The thread to ask questions, have concerning news, etc
- Thread starter enjyretirement2020
- Start date
Nope, I don’t have anything. I am going to try to remain hesitantly positive about 2022 until I see or hear things that make me change my mind on that. Things are often pretty quiet in the fall. Probably won’t be until towards the end of 21 and beginning of 22 that things start spilling out more.
See this? Is that enough for you? Lol.
Hahaha ok, all right, but I'm kind of just trying to pretend that part doesn't exist. You know, to give me hope.
Everything I'm hearing is that the team and transfers are gelling really well and everyone is having a lot of fun and getting along well. Couple that with some good pitching and hitting in the scrimmage (even though it was Dayton), I think there is alot of reason for positivity around where they are right now.
Interesting Fall Report from D1 baseball on Louisville.....
Totally opposite of what UK does...Louisville has guys with 2-3 yrs of playing time which they develop!!
"But there might be no program in college baseball that does a better job developing the next wave of talent in understudy roles behind older players. Louisville doesn’t simply plug talented newcomers into fresh holes on an annual basis; instead, the Cards excel at taking players who have waited a year or two or sometimes three for their opportunity, and turning them into stars.
This year’s squad has an exciting blend of such classic breakout candidates and veterans who have seen plenty of playing time but yet to truly reach their potential. That second bucket includes upperclassmen like outfielders Cameron Masterman and Levi Usher along with infielder Ben Metzinger and catcher Dalton Rushing. All four have shown flashes of excellence during the course of their careers, across spring, summer and fall. No one should be surprised if all four wind up as all-ACC performers in 2022, even though all four are coming off disappointing 2021 seasons.
“I’m excited because there’s an opportunity for guys to step up,” McDonnell said. “If there’s one thing our program has done, it’s created a culture of development, guys under the radar blossoming and blowing up and having good years and maybe great careers. There’s some older players — Carter Lohman, Jared Poland, Ben Metzinger, Cam Masterman, Levi Usher — it’s their time to shine, it’s their time. They have the talent, they have the ability. They’ve been a little under the radar and they haven’t been the count-on guys as much as they will be this year. So I’m super excited about that group. Heck, some of them were on the Omaha team in ’19, so they got a taste of it. Now we’re counting on them to be the count-on guys.”
Totally opposite of what UK does...Louisville has guys with 2-3 yrs of playing time which they develop!!
"But there might be no program in college baseball that does a better job developing the next wave of talent in understudy roles behind older players. Louisville doesn’t simply plug talented newcomers into fresh holes on an annual basis; instead, the Cards excel at taking players who have waited a year or two or sometimes three for their opportunity, and turning them into stars.
This year’s squad has an exciting blend of such classic breakout candidates and veterans who have seen plenty of playing time but yet to truly reach their potential. That second bucket includes upperclassmen like outfielders Cameron Masterman and Levi Usher along with infielder Ben Metzinger and catcher Dalton Rushing. All four have shown flashes of excellence during the course of their careers, across spring, summer and fall. No one should be surprised if all four wind up as all-ACC performers in 2022, even though all four are coming off disappointing 2021 seasons.
“I’m excited because there’s an opportunity for guys to step up,” McDonnell said. “If there’s one thing our program has done, it’s created a culture of development, guys under the radar blossoming and blowing up and having good years and maybe great careers. There’s some older players — Carter Lohman, Jared Poland, Ben Metzinger, Cam Masterman, Levi Usher — it’s their time to shine, it’s their time. They have the talent, they have the ability. They’ve been a little under the radar and they haven’t been the count-on guys as much as they will be this year. So I’m super excited about that group. Heck, some of them were on the Omaha team in ’19, so they got a taste of it. Now we’re counting on them to be the count-on guys.”
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That is a huge difference with our program.
Maybe he tells them from Day 1 you will not be ready but in a year or so you will take over and we will develop you into a player who could be drafted. That's good communication.
It is no secret that I do not like how Mingione puts together baseball teams.
Defensively, UK is likely to start just 1 player they’ve recruited out of high school. Pitre seems like he might change that to two, but he has to beat out an experienced Harris. We will have 4 guys that aren’t freshmen that we signed out of HS. The other 3 are only in their second years (Church, McCarthy, Burkes) and two of them redshirted.
