Kentucky @ Florida
- Thread starter Comebakatz3
- Start date
Did Mingione have a stroke? That lineup is something.
Big missed opportunity there. Don’t get many of those in SEC play.
This inning contained just about everything wrong with this program and coach.
Led off with a fly ball that should've/could've been caught but you have somebody out there who doesn't play that position at all or consistently. So he gets on.
Then the next guy is a lefty who the announcers say only has 5 ABs all year. Yet Ming puts the shift on. But not only that, they pitch him OUTSIDE the entire at-bat. What does he do with 2 strikes? Slaps one through the hole at Short.
Next AB? A bunt that was supposed to be a sacrifice that he lays down perfectly and beats out.
Now a hit batter with the bases loaded.
L.O.L.
This team, man...
Led off with a fly ball that should've/could've been caught but you have somebody out there who doesn't play that position at all or consistently. So he gets on.
Then the next guy is a lefty who the announcers say only has 5 ABs all year. Yet Ming puts the shift on. But not only that, they pitch him OUTSIDE the entire at-bat. What does he do with 2 strikes? Slaps one through the hole at Short.
Next AB? A bunt that was supposed to be a sacrifice that he lays down perfectly and beats out.
Now a hit batter with the bases loaded.
L.O.L.
This team, man...
I am out and completely checked out until it is announced Mingione is fired.
Hopefully I'll see you all by the end of May.
Hopefully I'll see you all by the end of May.
The wheels have been off after last season and we picked up several kids from the portal that aren’t SEC level talent. No improvement and bottom quarter of the league in standing and talent. I like Mingione personally but it’s time for a change.
They aren’t going to make the tournament this year. We just don’t have the horses to pull the wagon.
You know what, you’re losing 9-2. You’re more than likely not going to make the SEC tournament. And you wanna run your mouth. That’s pathetic.
Maybe I took it the wrong way……..but I thought Burkes was more running his mouth at Mingione to “play me more” than saying anything anything at the Gators…
Or maybe I’m projecting what I would be saying.
Or maybe I’m projecting what I would be saying.
I had heard that Burkes was one that was going to leave but was promised more PT. He hasn't gotten that. Been a great teammate though.
So I went researching Twitter to try to figure out what the issue was. And this is what I sorta think happened.
Devin Burkes hit a solo home run in the top of the 9th with Kentucky down 9-1 and did a really stupid bat flip. As he was rounding the bases, he was mouthing off. I don’t know if he was mouthing to the Florida players or letting out frustration about his lack of playing time. But when he touched home plate, it looks like he said something to the Florida catcher and words were exchanged that I can’t repeat here. The UK dugout was laughing and eating it up which is ironic since UK is 6–13 now. On top of that, there was some confusion on the batting order because Burkes replaced Rubalcaba and Fogel had replaced Thrasher in CF. Florida was under the impression according to Twitter that Burkes and Fogel had batted out of order and of course Mingione had to come out and pretend to care.
Let's talk about that... Guilfoil? 1.45 ERA in conference play. I'd say he's SEC level talent. DWilliams - 1.98 ERA in conference play.. I'd say he's SEC level talent. Bosma - been playing hurt since UGA where he went 6 scoreless against a good SEC team. Jury is out. Hopefully he is back soon and healthy and may be the key to helping us get to the SEC tourney. Cotto - seems to have the talent but struggles seem to be more mental. Interesting because he's the only one who transferred from an SEC school.
Jump - I'd say hes proven to be SEC talent. Batting close to .300 n conference and doesn't strike out much. Fogel - started slow, but batting .268 in conference and plays solid defense. I'd say he's better than replacement level in the SEC. Thrasher - batting .269 in conference and very disruptive on the basepaths along with solid defense again, I'd say he is a pretty solid SEC player. Daniel Harris - batting .270 in conference play. Had some struggles on defense but has also made some incredible plays on defense. I'd say most SEC schools would be happy to have him as their 2nd baseman.
These 4 guys are 4 of the 5 top hitters on our team in conference play along with Ritter. All are on the first page of the conference leader board in hitting.
What were we expecting here? Would we rather have had 8 unproven freshman? What would the team look like without these guys?
I think the transfers have been decent overall, but it’s a terrible way to build a program adding so many transfers each season. Just goes to show mingione isn’t recruiting anywhere close to a SEC level with our record these last 3-4 years. He’s got to go no other way around it.
I think that the portal has changed how college baseball will work. Look around the SEC at other teams and you'll find a ton of transfers as well. Juco and otherwise. It's just how it is going to work from now on. I think in the case of these guys this year they were all older transfers, so we'll only get a year out of them, but let's not forget people like Rubalcaba and Harney were transfers as well, they were just younger when they transfered.
I don't think the issues is the transfers themselves. It's that we needed them so much because we failed to recruit and develop good enough talent.
Looks like we found Mingione Rivals account. I’m only kidding.
