Kentucky Baseball 2022
- Thread starter Comebakatz3
- Start date
Especially if everyone is transferring.
Not sure any of these are upgrades or will be on the roster when Fall ball is over but I guess time will tell.
When it comes to transfers, how do we go about scouting and telling guys "We see something and think we can help you become better?" Our history of developing pitchers is not great.
I will play devil's advocate with this.
We didn't see a whole lot of pitching in 2020, especially the young guys, but I don't think any of us at the end of the year really expected to see Cole Stupp or Zack Lee stepping into weekend roles. I think they made some big jumps from 2020 to 2021. Harper was always a guy that had potential, but he just couldn't seem to put it together to be consistent and reliable. For whatever reason, things clicked more for him in 2020 and he was our most consistent reliever.
So, there are at least a handful of guys there that improved and are becoming better on the mound.
I can see some of that with those 3 but everyone else was either bad or very inconsistent.
I think Hudepohl improved from the start of the year being freshman as well but guys like Hagenow who was forgotten about is so puzzling along with other odd decisions.
Just makes me think we are grabbing transfers to get them on board telling them they can play in the SEC and we will see where it goes.
No offense to the two guys we’ve brought in but relying on OVC pitchers is a recipe for failure in the SEC.
I didn't want to be the one to say it, but if this is the response to what we are losing, then it is going to be rougher than we imagined after the transfers started.
I think for us right now the biggest issue is who we lose from here on. We have several that are older and could either return or head into the draft.
Hazelwood is coming off an injury. Does he come back to UK and try to get another year, or does he go on to a professional contract? Similarly with Harper? He's an older guy, does he come back or step away or go play professionally? He graduated, so he could be ready to move on. Harney is the biggest one. Had a great year in the SEC, but still kind of went unnoticed nationally. So, does he try for one more year, or does he ride the high he has right now and leave? Then you have some guys like Holt Jones. Jones was used a lot at one point and then it seemed like that kind of dropped off a lot. I assume he's back, but I don't know. As we know, the other more experienced guys we used more often are in the portal already. So, what those experienced guys do will matter a lot.
Other than those UK has to rely heavily on the younger arms, sophomores and freshmen. We did that in a big way this year anyway, but if some of those big arms above decide not to return, then the two transfers will become invaluable and will carry a pretty sizeable workload.
SEC is a huge move up from OVC. I’m not following Mingione’s logic but I’ll let performance speak for itself.
Very good coach speak. 1 or 2 wins away, a play here and there, COVID obstacles bla bla bla. Every team goes through this.
Talks a lot about building good men and academics which is ultimately great but in D1 SEC baseball you are expected to win games and some day go to the Tournament.
Almost every player that Commits to play here, does so while being recruited by a hand full of teams.
Almost all of them leave here in a Much worse spot In this game of baseball than when they gave Mingione a commitment.
Jaden Brown arrived here after Playing in the Perfect Game All American Classic game on ESPN. He had his pick from dozens of programs, he gives Mingione his commitment.
1 year later after being red shirt ( for Grace Essentially ) he is pushed out and then had to fend for himself in the transfer portal which was a buyers market thanks to Covid. Oh and 1 year later Grace is gone. He Dosnt even keep the guy that wins the year 1 battle coming out of the rookie group.
So a PG AA is now at a junior college ( when he was an ncaa qualifier so that Is because of baseball he is there ).
Do you think he cares that the credits earned in the classroom At UK were achieved with a high gpa ?
Kessler was about to enter the portal in far worse shape than his team leading sec bat in 2019 would have him were it not for a injury.
Do you think he would’ve left all jazzed up about his gpa?
Had anyone that left mentioned how much personally they have become a man thanks to Mingione as he likes to wax poetic about ?
Has this FRAUD publicly thanked Todd Guilliams for his years of volunteer service?
Many of these Players already know how to behave will be responsible adults Once the college years have passed. Baseball players come from good homes typically.
That is just something else for Mingione to take credit for as he does with all the players charity work. It’s mandated by Mingione so he essentially takes credit for that too. How about Mingione take responsibility for the failures of this program under ? Oh In that case it’s this and that. Excuse on top of excuse mi Ed in with half truths and lies.
Or maybe teaching the players to use the name of our lord and savior Jesus Christ to further your career and finances is how you lead by example.
They aren’t learning Mingiones way of being a man and they don’t care that their gpa was high a credit is a credit to a baseball player they Mostly all come here to chase a dream.
And when they are treated like trash and leave it’s insult to injury when you leave ( pushed out ) that you have been lied to and was in the midst of A scammer the entire time.