Even on the mound we could see a lot of innings that might have gone to HS guys instead going to the transfers. The picture here is a lot less clear, but we know that Williams, Cotto, Bosma and Guilfoil will likely have pretty big roles. One of them could bump Lee off the weekend. Maybe you could take Cotto getting 2 innings in the scrimmage as an indication that he might be the guy? Harney could still get a look at weekend work after doing pretty decent there this past Spring. Williams seems like he could be the closer. So, a lot of the major roles could fall to transfers and the huge sophomore class we have might be fighting for the scraps there.
I am not saying that those who are coming in are bad or that I dislike them because they transferred. I just would much rather see us stabilize the roster, recruit better HS talent, and most importantly develop that HS talent. Think of it like this… our 2019 class currently has just 3 guys left from it.
Jaden Brown
Sam Wibbels
Ron Cole
Drew Grace
**Zack Lee**
Harrison Cook
Hank Bard
**Chase Estep**
Alex Margot
Jared Payne
-John Rhodes-
Zachary Robinson
**Cole Stupp**
Jacob Tate
14 players and UK got pretty much nothing out of all but 4 of them. I am just not a fan of that.
Defensively, UK is likely to start just 1 player they’ve recruited out of high school. Pitre seems like he might change that to two, but he has to beat out an experienced Harris. We will have 4 guys that aren’t freshmen that we signed out of HS. The other 3 are only in their second years (Church, McCarthy, Burkes) and two of them redshirted.
Even on the mound we could see a lot of innings that might have gone to HS guys instead going to the transfers. The picture here is a lot less clear, but we know that Williams, Cotto, Bosma and Guilfoil will likely have pretty big roles. One of them could bump Lee off the weekend. Maybe you could take Cotto getting 2 innings in the scrimmage as an indication that he might be the guy? Harney could still get a look at weekend work after doing pretty decent there this past Spring. Williams seems like he could be the closer. So, a lot of the major roles could fall to transfers and the huge sophomore class we have might be fighting for the scraps there.
I am not saying that those who are coming in are bad or that I dislike them because they transferred. I just would much rather see us stabilize the roster, recruit better HS talent, and most importantly develop that HS talent. Think of it like this… our 2019 class currently has just 3 guys left from it.
Jaden Brown
Sam Wibbels
Ron Cole
Drew Grace
**Zack Lee**
Harrison Cook
Hank Bard
**Chase Estep**
Alex Margot
Jared Payne
-John Rhodes-
Zachary Robinson
**Cole Stupp**
Jacob Tate
14 players and UK got pretty much nothing out of all but 4 of them. I am just not a fan of that.
If we do a bit of research on the players that left, it looks like alot of them went to a JUCO and have ended up at lower D1 programs.
We have missed the mark on a few players recruiting wise as to whether they can play in the SEC or not.
Whether you look at that as being a recruiting failure or if you look at it as a development failure it is a failure either way. I get that there will be swings and misses. Happens all the time, but UK has to get more hits in recruiting and in developing.
UK is a major D1 in the SEC but it doesn't mean its any better than a mid-major D1.
Every player has their own reasons for leaving, but it just seems like the common denominator is the coach.
I have followed a lot of college baseball for years, and currently live in Columbia, SC so I follow a lot of Gamecock Baseball too. I can tell you the fans in Columbia feel exactly the same way about the program here. It's a really common theme throughout college baseball. Guys come up through summer ball and showcases and everyone grows up thinking they are "the man". So, when they get to college and the playing time isn't there, they naturally blame it on the coach not knowing what he's doing - because "clearly if he did I would be an everyday guy". But baseball is different than other sports where guys don't get much playing time if they aren't a starter. It's not like football or basketball where you sub in for a few plays here and there. So, guys outside the starting 8 (minus pitching) instead of saying, "I'm gonna work harder and earn a spot next year", they just say "screw it, if these guys aren't gonna play me, I'm outta here."
It happens everywhere, I think you just feel it more because it feels unique to UK, because that's the team you follow exclusively.
It happens everywhere, I think you just feel it more because it feels unique to UK, because that's the team you follow exclusively.
I've followed UK for years. It has only become this big of an issue since Mingione.
Right, what I'm saying is that it has just become an issue the last couple/few years since the transfer portal has been such an easy thing, which happens to coincide with Mingione's time at UK too.
