It's hard to believe, but another year is nearly in the books. Christmas is a little over a week away, and New Year's Day is just 16 days away. Bat Cats Central wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
December is a slow time on the college baseball calendar. It reminds me a little bit of the dog days of summer when it comes to college football coverage. We're far enough away from fall practice that there's not much left to talk about, but still a bit too far away from going all in on preseason coverage. But that's coming soon enough.
I've spent the past few days gearing up for the new year. There's still a lot of planning to do, but I'm excited to share a few updates that will roll out in the coming months.
As always, thank you for your support of Bat Cats Central. The site's growth this year was outstanding, and I think an even better year is in store.
There's still time to take advantage of Bat Cat Central's end-of-year offer! Purchase a yearly subscription today to receive $20 off your first year.
Jonathon Bruner becomes first beat reporter for Bat Cats Central
University of Kentucky senior Jonathon Bruner was announced as a contributing writer for Bat Cats Central in October. He covered a few freelance assignments for us in the fall, but he'll be moving into a new role on Jan. 12. In conjunction with the University of Kentucky's School of Journalism and Media, Jonathon will complete a paid internship in his final semester at UK.
He'll serve as the primary beat reporter for Bat Cats Central this spring. Over the summer, one of the things I said I wanted to improve was team coverage. I believe Jonathon, who has covered the past two baseball seasons for the Kentucky Kernel, will do a great job bringing game and team coverage to readers. I'll still be pitching in on game coverage – Adam Revelette will continue to contribute as well – so we're looking forward to bringing much more depth to the coverage this spring.
A new baseball podcast is coming
A few people have asked about a Kentucky baseball podcast. It's something I've kept on the radar, but my primary focus has been on building out a staff to enhance content to make your subscription more valuable. I think 2026 is easily going to be the most worthwhile a paid subscription has ever been, and I'm eager to see how the newsletter/website evolves over the next year.
Still, I do my best to keep up with media trends. One podcast I listen to regularly is Plain English with Derek Thompson on The Ringer. A former longtime writer at The Atlantic, Thompson went the independent route and launched a newsletter on Substack this year. Anyway, he wrote a story in October titled Everything is Television. In that story, he shared this information:
But the most successful podcasts these days are all becoming YouTube shows. Industry analysts say consumption of video podcasts is growing twenty times faster than audio-only ones, and more than half of the world’s top shows now release video versions. YouTube has quietly become the most popular platform for podcasts, and it’s not even close.
Eye-opening stuff for someone who spends a lot of time thinking about how to improve this small company. This is a long way of explaining why I'll be joining a podcast in the coming months as a co-host, available on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.
Since it won't be hosted through Bat Cats Central, I'll leave it to them to announce more details when they see fit. I'll have a post with more information when that time comes.
TLDR: I'll be a co-host on a Kentucky baseball podcast this season.
Bat Cats Central will have a sponsor this spring
To date, all funding for the site has come through subscription sales. While that will continue to be the primary revenue driver for the site, an opportunity to bring on a sponsor presented itself in the last few months. I'm thrilled that a company believed in Bat Cats Central enough to spend some advertising dollars with us this season.
The final details should be ironed out near the end of January or early February. Once that's done, I'll have a story that introduces the sponsor and outlines some benefits for readers.
