UK vs Vandy Game 3
- Thread starter Big_Blue_1018
- Start date
Thompson. Shinn. Johnson. Reed. Shelby. Hill. Collett.
At least those will likely get drafted. Not sure how many will go, but they will likely get drafted.
UK season comes to end and will finish 26-29 and 7 and 23 in the SEC. Worst SEC record since 2003 I believe. USC hangs on to beat Mississippi State 10-8. Just an absolute disaster of a season.
I'm not actually upset that we aren't going to Hoover.
Mitch has a long leash with coaches. He rewrote Coach Nicks contract showing his confidence in him and trying to keep him in Blue and White. With that said next season may be a make or break season with sluggercat breathing down his neck.
ZT and Shinn. Collett is not getting drafted because of his physical condition, Shelby maybe...the others no.
i think I'll have plenty of company in a short time next season. No way next year's team is as good ad this one
I think more will leave than you expect. Bad seasons may push some people out. They may rather go than come back to another poor season.
A sad ending to a sorry season, been quite a while since we were this bad. Sad thing is 2020 may not be much, if any better !
Agree..why MB needs to cut bait and make the change . There are not any exciting , talented players on the squad for next year. We may not have liked GH's coaching, but he recruited some excellent players...dont see anything this staff does well!!!
Last edited:
UK baseball is officially a joke. And it will remain that way as long as Ming is coach.
I do want to thank you for an interesting season on these forums. It has been wonderful, especially knowing that you think my son isn’t exciting or talented. Also, just for the record...my son was recruited by Henderson but stayed since he committed to the university and not to a particular coach.
Don't know your son, nor would i ask you to share, but there isn't one player, position or pitcher , that looks like they will be a team leader or star next year. I'm sure you think your son will be, and for tbe sake of the team, i hope you're right. That being said, thank you for sending you son to UK and i hope he kills it next year.
I don’t mind telling you who my son is at all because I am very proud of the way he battled back from his injury after breaking his finger, having 3 pins placed and rehabbing just to be able to grip a bat again all of which caused him to miss his whole freshman season. All that for a stupid diving catch in practice!
He was given opportunities in the last few weeks and he has given 110% EVERY single game. Not only is he a good kid and player with an extremely impressive work ethic, he has been a UK fan ever since he was 6 yrs old standing beside the dugout. He takes pride, good or bad being able to play for his state school. I don’t know what the future holds for him, whether he will emerge as a leader or a star player. Nobody knows. I do know he will go to the cape cod league this summer and gain more knowledge and experience a “redshirt freshman” needs.
Since you are familiar with the roster, then by now you would know who I am talking about. Cam Hill
I’m going to give you a little advice. Don’t hang out here while your son is playing at UK. Nothing good can come out of that.
Oh I know. They warn parents about these forums. I was totally stupid and didn’t listen. I won’t make that mistake again. One season and I am done. There is one thing, which is probably true for most fan forums, what is written is about 99.5% incorrect, excluding the game summaries. Just like Kole’s dad posted last season, most things are incorrect, but you try and ignore it.
Last edited:
I truly hope he succeeds at UK and beyond. This group of young men need a different coach. Ming simply isn’t getting it done. He caught lightning in a bottle his first year and has been a disaster since that time. The players and fans deserve better.
Best of luck to Cam ...I hope he kills it next year . Just an observation from a lifelong fan. Truly sorry if i hurt your feelings.
Actually, that isn’t true at all. There is a lot of accuracy in what you might read here. For instance, UK baseball is not in a very good place right now.
My advice to you was more or less along the lines of the truth hurts. Think Jack Nicholson in a Few Good Men.
There are several key players that I hope come back and Cam Hill is head of the list! I was there yesterday and merciful this season is over.
I was at the game Friday night and I saw 2 potential weekend starters at the end of the game. Jordan and Rigsby have good stuff. They were throwing low to mid 90’s. A little experience and summer work and they might be what we need for the weekend rotation. I know everybody is down on the program and rightfully so. But if we’re going to be honest. There was no chance in France that UK could succeed with the majority of the pitching staff of freshman and sophomores. No Effin way.
I know this has been rehashed over a dozen times, but I know my biggest thing that makes my blood boil is that we as UK fans have to sit back and watch Vandy and U6 do what they are doing and neither one of them has ANYTHING as far as facilities and fan base on us!!! It is all about the coaches!!! NO MORE EXCUSES!!
Last edited:
Don't know who comes back, but the team will need for Hill, Shultz and others to step up big time. I'm hoping if Mingione isn't going that there will be sone changes made to the staff at the least.
I'm not going to be overly concerned about some things. Hitting has been good in the past and could be again. Fielding needs to improve, but I'm willing to give that a wait and see.
Where there are major red flags is with pitching. For whatever reasons, we have just not had anyone emerge as a top talent. That is whether they are sophomores or freshmen. Arkansas had 2 freshmen weekend starters. They weren't necessarily dominant but still helped the Razorbacks finish tied for first in the west. Others have one freshman that seems to emerge. We haven't really found any consistent pitchers in the last two years. I don't know if this is bad luck with injuries, or bad recruiting or poor development or a combination. Whatever it is, it has to change. We will get no where in this league without good to great pitching, probably even moreso with this new park that plays bigger in the alleys.
