Kentucky baseball is 25 days away from first pitch against UNC Greensboro. To set the stage for the season, Bat Cats Central is previewing position groups on the roster. Today's focus is on the outfield.
Previous previews
In some ways, the outfield build during the summer might have been the most interesting to follow on the roster. Unlike at catcher, where Kentucky knew it must add players due to Devin Burkes and Raphael Pelletier graduating, the outfield theoretically had enough returning players with meaningful experience to build around.
These players still had eligibility for 2026 when last season ended: James McCoy, Griffin Cameron, Ryan Schwartz, Will Marcy and Carson Hansen. Each of those players had started games in the outfield over the past few seasons. But with McCoy and Cameron transferring out to find more consistent playing time elsewhere – along with redshirt freshman Khaleel Pratt, who wound up down I-75 at Eastern Kentucky University – and Marcy coming off a season-ending injury in 2025, Kentucky's staff chose to go to the transfer portal to try to get better.