It could also be some of both. I'm not saying Mingione is perfect at all, I'm just saying that a lot of other fan bases are feeling the same way. I mean Mag Cotto transferred here from SC after a year after pitching only like 8 innings. He was a top 250 prospect. What do you think the SC fans are saying?! Same thing. "Why couldn't the coaches develop him? He had a 9 ERA and the coaches couldn't get more out of him so we lost him to UK?! Really?!"
Well, maybe, or maybe the coaches were putting the best team on the field and Cotto felt like he was the man and should've pitched more so he took off for a place he saw a path to more playing time, and it wasn't the coaches issue at all. But if you asked Cotto about the SC coaches, I'm guessing he's not going to have good things to say.
This has been the first year with D1 transfers largely because the newly implemented rule about not having to sit a year. Prior to that it was a pretty normal JUCO market. UK began recruiting that heavily the moment Mingione arrived and haven't stopped. This past year we shifted to transfers more than JUCO, but it's a similar effect.
This just, IMO, is not an ideal long term strategy. The ideal to me would be to recruit and develop HS talent and supplement that with transfers. We're doing almost the opposite. We're getting a large portion of transfers and supplementing that with a few freshmen.
To me what is concerning is we have guys transferring that have significant playing time.
Think about this. Here are the draft eligible players after this year, and there might be some more that are draft eligible sophomores like Rhodes was:
1B - Plastiak *
2B- Harris *
3B- Estep
SS - Ritter
C -Rubalcaba *
OF - Jump *
OF - Fogel *
OF - Thrasher *
DH - Anu *
Liebert *
Felker
Stupp
Lee
Harper *
Hazelwood *
Williams *
Guilfoil
Bosma *
Harney *
Degen *
This is 20 players out of 39. To my knowledge, we have to cut the roster to 35, and I doubt any of these guys get cut. So, we’re talking about 57 percent of our entire roster could leave after 2022. 14 of those 20 (40%) are listed as grad students or seniors. Not sure if the seniors still have one extra year (I think the may?) or what, but if not, they’ll have to go pro as well. This may very well be our entire starting 9 and a large chunk of our innings as well.
So, if this happens the coaches have to make a decision. Do they heavily recruit freshmen and then rely heavily on the 2021 and 2022 HS classes in 2023, or do they once again make huge moves in the transfer portal, setting themselves up for this to somewhat by a cycle? Granted this is, ‘worst case scenario,’ but it isn’t out of the realm of possibility with how this roster is made up.
1B - Plastiak *
2B- Harris *
3B- Estep
SS - Ritter
C -Rubalcaba *
OF - Jump *
OF - Fogel *
OF - Thrasher *
DH - Anu *
Liebert *
Felker
Stupp
Lee
Harper *
Hazelwood *
Williams *
Guilfoil
Bosma *
Harney *
Degen *
This is 20 players out of 39. To my knowledge, we have to cut the roster to 35, and I doubt any of these guys get cut. So, we’re talking about 57 percent of our entire roster could leave after 2022. 14 of those 20 (40%) are listed as grad students or seniors. Not sure if the seniors still have one extra year (I think the may?) or what, but if not, they’ll have to go pro as well. This may very well be our entire starting 9 and a large chunk of our innings as well.
So, if this happens the coaches have to make a decision. Do they heavily recruit freshmen and then rely heavily on the 2021 and 2022 HS classes in 2023, or do they once again make huge moves in the transfer portal, setting themselves up for this to somewhat by a cycle? Granted this is, ‘worst case scenario,’ but it isn’t out of the realm of possibility with how this roster is made up.
Sadly, I don't think I will get to give the play by play and all the stats like I did last time. Got some friends coming over and I don't think they'll want to watch me listen to baseball for 4 hours. haha
Kessler was the starting catcher last year. Got all the innings and at bats that he wanted. He was transferring to Tennessee had he not been drafted.
I wouldn’t worry too much about that. Kentucky has a roster that is primarily made up of mid major talent. I’d not fret too much over losing guys to the draft.
Atlanta won their division. Thats the only reason. But I agree, LA had the better record and should have homefield. Its not their fault the NL East is hot garbage.
What coach tweets about winning a fall game against a low mid major team other than a loser like Mingione
Pardon my ignorance, but was there a rule change for fall scrimmages? This is the first year I remember UK ever really talking about them.