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Absolutely. At the D1 level it’s all about wins period. Excellent students, etc is just gravy. You obviously want good students and good people but you still have to win.
Oh and let’s set the record straight.
Covid was the best thing that could’ve happened to help Mingiones career. It was a huge opportunity for him. The people in the program that it was worse on was the 15 or so players that were in the transfer portal during Covid because of the lack of scholarships.
The fact that he could use that as an excuse shows you how big of a fraud he is. He got to return all the starters on a veteran team while and was still able to bring in his core recruits to add to that veteran group.
Meanwhile the Gators and the good teams in the SEC got cherry picked in the draft.
it’s not even a debate wether Covid was good got For him or not yet he is still using Covid as an excuse. This is guy is a fraud and it’s why he tweaks me. I can live with the wins and losses I don’t like having my intelligence insulted. Your not fooling me maybe others are buying this BS.
Covid was the best thing that could’ve happened to help Mingiones career. It was a huge opportunity for him. The people in the program that it was worse on was the 15 or so players that were in the transfer portal during Covid because of the lack of scholarships.
The fact that he could use that as an excuse shows you how big of a fraud he is. He got to return all the starters on a veteran team while and was still able to bring in his core recruits to add to that veteran group.
Meanwhile the Gators and the good teams in the SEC got cherry picked in the draft.
it’s not even a debate wether Covid was good got For him or not yet he is still using Covid as an excuse. This is guy is a fraud and it’s why he tweaks me. I can live with the wins and losses I don’t like having my intelligence insulted. Your not fooling me maybe others are buying this BS.
The most bull crap thing he says in that article full of bull crap is that they were clicking or getting better in 2020. What a freaking laugher that is. It is just straight lies.
The reality of the situation was that UK started the season as they often do by playing a tough team almost immediately. That tough team (TCU) swept us and we scored 7 runs in 3 games losing by a combined score of 7-22. They ate our cookies. We then played a bunch of pushover type teams before finally playing another competitor, at home, in UNCW. They swept us and we got outscored 4-18 and failed to score in 2 games. THEN we had that messed up weekend where the original team we were going to play had to cancel and we picked up playing Norfolk State (2-12) and two against Oakland (2-9). We played 3 poor or mediocre teams in the midweek and got wins as well. But let's live in reality here... this was an absolute dog crap schedule. Against the actual good teams we were horrible and that is the likely trend that would have continued in SEC play and not the hitting that they claim had gotten better. It got better because the pitching we saw was trash.
Also, 2018... maybe don't lose the series to an absolutely horrible Tennessee team and then get swept by Vandy and lose to Auburn in the tournament and we're in the NCAA tournament. Not to mention losing the series to Auburn, who only won 6 other SEC games all year... they only won 2 series in the league that season and one was against us. But hey, let's make a ton of excuses for it and just claim that the NCAA was mean to us.
As others have said... 'making men,' doesn't impress me. That's some Butch Jones, 'Champions of Life,' bullshit. Baseball certainly has some bad eggs at times, but for the most part it is an expensive sport to excel at (especially now given the travel teams and private tutoring you have to have to be good), so most these kids come from good families and have always made solid grades. So, those players basically doing what they have always done is not impressive and, as someone else said, is just Mingione taking credit for work he didn't really even do.
The reality of the situation was that UK started the season as they often do by playing a tough team almost immediately. That tough team (TCU) swept us and we scored 7 runs in 3 games losing by a combined score of 7-22. They ate our cookies. We then played a bunch of pushover type teams before finally playing another competitor, at home, in UNCW. They swept us and we got outscored 4-18 and failed to score in 2 games. THEN we had that messed up weekend where the original team we were going to play had to cancel and we picked up playing Norfolk State (2-12) and two against Oakland (2-9). We played 3 poor or mediocre teams in the midweek and got wins as well. But let's live in reality here... this was an absolute dog crap schedule. Against the actual good teams we were horrible and that is the likely trend that would have continued in SEC play and not the hitting that they claim had gotten better. It got better because the pitching we saw was trash.
Also, 2018... maybe don't lose the series to an absolutely horrible Tennessee team and then get swept by Vandy and lose to Auburn in the tournament and we're in the NCAA tournament. Not to mention losing the series to Auburn, who only won 6 other SEC games all year... they only won 2 series in the league that season and one was against us. But hey, let's make a ton of excuses for it and just claim that the NCAA was mean to us.
