Nick Mingione discusses the upcoming season
The seventh-year manager broke down numerous topics concerning the Kentucky baseball program.
The Kentucky baseball program is just about a month away from opening the 2023 season on the road at Elon. Now in their seventh season under head coach Nick Mingione, the Wildcats are looking to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017.
I met Mingione in his office in early January to discuss this year’s team. Certain parts have been edited for clarity.
On how the team is developing since fall practice ended:
Mingione: “When you sit there and you think about where we are when they first showed up to now, I’m extremely happy and pleased. Obviously, we’ll have a lot better feel once we get to be around them after being home for weeks and weeks and weeks, so we’ll learn more there. But I feel like the fall was a great fall. We laid down the groundwork. We had quite a few first-year players, so they got accustomed to us, we got accustomed to them and they understand the system now. Now it’s just a matter of us going out and putting it forth.”
On areas that were prioritized when building the 2023 roster:
Mingione: “The biggest thing we had to do was replace a lot of positional players. When you sit there and think positionally about where were we through the draft, graduation and guys signing to play professional baseball, it was an area we had to address. We also had to add some more quality arms to go along with the arms we were bringing back. But it started positionally just because of the pure number of guys that we had to replace. Obviously, we added some quality arms as well. But I always talk about, I don’t want us to get who we want, I want us to get who we are. Getting not only the right players but the right people that are focused on winning and wanting to win for Kentucky. We believe that’s what we got. Time is going to tell.”
On last year’s team advancing deeper in the SEC Tournament than any year since 2014 and if that momentum can be carried over despite several departures from the roster:
Mingione: “It has and it will. You felt it this fall from the way the guys have gone about their business, not only when we scrimmaged each other but also with outside competition. The confidence, the belief, that is all there and alive and well. Quite frankly, we needed to. I thought in a lot of ways, the way we played at the end of the year is an indication of how I want us to play. It reminded me of that first year back in 2017. When you think back and you look back, you go ‘wow, we were 9-6 in our last 15 SEC games.’ You put a run like that together, you do that during the season for both halves and not only are you in a regional, you’re hosting a regional. You’re putting yourself in a really good position. We definitely need to pick up where we left off and that momentum needs to carry us starting February 17th.”
On the offensive style he wants to play this year:
Mingione: “As you went back to last year and just think about how we were playing at our best offensively, it was attacking aggressively and intelligently type of offense. I was excited about this fall the amount of guys that bunted and laid down bunts on their own. The way we ran the bases, we had to have an upbeat, attacking-style offense. That was fun to see this fall.”
On this year’s transfer class and the leadership impact from an older player like Hunter Gilliam:
Mingione: “To use Hunter for an example, he’s a guy we did a lot of research and homework on during the recruiting process. He was a captain at his previous institution (Longwood). My experience has been that if you’ve been a captain and a leader at one place, more than likely, you’re going to have an opportunity to lead at the next place. Does it mean you’re going to have the label or tab captain? But he was in a position long enough for multiple years where he was a captain. That’s at the core of who he is and how he goes about his business. He’s a guy that’s stepped right in. He’s got college baseball experience. He’s played in a lot of games.
“Chase Stanke is another one. Ryder Giles is another one. These are three guys that have played Division I baseball. When you start talking about Ryder, he’s played in I don’t know how many super regional games. These are guys that have had an opportunity to play college baseball and there’s no substitute for experience. Our expectations would be for our guys to be the best version of themselves but for us to go out and recruit winners. That’s what we believe these guys we got out of the portal are.”
On if he wanted to build a team in the outfield that provided platooning possibilities or if he’d rather have three everyday starters:
Mingione: “When you think about last year’s team, we lost every guy that played in the outfield that started. We had to address that via the transfer portal, but also we had guys in our program that would be able to step in those roles like Nolan McCarthy and Jase Felker. I would say as of right now there are five guys competing for those three spots. Depending on how that goes, DH is always an option. But right now I would say there are five guys that are competing for those three spots based off the fall. But when they get back from fall, a lot can change since our last game we played against outside competition in October, so a lot can change in three months.”
* The five players competing in the outfield are Kendal Ewell, Jackson Gray, Ryan Waldschmidt, Nolan McCarthy and Jase Felker.
On if this is the deepest pitching staff since he’s been at Kentucky:
Mingione: “I think when you look at pure numbers on guys who have an opportunity to throw 10 or more innings, this could be the deepest staff. If you’re talking about lining up future draft picks or whatever else, I think time will tell on that standpoint. But as far as guys that have stuff, have multiple pitches and have an opportunity to provide some meaningful innings for us, this is a pretty deep staff. I don’t know if I’m ready to say it’s the deepest staff we’ve had, but there’s some depth there.”