The baseball Twitter page can tweet about it but for the coach to quote tweet it …. is so weak
Well, in general I just dont remember anyone talking about fall scrimmages. So, it's weird that they've been so published this year. It's a good thing that they're talking about it more, but this is the most I've ever seen from the baseball program in the fall. Plus the Darrin Headrick thing on Twitter where they meet with players once a week. Just very different.
NCAA made it a thing in fall of 2018. They allow 2 scrimmages against other teams in the fall. All the news and things are normal compared to other top SEC schools. It is just a step along the way to trying to be a baseball school, not just a basketball (and now football) school. Recruits are on social media and like that stuff. Makes them know they'll have the impression of celebrity if they come to UK. Content in the fall and winter is good. People talking/retweeting about baseball in the fall and winter is good. Is this message board busier than normal this time of year? That's a good thing, right?
I read up on it after your guidance College baseball teams are allowed to play up to 56 games in the regular season. Prior to 2018, collegiate baseball teams could scrimmage one another, but it would count against their 56 games, meaning they would be allowed to play fewer in the spring. 2018 changed that and allowed these games to be just outright scrimmages.
I want to be clear, I don't think it is a bad thing that we do them or that we talk about them. I love that Twitter and Instagram is regularly updated with news of the team and all of that. Helps with marketing the team to fans and to recruits, so that is a great thing. I don’t think you’d find anyone that disagrees there. I think we had some mixed signals because micatz criticized Mingione for tweeting, “CATS WIN!!!” after beating Lipscomb in a scrimmage; and then immediately after I asked about our increased advertisement of fall baseball. While I think the head coach kind of celebrating or bragging about a scrimmage victory is corny, I do love the increased marketing and information regarding the team. I just pointed this out because I noticed that this year we are talking about scrimmage a whole lot more than in years past. This is the first year, to my knowledge, that any fall game was broadcast over the radio. In softball, the ladies will scrimmage Tennessee next Friday and they are having inflatables and trick-or-treating and making a big family event out of it. This is not something, to my knowledge, UK has done before. In the past, even when we had the Blue/Black Fall World Series, the event largely went ignored and was rarely advertised, if at all. So, this is most certainly a welcome change and I hope they keep embracing that and they mold fold baseball into other fall Kentucky traditions.
I’d say Baseball is wanting to put out every ounce of positive press possible right now. Mingione and company will struggle more this season in my opinion than last season. You simply have to look at what they lost and what they replaced it with. When you lose draft picks and replace them with transfers from mid majors and you play in the SEC you are in serious trouble.
I have my reservations, but I am not yet willing to write off the new guys. We’re a long way from the spring. I think some of them might have a hard time adjusting to SEC pitching/hitting and there might be a learning curve for them, but others will step up without much of an issue. We just have to see how many of them will or won’t have a problem. We lost a lot of production from 2021 offensively, but one has to believe that pitching will improve. So, the hitting might not even have to be as good as it was for UK to be just as, or more, competitive. We will see, I guess that is the fun part of it.
That is a little bit of a funny statement.. teams lose draft picks every year and replace them with something. They are going to replace them with other draft picks, so it's either transfers, freshman, or guys on the current roster stepping up. If there aren't those to step up, you are left with freshman or transfers. I'd prefer somewhat proven transfers rather than wildcard freshman. I wouldn't call AZ state a mid-major either. And that statement also would assume that the transfers weren't going to draft picks. I know of at least one who was going to be a draft pick but his number was too high and said "no thanks" to several teams on draft day because he was excited to come to UK and SEC baseball to increase his stock for next year. I'm sure there was more than just the 1 too.
It was a weird situation this year at the draft with an extra COVID year because there are a lot of draft eligible guys who went thru the draft not like normal juniors.. they have another year of leverage for the next draft because they could come back for another year. Lower round mid major guys could do a lot for themselves with a solid year proving themselves in the SEC.
I respect your opinions. If a team doesn’t have viable options within their program whose fault is that? If you are replacing draft picks with mid major transfers you are in trouble. Your theory about having leverage because you can come back as a Senior is completely wrong. You have zero leverage as a Senior. They can offer you next to nothing and you either take it or you’re done with baseball. I could keep going but I’m gonna stop.
