Looking at the roster

[Catsfan123456]

I looked at Kentucky’s stats and their roster to come up with the following information.
Kentucky has thrown 14 guys.
4 Freshman
4 Sophomore
6 Juniors
Kentucky will Lose 2 senior position players who tend to play most of the time. One of those is currently injured if reports are correct. Since he has not played in 30% of this seasons games a medical redshirt should be granted.
Give Mingione a chance. If they add a couple JUCO arms who can start on the weekends as well as a couple impact JUCO position players they should be set up for a nice season.

 

[Comebakatz3]

I looked at Kentucky’s stats and their roster to come up with the following information.
Kentucky has thrown 14 guys.
4 Freshman
4 Sophomore
6 Juniors
Kentucky will Lose 2 senior position players who tend to play most of the time. One of those is currently injured if reports are correct. Since he has not played in 30% of this seasons games a medical redshirt should be granted.
Give Mingione a chance. If they add a couple JUCO arms who can start on the weekends as well as a couple impact JUCO position players they should be set up for a nice season.

Kentucky will lose Daniel, Lewis, Shelby and Collett. All seniors. They will also lose a backup catcher (Holen). Golda, Anu, and Kessler will be draft eligible. If they have solid years then they may leave. Hill and Curtis will be draft eligible (or a senior for Curtis), but both are likely to return given their injuries.

Hazelwood, Ramsey, Jordan, Coleman, Lockhart, and Harper are all draft eligible pitchers. A few more older sophomores might fall into eligible.

Recruiting class for 2020 is currently ranked 25th. I think we have a JUCO kid named Mitchell Parker that is committed. He is a lefty. Could be really good for us if he comes to UK. He was a Jackson Rutledge teammate a year ago with this stat line:

1.54 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 15.59 K/9, 6.74 BB/9, 14 wild pitches

I think we might have a few other JUCO commits, but don't think they are pitchers.

 

[BlueStoops]

Couple guys may get drafted. Guys who are juniors/rs sophomores and sophomores who are turning 21 within 45 days after the draft (not sure if that applies to anyone).

Hagenow is the high school arm to watch. He’s top 100 on draft boards. Doesn’t look like a 1st rounder but most high school kids taken in the top few rounds sign, so hopefully he’s setting a high signing bonus number to steer teams away.

Mitchell Parker is the juco arm. He’s been drafted twice already (out of high school and after one year of juco) but pitching his second year at juco. Lefty with 111k’s(!) and 45bb(!) last year in 64 innings last season. Has 46k’s and 10bb through 20 innings so far this season. Hopefully can land at least one of these guys.

 

[Comebakatz3]

Hagenow is the high school arm to watch. He’s top 100 on draft boards. Doesn’t look like a 1st rounder but most high school kids taken in the top few rounds sign, so hopefully he’s setting a high signing bonus number to steer teams away.

Good stuff. Thanks.

Hagenow is a Farragut kid. Farragut is an absolute powerhouse in Tennessee and at one point was a major feeder program for UT. It would be pretty huge to steal this kid from them and to possibly open a bit of a pipeline up in there.

Maryville plays Farragut at Maryville on 3/30. Hopefully I can get lucky and Hagenow will be pitching and I can see him face Maryville's Church (also a UK commit).

 

[BlueStoops]

Good stuff. Thanks.

Hagenow is a Farragut kid. Farragut is an absolute powerhouse in Tennessee and at one point was a major feeder program for UT. It would be pretty huge to steal this kid from them and to possibly open a bit of a pipeline up in there.

Maryville plays Farragut at Maryville on 3/30. Hopefully I can get lucky and Hagenow will be pitching and I can see him face Maryville's Church (also a UK commit).

MLB pipeline has him at 56 and Fangraphs 94th in their draft rankings so far. Hope you’re able to watch him, recruit him as well lol. Here’s his scouting reports from those two sites.

MLB:

• Hagenow led Farragut High (Knoxville) to the Tennessee state 3-A title in 2019, winning three games in eight days, including an 11-strikeout complete game in the clincher. The prize of Kentucky's 2020 recruiting class, he may not make it to Lexington because he's one of the more polished and projectable high school pitchers in this year's Draft.
  