But come on. Just stop with this. There’s being optimistic and just plain blind to what is on the field. Wether it’s talent, coaching or just a lack of caring this team is not good. Week in and week out that is apparent. You wanna talk about battling averages? How about Estep hitting .197? Plastiak just now got above .200. Rubalcaba hitting .210. UK is 12th in batting average. 12th in runs scored. 12th in hits. Dead last in walks and 7th in strikeouts as a team. Pitching has been ok I’ll give you that. But outside of Guilfoil and Harney, is there anyone in that bullpen that UK can trust?
And is that your only expectation is making the SEC tournament? Is playing sub .500 baseball good enough? Are you happy seeing Louisville make 5 college World Series appearances while UK has never been?
I get it. The transfer portal has changed all of college sports. But it’s painfully obvious that Mingione and company cannot recruit and develop talent and put a winning program on the field. If that’s ok with you, then go Cats. But for myself and a lot of fans, it’s not good enough. But, go Cats.
Oh, for sure. I think you missed the part that I highlighted. I was specifically talking about the transfers. We've had a lot of people saying that the issues stem with the transfers not being SEC level talent. I was illustrating the point that they are. I'd argue if we would have gotten MORE transfers we may be in a better situation. There are a lot of other things to blame for where we are thus year, but the point I was making is that I don't think it's the transfers, like the poster was saying. I think all the teams are being shaken up by the portal and the SEC is seeing the effects in what has been a pretty unusual year, standings-wise. SC battling for SEC tourney eligibility? Ole Miss battling for the same? It's not normal, and the teams who are able to combine staying healthy, with a good combination of development of home grown talent and transfer portal guys are the ones that are rising to the top while the ones who haven't been able to do one or more of those 3 are falling to the bottom.
I say these are the 3 things a team needs because what has happened with us this year is a perfect example.. we brought in decent talent with the portal, but we have failed at developing talent and staying healthy. I'd say if we had been able to stay healthy and/or had more people who were developing to step in when guys went down with injury, I think we'd be in a much better spot.
The transfers I think are part of the problem though. Not so much the talent part, but the development aspect of it. If you, not you obviously, are relying on strictly transfers to build a team around, that does not bode well when you go out and recruit. That to me shows a huge weakness in a coaches ability.
Right.. you've got to have both good transfers and good home grown talent. I think home grown talent is going to be harder and harder to find and develop because of the portal though. Every good mid major player is trying to get to the SEC, so it's hard for a coach to get a kid and tell him he can play as a freshman, when he knows there are better, more SEC ready guys out there in the portal. And kids don't want to come in and sit behind a transfer. If the freshman is good enough to play over the transfer, they would have been drafted high enough to go pro. So... its a predicament for sure.
Most other schools seems to be managing just fine. UK has used the transfers to their detriment. This started with JUCO guys and now has bubbled over into also including portal guys. Look at this year for an example...
We know Ritter is likely gone next year. As is Harris. Pitre supposed to be the future. Yet, he's barely played and has all of 1 at bat in league play. Hard to develop him if he isn't playing.
Burkes is another one. Played some this weekend because we were getting killed, but the discussion is whether or not Rubalcaba's batting is hurting right now because he's getting worn down. Clearly, we have two backups that could have played during the midweek and helped them both to develop. Yet, we barely played Burkes and Liebert largely hit DH. If Rubalcaba comes back, then you might see Burkes decide not to come back given that he may very well be looking at very little playing time for the 3rd year in a row.
Church... but for Anu getting hurt, I doubt Church plays all that much. We think he is the future either at 1st or 3rd and yet he's barely played either of those despite the fact that both Estep and Plastiak are struggling to hit the ball.
The OF... I guess we've put McCarthy out there some, mostly when Thrasher got hurt. Still, next year we'll replace all 3 positions and we really will have 1 guy coming back that has experience playing out there. Unless you want to throw Felker out there, and then you're replacing the second baseman, which he hasn't played much there either. Or I guess you could put Liebert out there and then Burkes becomes your backup catcher.
Push comes to shove, because we haven't developed many of these guys, we'll likely once again have to run to the transfer portal to fill big holes rather than developing young guys and then supplementing them with transfer portal talent. Haven't found a good enough starting pitcher out of high school, so we'll likely be looking once again at the transfer portal to fill the weekend rotation.
We've been trying this with Mingione for years and it has not worked. That is nothing against the transfers. Some of them over the years have done very well, and some of them have been misses, just like anything else. Still, UK has missed on too many HS recruits and has lost a ton of HS recruits that they failed to develop because they gave preferential treatment to the transfers.
Look at this Florida team... they have something like 21 freshmen or redshirt freshmen on the roster. They are playing a ton of them. They might have a transfer or two, but not many. So, they have had some struggles as they have gone through growing pains, but they will be a really good team moving forward, while UK likely rebuilds once again.
Last edited:
Similar threads