As others have said... 'making men,' doesn't impress me. That's some Butch Jones, 'Champions of Life,' bullshit. Baseball certainly has some bad eggs at times, but for the most part it is an expensive sport to excel at (especially now given the travel teams and private tutoring you have to have to be good), so most these kids come from good families and have always made solid grades. So, those players basically doing what they have always done is not impressive and, as someone else said, is just Mingione taking credit for work he didn't really even do.
I also think it's interesting that this sounds almost exactly like the other article. Like he just roboted the same damn answers in order to push propaganda and keep people on his side.
Boy did you nail it across the board on this post. That 2020 team was going to get slaughtered the SEC was better in 2020 than 2021 and that 2020 team was the same at its core but with one less year of “ development “ under Mingione.
And you’re 100 percent correct about travel ball and the everything it takes to get noticed by an SEC school requires a support system. No one is sending there kid to Kentucky to learn how to be a man that is Father Flanagan Boys Town BS ! Actions speak louder than worlds all they are learning from NM is about how to step on anyone and everyone and anyone on your way to advance yor career.
That’s Coach Cal’s world, in that world Mingione would get eaten alive. That’s a world where money talks and bullshit walks and Those kids in that sport have seen it all and know a liar when the see one, he would t last a minute in Cals world because in Cals world you actually have to follow through on what you say and produce. All Mingione does is repeat the same old BS and he delivers on none of things that matter. He dosnt produce on the field and off the field he makes it all about him and insults all of our intelligence with these mis leading narratives.
Mingione had what he thought was the chance to level up the catcher position at Kesslers expense despite everything Kess had brought to the program and the loyalty Kess had shown Mingione. What was the thanks that he got for that ? Stepped on to try and squeeze what he thought was a tick more of an improvement. He was wrong for doing that and his evaluation was way way off also.
Treat him the same way. This new transfer rule is a great opportunity to be exploited and someone way better than Mingione can take advantage of this and we can at the least get a tick better.
Toss him aside to get that Tick better like he did to Kessler.
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In my opinion, I think Covid got Mingione another year. We weren’t looking good in 2020 and I think this year would have been it for Mingione.
You can build men all day but in sports it’s all about winning. It starts in tee ball. Go watch a game and see how competitive it is. Now move up to D1 sports. Mingione should be gone but the expectations at UK obviously aren’t very high for baseball. Again, you can say what you want, but we all know it’s all about winning.
Looks like we just picked up a grad transfer from Miami (OH). Kids name is Tyler Bismarck, 6’6” lefty. Looks like he throws low to mid-90’s. Anyone have more information on the kid?
Weekend pitcher for Miami. Had 14 starts and a 3.95 ERA. Again, numbers don't really pop out at me. They're not bad by any means, but I tend to take some numbers against MAC competition with a grain of salt. There are 31 leagues that play d1 baseball and the MAC is ranked 25th in RPI. So, they are are poor even by mid-major standards.
An interesting thing is that he was the Sunday guy for Miami, but the MAC also plays 4 games a weekend. So not sure really what kind of role the last starter has. Does not seem to eat up many innings. Just 57 in his 15 appearances. By comparison, Stupp had 13 appearances and 75 innings. Lee had 57 in 13. So seems like he becomes a long reliever for UK and probably doesn't tend to go deep in games. Seems like he had some strikeout ability with 72 (Lee only had 49) and one big thing is that he gave up just 12 extra base hits, all doubles. Didn't give up a home run all 2021. So there's some potential there.
I think more than anything the staff realized they'll be short on lefties, especially those with experience, so this helps fill that hole.
It’s going to be tough to compete in the SEC with OVC and MAC transfers.
Try not to be too negative, but the writing is on the wall. A couple of OVC arms isn’t going to change anything lol
I think the UK season largely hinges upon who returns in the field. That is where we will lose the meat. Schultz, Rhodes, Anu, Kessler. You get those four starters back and you feel much more comfortable about 2022. You lose all 4, or even 3 and things become more shaky as it is not real clear who can and will take over for them. You could also throw Plastiak and Estep into that, but to my surprise, neither one has jumped into the portal. You lose any number of these guys and UK has to start getting kind of creative with who plays where and we become a very young team.
Pitching is where we’re adding a chunk of this transfer talent and the key for pitching will be Hazelwood/Harney/Harper. Things get real scary if they leave. If we get them back then we’re set on the weekend and you might even see Lee start to come out of the bullpen or move to the midweek. So, at that point, these new guys are wholly about depth. We already have a pretty big chunk of depth, but it is fairly young and you don’t know what you’ll get from freshmen. Mingione doesn’t seem to prefer the young guys and would rather lean on older players. A lot of those experienced guys moved on, but you still have some like Harney and Jones that are there and I expect to see them have big roles if they stay. Still, there are a lot of arms possible to be using out there and it will be interesting to see how we balance that. 6 incoming freshmen 13 returners and 3 new transfers.
