Tyler Bell made the ultimate bet on himself when he chose to come to Kentucky over the MLB but has wasted no time becoming a star for Kentucky baseball.
Bell realized what every baseball player dreams of on Thursday, July 25, 2024, when his name was called as the No. 66 overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft. However, Bell’s dreams first saw him making a pitstop in Lexington to dawn the Kentucky blue and white.
From a monetary perspective, Bell’s pick in the draft had a slot value of $1,260,000, which he ended up passing up on to land in Lexington. A gamble like that takes the ultimate self-confidence, which Bell does not lack in the slightest.
“He’s a special player, someone that believes in himself, has tremendous self-confidence and super coachable,” Head Coach Nick Mingione said. “He plays with a chip on his shoulder and an edge, just a special player.”
Bell was the highest draft pick in the 2024 Draft to choose college over the pros. By choosing Kentucky, Bell is not eligible to be drafted again until after his sophomore season since he will turn 21 in the summer of 2026 before the MLB Draft.
Growing pains were expected as Bell adjusted to the learning curve of college baseball, but that has yet to occur in Bell’s career as he has reached safely in all 26 games the Bat Cats have played this season.
In his first series as a Wildcat against Lipscomb, Bell did not tally a hit in the two games but drew a walk in each contest. However, this did not plant any seeds of doubt into the shortstops mind.
“Just playing with freedom,” Bell said about his mindset after the first weekend. “Just playing my game and trusting all the work I put in to show out on the field.”
He notched his first hit in a Kentucky uniform in the team’s series opener against Belmont. The freshman launched his first Big Blue Bomb just a game later and started to create a model of consistency at the plate as non-conference play rolled on.
Once the non-conference slate wrapped up, Bell stared down the next challenge in his young career and that was facing SEC pitching.
After going hitless in his first SEC game, Bell followed that up with a 3-6 effort in his next outing and has not been held hitless in an SEC game since.
While things have gone great at the plate, Bell’s biggest adversity has been a few costly errors at shortstop. The first of which came in game three against Georgia when an errant throw on a routine play with two outs resulted in three extra runs. The error ultimately resulted in the game getting away from Kentucky.
The next instance was spotlighted a lot more in game one against Auburn when the Wildcats had just given up their lead in the ninth but got an easy routine flyball to Bell with two outs, but it kicked off his glove, which allowed the winning run to touch home plate.
“Coach Minge [Mingione] has devolved us as men and taught us how to move on quickly and that’s one of the biggest things mentally I’ve grown on,” Bell said. “You can’t change the outcome; you got to be ready for the next play. You’re going to get another one, you’re going to get another chance, and you got to be ready.”
The way Bell has not let these moments define him has not been lost on his teammates, including one who was in a similar situation.
Ben Cleaver’s 2024 season was riddled with injuries, but he still found himself on the mound in huge situation with the SEC games on the line as a true freshman.
Cleaver delivered in those huge spots and now is one of the Wildcats most impactful weekend starters. The lefty-pitcher has no doubt Bell will the same.
“I think he has done a great job,” Cleaver said about how Bell is adjusting to SEC play. “I mean, people are going to talk about what happened the other night [the Auburn drop] but that’s not him, that was uncharacteristic.”
The Wildcats came into College Station, Texas for a three-game set with Texas A&M reeling in SEC play and needing to get back on track.
The Bat Cats fell short in game one 7-9, but Bell doubled to bring home two runs and open the scoring in his first at-bat of the series.
Bell was perfect in the second game of the series by going 4-4 with four RBIs and a home run, which led the Wildcats to a 14-11 win.
The freshman phenom capped off the weekend in game three by going 2-4 with an RBI.
Overall, Bell finished the series a white-hot 8-13 with three doubles, a homer and seven RBIs.
The sparkling performance earned Bell the first award of his colligate career as he was named SEC Freshman of the Week.
Bell is just one of four players on the Bat Cats who has started every game this season, and he is second amongst starters in both batting average and slugging percentage with marks of .347 and .594 respectively. The shortstop is third among the starting group in on-base percentage at .412.
In conference games only, Bell leads the starters with a batting average of .400 and a slugging percentage of .675. Patrick Herrera has Bell beaten for the lead in on-base percentage in SEC play for starters at .476 with Bell just behind at .444.
The freshman’s play has been remarkable on the field, but his maturity at this point in his career has set him apart even more.
“It came from my parents and obviously and once I got here, I matured even more,” Bell said. “The coaches teach us to be men, players and students, and I think all of that has help me become a better person. Obviously, that translates to the field as well.”
While Bell’s career is just beginning at Kentucky, he has shown all the tools for his bet on himself to pay off and end up a staple of the program for his tenure at shortstop for Kentucky baseball.
“He’s going to win us a lot of games this year and I’m really proud of what he’s been able to do this year,” Cleaver said. “The leader he’s been for this team, and I think this is just the beginning, he’s going to get so much better and he’s one of the hardest working kids I know.”
