COLUMN: Kentucky baseball is shattering expectations, but can it continue dominance through SEC play?
Kentucky Wildcats outfielder Jackson Gray (51) talks to reporters after the No. 18 Kentucky vs. Western Kentucky baseball game on Tuesday, March 28, 2023, at Nick Denes Field in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Kentucky won 10-8. Photo by Jack Weaver | Staff
April 4, 2023
As winter slowly transitioned into spring, the college baseball season was quickly approaching, meaning it was the time of year for publications to release their preseason conference rankings.
What did most of these rankings of the SEC have in common? Kentucky baseball rounded out the bottom of the conference.
“Hoo boy. Kentucky lost almost all of its notable players from last season, and this isn’t a program that typically recruits at the same level as its top SEC counterparts,” 247Sports published.
The SEC coaches poll confirmed the thoughts of most of the media, placing Kentucky at sixth in the Eastern Division, ahead of only Missouri.
With its back against the wall and fans growing impatient, Kentucky baseball has done nothing but drown out the words of its critics.
Standing at 22-3 on the season, the Wildcats just concluded a 17-game winning streak, which included a dominant series win over Alabama and a sweep of Mississippi State, a team that won the College World Series just two seasons ago. Prior to its ending, the 17-game streak marked the longest in Division-1 baseball.
The winning streak also saw the Cats start SEC play 5-0, the best start to their conference slate since 1992 – 30 years ago.
What’s even more interesting about this team’s success is the change of style from head coach Nick Mingione.
Primarily a hitters coach, Mingione gave UK the nickname “the Bat Cats” in his early days coaching the program because of its success at the plate. With this team, however, the veteran head coach has combined his historically good hitting with an impressive rotation of pitchers to create a roster that can beat you anyway it pleases, with the “Bat Cats” name still standing despite the change.
It’s not often you find a program that is among the top in the country in multiple different statistics across offense and defense, as teams are typically not well rounded enough. This hasn’t been the case for Kentucky so far this season though, as it finds itself all over the statistical rankings on both sides of the ball.
On the hitting side, the Cats have a knack for finding their way on base, sporting the 11th best on base percentage in the nation at .434. They are also in the top 50 in batting average (45th, .304) and in triples recorded (tied for 20th, nine).
The Cats sport an offense that doesn’t necessarily prioritize the home run, but instead fills the bases with a collection of extra base hits to trickle in runs throughout an inning.
The strategy is in big part why the Cats tend to win most of their games by just scoring in around three innings, but scoring a plethora of runs during those innings.
Hunter Gilliam is the poster boy of this Kentucky offense, boasting a .398 batting average and 35 RBIs in the young season. The transfer from Longwood is also one of the few sluggers on the team, sporting five home runs on the season thus far.
On the defensive side, Kentucky’s pitching gives opponents a rough time at the plate, with the eighth lowest ERA in the country at 3.16. It is also sixth in the country in WHIP at 1.13, showing that it rarely makes multiple mistakes in the same inning.
With an airtight pitching rotation that smothers the opponents offensively and a lineup of bats that attacks you with long series of base hits, it should come as little surprise to see the Cats on a run of form like they one it’s had, with one player having a rough day doing little to stop the momentum of the overall team.
Although the SEC is a notoriously difficult conference, with nearly every team in the conference being ranked inside the top 25, it is hard to imagine that a Kentucky squad with this type of swagger and confidence is not capable of ranking within the top 15 eventually if it continues playing how it has been.
It’s obviously not realistic to expect them to continue to mow through college baseball as they are right now forever as they’re sure to cool off eventually, especially as tougher competition approaches, but there’s no longer any doubt that the team is much better than previously expected and has something to prove in SEC play this season.
Now looking to regain its win streak, Kentucky is set to host Missouri, a team ranked within the top 25 by several outlets, in a three-game series from Friday until Sunday. The first pitch for game one is set for 6:30 p.m. EST on Friday, March 31, and is set to air live on the SEC Network+.
