With the college baseball season set to begin in less than a month, both preseason Top 25 rankings from Perfect Game and D1Baseball are out and Kentucky Baseball is nowhere to be found.
After their best season in program history, the Bat Cats finished No. 5 in the final Perfect Game and No. 3 in the final D1Baseball polls of 2024.
Despite the success in the past few years, Kentucky has once again been forced to prove it deserves a ranking on the field.
There are multiple reasons to explain why this has happened for the past few seasons.
First, the constant roster turnover in Lexington does not do UK’s ranking any favors. While it’s a proven method for Head Coach Nick Mingione and his staff, it’s still a gamble and a bit unorthodox, relying so much on the transfer portal.
Just looking at the roster from that historic 2024 team to this year’s squad, only five prominent/everyday players remain and they are Devin Burkes, James McCoy, Robert Hogan, Jackson Nove and Evan Byers.
For example, the unanimous No.1 team in both polls is the Texas A&M Aggies, which are returning the majority of a team that finished as the runner-up to the reigning National Champions: the Tennessee Volunteers.
Just this offseason the Wildcats have brought in 15 transfers and 15 freshmen, which is going to cause the team to look extremely different.
While it is a unanimously highly ranked class with talented in-house players who will see a bigger role, they are all unproven as it stands right now.
This same thing happened last season and those transfers paid off huge in leading the Cats to Omaha for the first time in team history.
The flip side to that is that if these transfers do not pan out, then it’s unknown if the Cats have the talent elsewhere to maintain their success. This is why they are not strongly considered in preseason rankings despite the transfers panning out for Mingione more times than not.
Another separator for programs in preseason rankings is historical success. Like in every sport, teams who have always been good and are always in the running for the National Championship will get the early season nods.
Sometimes it’s completely unjustified. For example, Wake Forest started the 2024 season ranked preseason No. 1, but was not even in the final 2024 rankings.
LSU is also a great example as it is constantly in the top 25 preseason rankings due to its proven success over the years.
It’s no secret that Kentucky has been on the rise the last few seasons, but obviously the Cats have more work to do before being considered amongst the elite in college baseball and getting the rankings nod before play begins.
The truth of the matter is that if Kentucky continues on the track it is on, it will not be long at all before it will be seen in the rankings and remain there for a large part of the year.
Nonetheless, Kentucky will have the first chance to change the rankings makers’ minds when it opens the 2025 season on the road against Lipscomb on Friday, Feb. 14.