Pitching is where we’re adding a chunk of this transfer talent and the key for pitching will be Hazelwood/Harney/Harper. Things get real scary if they leave. If we get them back then we’re set on the weekend and you might even see Lee start to come out of the bullpen or move to the midweek. So, at that point, these new guys are wholly about depth. We already have a pretty big chunk of depth, but it is fairly young and you don’t know what you’ll get from freshmen. Mingione doesn’t seem to prefer the young guys and would rather lean on older players. A lot of those experienced guys moved on, but you still have some like Harney and Jones that are there and I expect to see them have big roles if they stay. Still, there are a lot of arms possible to be using out there and it will be interesting to see how we balance that. 6 incoming freshmen 13 returners and 3 new transfers.
I think you’re right on point. I’m afraid we will lose Schultz and Rhodes to the draft. Anu and Kessler could be back.
You place Anu, Schultz and Rhodes (wasn't too bad out there) back into the outfield, it's going to be the same horrible experiment all over again.
Estep might want to think about his role because of that Juco they signed.
I think Anu is ready to move on. I could be wrong, but I just get the impression that he’s done with the school thing and is hoping to sign something if he can. Not sure about Kessler, but that is an interesting angle. If Kessler is back then what happens with Rubalcaba? Do you move one? DH one? I feel like it is unlikely that we keep both for another year. I think Schultz is probably gone. I don’t see what him returning does for him. He doesn’t project as an outfielder, so another year out there doesn’t help him. He’s already proven he hits pretty well. I just think his draft stock has largely peaked. Rhodes could come back, but I think he’s looking to go if the money is right. A lot of potential, but some red flags popped up after this year. He could really boost his draft stock by coming back.
I’m not even really talking about defensively as much as I am hitting. Defense was not great in the OF and probably led to more runs, but a big issue for UK was lacking hitting, especially timely hitting. Take out Schultz, Rhodes, Anu, and Kessler and you lose 122 of 270 RBIs. Add that to knowing you already lost RBIs from Hill (15), Collett (48), Harmon (11), Lewis (3), Shelby (1), Grace (3) and you’re at 203 of the 270 (75%) and you could possibly add Estep (16) and you’re at 80 percent of your RBIs from 2021 gone and not easily replaced. So, it is a huge key for Mingione and UK’s success next year to get those 3 outfielders to return just for the production they can give at the plate. Defensively, we have 0 outfielders on the roster and have the intent to only bring in 1 more. So, if they leave then we’re likely once again looking to have a pieced together defense in the green.
Either way I think Mingione is gone after next year. The quicker the better for me.
****Coltyn Kessler officially in the transfer portal****
Big blow to Mingione and UK in 2022.
Big blow to Mingione and UK in 2022.
Does the phrase dumpster fire even begin to describe the UK baseball program right now? Or is it just a complete train wreck? You thought 2021 was rough???? Oh just strap in. Haven’t seen anything yet I’m afraid.
I think the UK PR machine has tried hard to push a positive narrative. They've put out several articles trying to spin everything as though it isn't that bad and that things aren't going to hell in a handbasket. I think that's why you hear these articles have the same lines and tones. It is toeing the company line. Why they keep supporting losing is beyond me... especially when rivals like UT just went to the CWS and are committing to make their new head coach the highest paid in the country and to put 40 million into stadium renovations.
By the way... what is the full list? Is it:
Cam Hill
Coltyn Kessler
Cole Daniels
Jimmy Ramsey
Houston King
Dillon Marsh
Brendan Hord
Jack Hicks
Trae Harmon
Drew Grace
Ron Cole
Am I missing anyone?
Cam Hill
Coltyn Kessler
Cole Daniels
Jimmy Ramsey
Houston King
Dillon Marsh
Brendan Hord
Jack Hicks
Trae Harmon
Drew Grace
Ron Cole
Am I missing anyone?
I dont see my name on there. I think I’ll enter the portal as a fan to a program that gives a damn.
Unbelievable how bad Mingione has destroyed what little momentum we had in 2017. As I’ve said before, I’m beyond blaming Mingione, this sits squarely with Barnhart.
Barnhart mismanaged the football team with Joker so why would this be any different.
