guy that we try to use to come in on relief for the long(er) relief pitcher. I imagine we'll see a good chunk of innings out of Nove, especially against heavy lefty lineups. A lot of new faces on the mound this season, so I think we kind of have to see how that shakes out.
We should remember the importance that our OOC schedule had last year. Ming figured out the RPI matrix to the point where we had a top 3-5 RPI for much of the year. This allowed us to host a regional despite having a .500ish SEC record. I'm hoping for another fast start.
i think it’s possible Johnny Hummel could also be used at the end of games.
I think that has to be the plan. I know it’s not the SEC, but there is some really good baseball played in the Conference of Carolinas. Feel like they’re hoping he will have s Guilfoil type impact.
I am on the fence about whether or not I want to upgrade to ESPN+ and then cancel it after this weekend.
If you enjoy watching non UK college games as well it’s worth it. Been able to watch Uk softball this morning and the Duke/Indiana baseball game already today.
I have it because its about the only option I have to watch TCU games. But Ill also flip through all the college baseball games.
Same here. I get frustrated because SEC network won’t show baseball until after basketball is wrapped up.
Network won't, but you can stream all the baseball games that are home SEC games. Just not any road games.
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