On pitchers like Zack Lee, Austin Strickland and Ryan Hangenow who are still competing for a starting role:
Mingione: “The beauty of those three guys, between Hagenow, Strickland and Lee, they’ve all started before. Strickland not as much as the other two, but those three guys are willing to do whatever it takes to help us win. At this point, I am on a mission to find guys where that’s where their brains and mindsets are. Nothing else other than to help Kentucky win. In our sport, a lot of times you can have these other things on your mind. There can be other motivating factors, and you have to work on that. They have to have their own individual goals, but ultimately it’s about the team.
“All three of those guys are definitely unique. They all provide something different. That is one thing that I appreciate when you start looking at them and what their gifts and strengths are and what they can bring to the table. Whether it be the way they go about things mentally to their physical presence to their stuff, those are three different guys that bring different looks for us. I believe that will be one of the strengths of this pitching staff, the variety of different looks that we’ll be able to give. The different type fastballs, the different offspeed pitches and the changeups that I believe will be one of our strengths.”
On freshmen who could help the team this spring:
Mingione: “Our sport is different than some of the other ones. It’s really difficult for a freshman to come right in and step on a field and play. Whether it be from the pitching side, Drew Lafferty had a really nice fall for us. He kept getting better each outing. Positionally, a freshman that had a really good fall prior to getting hurt was Austin Fawley. He caught some, played third base and put together some really good at-bats and showed some good versatility. Those two guys had good falls for freshmen. I think in a perfect world, you want to bring those guys along nicely and not have to put them in roles where, quite frankly, they’re not ready to be at.
“Aaron Blum had a nice fall on the mound and showed some promise. Lukas Schramm is a guy that stepped in and had some really good at-bats, even against our fall competition. But to be able to move those guys at the proper pace would be my main focus.”
On the staff continuity with recruiting coordinator Will Coggin, pitching coach Dan Roszel and people behind the scenes like volunteer assistant Nick Ammirati and other off-field staffers:
Mingione: “I think anytime you can have consistency amongst your staff, that’s obviously crucial. Obviously, we spend more time this time of year with them than we do with our own families. I was sharing with someone the other day about days off, and I had to remind them that we will not have a day off again until June. God willing, it’s the end of June. We scrimmage every Friday, Saturday and Sunday (in the preseason). We play every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Monday, you’re preparing for your opponent on Tuesday and so forth. But to have the consistency amongst our staff is crucial; as it relates to recruiting, everyday life in the office, on the field, obviously, there’s a greater understanding of each other and any time you can have that, it’s good.
“The thing about Nick Ammirati being in his second year, I was teasing him the other day about how last year at this time he was always probably wondering ‘what’s next? What’s next?’ and now, in a good way, he’s understanding and going about his role. The same thing with Jake Scott, our director of player development. His ability to bounce back and forth to each office and run things by us. ‘I’m sure you thought about this but what do you think about this?’
“The guy that really keeps us all going is Brock Doud, our director of baseball operations. His consistency and servant heart. When you think about the staff from that perspective, there’s a lot of really good, quality people that have been here and obviously, that’s going to help not only on the field but off the field. The same goes for our strength coach, coach (Ryan) DeVriendt. He’s been here the entire time that we’ve been here. He’s been at Kentucky, I think, it’s been over 15 years now. To have that is crucial.”
On transfer portal recruiting vs. high school/junior college recruiting balance when it comes to building the roster:
Mingione: “I will always say that the core of our players needs to come from the high school level. I think any great team or organization will be filled with quality high school players. My goal would be to use the portal to assist in some of those other areas where maybe you see some guys that are now older in high school to where they’re draft-eligible sophomores. You used to have them for three years and now you have them for two. James McCoy is a perfect example of a guy like that. John Rhodes is a good example of that.
“Obviously I believe it starts with the high school and then to be able to use the transfer portal. For our recipe for success here, that has to be part of it. Years ago, we were heavier with junior college players at times. But the transfer portal helps with that too. Not only can you have the opportunity to add a good junior college player, you have the opportunity to add some guys from the portal at all levels. I think if you look at Logan Martin, he’s a perfect example. He had as good of a fall as anybody and he was at a Division III school. Our sport is unique in that manner, that there are a lot of guys that learn, grow and improve at different levels and times and at different institutions. It doesn’t just have to be us recruiting from Division I. We had the Division II National Player of the Year (Haydn McGeary) committed and he ended up getting signed and he’s playing professional baseball now. But we’ll definitely start at the high school level. But the transfer portal will definitely be a piece of how we go about our business moving forward.”
On NIL and how it’s affected the Kentucky baseball program and how he approaches it:
Mingione: “I think as each day passes, we get a little bit more familiar with the whole process and what’s available and what’s out there and what’s not out there. But it very much is alive and well in college baseball. We have guys on our team that have signed deals. I just think as time progresses, as our program has success and more knowledge moving forward, I think there will be more opportunities there.”