  Hagenow already shows the makings of three solid or better pitches, starting with an 88-93 mph fastball that runs and sinks and should add more velocity as he fills out his 6-foot-5 frame. His slider should get quicker as well, and it's already effective at 78-83 mph. He also has advanced feel for using a changeup with similar velocity as well as some fade and sink.
  
  Though Hagenow has some crossfire in his delivery, it adds deception without compromising his ability to throw strikes. He uses his size to leverage his pitches down in the zone and his frame should lend itself to durability. He has all the ingredients to become a mid-rotation starter once he's fully developed.

Fangraphs:
Lower-slot righty is young for the class, is super projectable with a low-effort delivery and three pitches that flash above average at times. Some similarities to Brady Singer at the same stage, who didn't sign as a 2nd rounder out of high school, then went in the first round after shoving for three years at Florida.

 

[sluggercatfan]

I looked at Kentucky’s stats and their roster to come up with the following information.
Kentucky has thrown 14 guys.
4 Freshman
4 Sophomore
6 Juniors
Kentucky will Lose 2 senior position players who tend to play most of the time. One of those is currently injured if reports are correct. Since he has not played in 30% of this seasons games a medical redshirt should be granted.
Give Mingione a chance. If they add a couple JUCO arms who can start on the weekends as well as a couple impact JUCO position players they should be set up for a nice season.

He's in his fourth year taking over a team that had enough talent to make a super regional...he had a team that had the most draft choices of any team in the country and didn't make the tournament ...last year we were single digit wins in SEC and finished dead last. How much longer are you willing to give him? The program is in much, much worse shape than it was 4 years ago. I wish there was something that you/we can look at and have some optimism . Do you see it?

 

[Comebakatz3]

MLB pipeline has him at 56 and Fangraphs 94th in their draft rankings so far. Hope you’re able to watch him, recruit him as well lol. Here’s his scouting reports from those two sites.

MLB:

• Hagenow led Farragut High (Knoxville) to the Tennessee state 3-A title in 2019, winning three games in eight days, including an 11-strikeout complete game in the clincher. The prize of Kentucky's 2020 recruiting class, he may not make it to Lexington because he's one of the more polished and projectable high school pitchers in this year's Draft.
  
  Hagenow already shows the makings of three solid or better pitches, starting with an 88-93 mph fastball that runs and sinks and should add more velocity as he fills out his 6-foot-5 frame. His slider should get quicker as well, and it's already effective at 78-83 mph. He also has advanced feel for using a changeup with similar velocity as well as some fade and sink.
  
  Though Hagenow has some crossfire in his delivery, it adds deception without compromising his ability to throw strikes. He uses his size to leverage his pitches down in the zone and his frame should lend itself to durability. He has all the ingredients to become a mid-rotation starter once he's fully developed.

Fangraphs:
Lower-slot righty is young for the class, is super projectable with a low-effort delivery and three pitches that flash above average at times. Some similarities to Brady Singer at the same stage, who didn't sign as a 2nd rounder out of high school, then went in the first round after shoving for three years at Florida.

We would just have to get all sorts of super lucky to get this kid. Maybe he thinks he is much more valuable than something like 2nd or 3rd round money and comes to UK to prove it. Those events are rare, but it is the type of thing UK needs to happen to them more often. Vandy gets commits from a ton of top talent, and they get them to campus. UK doesn't get as much top talent and they often don't get them to campus. Those things have to change for us to improve.

 

[dtjr]

For whatever reason, our recruiting has dropped off or the guys we have recruited haven't stuck around. I understand the JUCO game but I'm not convinced we have had the best luck there either.

Bohannan was a good recruiter and got some guys here and when he left I think we fell off.

Its tough to get an impact freshman to contribute but we may have one in Rhodes this year if he can shore up his defense.

We need to develop the pitching from freshman to junior years similar to what other programs have done in order to be successful.

 

[Comebakatz3]

He's in his fourth year taking over a team that had enough talent to make a super regional...he had a team that had the most draft choices of any team in the country and didn't make the tournament ...last year we were single digit wins in SEC and finished dead last. How much longer are you willing to give him? The program is in much, much worse shape than it was 4 years ago. I wish there was something that you/we can look at and have some optimism . Do you see it?

