Fall pitching observations (9/22)

Kentucky continued its fall practice on Sunday afternoon with seven pitchers throwing to select hitters at Kentucky Proud Park. Each pitcher faced the same three batters and every at-bat began with a 1-1 count. There were no fielders, just a pitcher throwing to a catcher with an umpire behind the plate. Game situations were factored in based on how the at-bats played out, but these were only ghost runners. No real players were running the bases.

Pitchers who threw on Sunday in order:

• Sophomore lefthander Hayden Smith
• Junior lefthander Ethan Walker
• Freshman lefthander Leighton Harris
• Senior righthander Robert Hogan
• Senior righthander Scott Rouse
• Senior lefthander Cole Hentschel
• Freshman righthander Bradley Ferrell

Batters who saw live pitching:

• Senior outfielder Shaun Montoya
• Senior utility Patrick Herrera
• Redshirt junior infielder Luke Lawrence
• Freshman infielder Aidan Larkin
• Senior catcher Raphael Pelletier
• Junior outfielder Carson Hansen

Freshman Nolan Belcher caught Smith, Walker and Harris. That trio of pitchers faced Montoya, Herrera and Lawrence. Senior Devin Burkes caught Hogan, Hentschel and Ferrell. They faced Larkin, Pelletier and Hansen. All numbers listed are from the Trackman stats shown on the scoreboard.

Hayden Smith

Smith, a redshirt sophomore, topped out at 90 miles per hour with his fastball on Sunday. He mostly sat 87-89 miles per hour and 75-77 miles per hour with his curveball.

The local product started his session by striking out Montoya with a fastball. Herrera flew out to left field, but Smith fell behind to Lawrence and allowed a base hit through the left side on a 3-1 count. He started Montoya with back-to-back curveballs his second at-bat. Montoya put a fastball in play at 83 miles per hour off the bat. Smith then walked Herrera and Lawrence to close out his outing.