I don't know if any of the freshmen will grow into stars. I've been concerned in the past thinking that we'd be hurting for starting pitching and I've been pleasantly surprised. The last one I remember like this was actually Mingione's first year. Hjelle was previously a closer and Lewis had not emerged to kill people with his change up. Hjelle ends up SEC pitcher of the year. Maybe that can and will happen again. I hope it does. Still, until then it is very concerning.
Where there are major red flags is with pitching. For whatever reasons, we have just not had anyone emerge as a top talent. That is whether they are sophomores or freshmen. Arkansas had 2 freshmen weekend starters. They weren't necessarily dominant but still helped the Razorbacks finish tied for first in the west. Others have one freshman that seems to emerge. We haven't really found any consistent pitchers in the last two years. I don't know if this is bad luck with injuries, or bad recruiting or poor development or a combination. Whatever it is, it has to change. We will get no where in this league without good to great pitching, probably even moreso with this new park that plays bigger in the alleys.
I don't know if any of the freshmen will grow into stars. I've been concerned in the past thinking that we'd be hurting for starting pitching and I've been pleasantly surprised. The last one I remember like this was actually Mingione's first year. Hjelle was previously a closer and Lewis had not emerged to kill people with his change up. Hjelle ends up SEC pitcher of the year. Maybe that can and will happen again. I hope it does. Still, until then it is very concerning.
Jordan and Rigsby have the stuff to be weekend starters. You have to remember that 3 only pitched 8 innings this season. I’ve not given up on a season that hasn’t even started yet. Sometimes freshman can make big jumps to their sophomore years. I always say, let’s just play the games and see what happens.
I'm not saying that they don't. Still, to this point, none of them have emerged as being anything close to something to be excited about as a definite lock to be a potential SEC starting threat. Rigsby had a 40.50 ERA in conference. That was in limited appearances, but still doesn't inspire. Jordan is intriguing in that he was a big time prospect that came in with an injury. He got very little experience this year. He will be in his third year of the program. Maybe he takes major strides. He certainly has potential, but the point is that we haven't seen any of then emerge as someone we can count on. That's from top to bottom in our bullpen.
I'm definitely not writing off 2020. Still, there isn't much there to have a lot of excitement for. I'll be anxious to see if this team makes major strides, but as of now the bullpen is a major concern and we cannot really say that anyone is a lock to be a weekend starter. That's sad and not good.
I saw 3 and 39 in person on Friday. I like what I saw. I’m not scout but I’m an old guy who’s played and watched a lot of baseball in my lifetime and I think those guys might surprise us next season. My point is. It’s not like UK doesn’t have players on their roster. I’m not overly excited for next season but I’m not given up on them yet either.
Tell him, I've enjoyed watching him make spectacular catch after spectacular catch. The new field was made for him to play center field. Without his speed out there, a lot more runs would have been scored against us. I'm going to chalk this season up to trying to replace 13 players and not finding things coming together soon enough.
They certainly can. I have seen a few guys who really had good stuff at times. However, none of them were able to consistently out together good outings. That didn't matter if they were in the program one year like so many were, two years like Harper, Hazelwood, and Ramsey or three years like Coleman. Maybe that changes. I'll be tuned in to see. Still, I think Belanger needs to go.
Chill- you’re close to it. Do you envision a big jump and improvement next season. 19 first year players are certain to mature and improve. Do they have confidence in themselves and the staff?
I don’t really know a lot about the upcoming
sophomores. I know going to the better summer leagues and having the schedules they have does help with getting your feet wet. The Texas league that Hill, Kessler and Johnson went to last year had a lot of juco guys there. Only one other SEC player was on the Twins roster. Johnson may have had more SEC players on their roster, idk.
I can only “speak” for Cam, but he absolutely loves Coach Guil. Cam is also the type of player that wants to get better and knows his offensive game is coming along more and more and will work for hours. When they wanted to tweak his load and his top hand, it took weeks of frustration trying to stop a bad habit you have had your whole life. Cam talked with Evan White about how hard it was for him to make these changes and has talked to Kole Cottam about learning to “graduate” and situational hitting. After not getting his bunts down in a few games, Cam stayed after and hit off the machine for 6 hours. He slept in the player locker room on the couch. He has the confidence in himself, but every player now and then will start to question themselves at some point. I don’t really know how the other players are with things like that and I don’t know how they interact with the coaches, so I can’t really say.
I will share a story, last year as a freshman when they started fall ball scrimmages, he went l 1 for @30 in his first at bats. He just got more and more frustrated. Coach Ming saw him going into the cages after every scrimmage and one night he watched him hit and then just leave because he was so mad. Coach Ming called him and asked him to meet him outside the cliff. Ming asked what was wrong. Cam just kept his head down while Ming put his hand on his shoulder. Cam just teared up. Cam told him he didn’t realize it would be this hard and he was upset because he wants it so bad. Ming said him getting upset showed how passionate he is. He explained how hard it was to not only be a freshman but a freshman in the SEC. Ming told him it was a progression and he would slowly realize that. The next day after just working on a few things he hit his first homerun. It’s such an adjustment coming from hitting high school pitching to someone throwing 90ish and being able to paint the corners. So if Ming treats every freshman like he treated Cam that day, then they should have confidence in themselves and know it’s a slow progression.
Last edited:
Similar threads