I will say that I think Roszel is doing much better than Belanger did. It is early and hard to tell and the numbers don't necessarily back it up, but I think with what he has to work with, Roszel is doing a pretty solid job. The question is whether or not UK can bring in the talent to boost those numbers.

All over the league there are freshmen, or RS freshmen, who come in from day 1 and are just absolute studs. Christian MacLeod from Miss State has the lowest WHIP of any SEC pitcher after 2 stars he has an ERA under 2.00 and 17 strikeouts through 10 innings. Vandy has Jake Leiter who has two starts and a 0.00 ERA with 16 strikeouts and just 1 hit against him in 10 innings. Last year they had Kumar Rocker.

UK has had two years where no big time freshman pitcher has emerged as that stud. This is going into our third year... can we find one who can be an SEC All Freshman team type of stud? Will our sophomores and juniors turn a corner? It is this lack of finding that SEC Friday night ace in the last two years has has me concerned going forward. I think we can probably turn the hitting around, but pitching is key, especially in KPP. Without it we will continue to struggle.

 

[sluggercatfan]

For whatever reason, our recruiting has dropped off or the guys we have recruited haven't stuck around. I understand the JUCO game but I'm not convinced we have had the best luck there either.

Bohannan was a good recruiter and got some guys here and when he left I think we fell off.

Its tough to get an impact freshman to contribute but we may have one in Rhodes this year if he can shore up his defense.

We need to develop the pitching from freshman to junior years similar to what other programs have done in order to be successful.

I like the looks of Estep do far

 

[dtjr]

I like the looks of Estep do far

Pitchers Cole and Lee have had some decent moments as well.

Hopefully we stick with them to get them some experience.

 

[Big_Blue_1018]

For whatever reason, our recruiting has dropped off or the guys we have recruited haven't stuck around. I understand the JUCO game but I'm not convinced we have had the best luck there either.

Bohannan was a good recruiter and got some guys here and when he left I think we fell off.

Its tough to get an impact freshman to contribute but we may have one in Rhodes this year if he can shore up his defense.

We need to develop the pitching from freshman to junior years similar to what other programs have done in order to be successful.

I think people tend to forget the importance that Bohannon had while he was here. That 2017 team had a lot of guys on it that he recruited. It seems Minge wants to recruit the JUCO ranks which is fine for a player or two but IMO it seems like he spends way too much time there and not enough of getting 3 year guys.

 

[BluegrassBaseball]

Pitchers Cole and Lee have had some decent moments as well.

Hopefully we stick with them to get them some experience.

Degen is another pitcher who has looked sharp early. I’m looking forward to seeing how he matches up against SEC bats.

 

[Comebakatz3]

Degen is another pitcher who has looked sharp early. I’m looking forward to seeing how he matches up against SEC bats.

Agree. Degen has done extremely well so far.

 

[Old_Red]

I think people tend to forget the importance that Bohannon had while he was here. That 2017 team had a lot of guys on it that he recruited. It seems Minge wants to recruit the JUCO ranks which is fine for a player or two but IMO it seems like he spends way too much time there and not enough of getting 3 year guys.

JUCO dependence seems to yield little to no player development. Vanderbilt has the advantage of being able to offer academic or need scholarships to baseball players so that is not a fair comparison but all of the rest of the SEC is. We'll see if we can compete in the SEC. I am not optimistic given the amount of errors, the lack of timely hitting, the inconsistent pitching.

 

[Big_Blue_1018]

JUCO dependence seems to yield little to no player development. Vanderbilt has the advantage of being able to offer academic or need scholarships to baseball players so that is not a fair comparison but all of the rest of the SEC is. We'll see if we can compete in the SEC. I am not optimistic given the amount of errors, the lack of timely hitting, the inconsistent pitching.

I don’t like the advantage that Vandy has but I’m not sure what you could do to change it.

 

[sluggercatfan]

I don’t like the advantage that Vandy has but I’m not sure what you could do to change it.

When in Rome...

 

[NewWildcatOrder]

A little pre-UNCW state of the team update from Darren Hedrick was included in a Boogie Watson interview on BBN radio podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/uk-sports-network-radio/id1294851201