Jayce Tharnish breaks down commitment to Kentucky Wildcats

Jayce Tharnish has a profile that the Kentucky baseball team did not have in its outfield for the 2026 roster. A true center fielder, Tharnish has excellent speed and defensive ability that should fit nicely in the lineup next year. It also helps that he's coming off back-to-back strong seasons offensively at St. Bonaventure.

Tharnish slashed .403/.461/.597 with 11 doubles, two triples and seven homers as a redshirt sophomore in 2025. He also stole 32 bases, which placed him within the top 35 nationally and sixth in the Atlantic 10 Conference. While it was a breakout year at the plate, Tharnish said that his leap began over the second half of his redshirt freshman season.

"I ended up hitting .360 in conference my redshirt freshman year," Tharnish said. "I turned it around, I just didn’t have a ton of at-bats to show for it. But the start of the season, I had a lingering shoulder issue that made it so I struggled a bit. But I got a cortisone shot and felt great the rest of the season. It was working back into things.”

Tharnish improved his conference average to .377 and saw his slugging percentage jump from .420 in 2024 to .541 in 2025. He had just two extra base hits as a redshirt freshman, but hit nine doubles, one triple and three homers against A-10 opponents this past season. While his numbers were superb, the A-10 had several excellent offensive outfielders in 2025, pushing Tharnish to Atlantic 10 All-Conference Second Team honors despite a great season.

Professional baseball was an option for Tharnish this summer since he was draft-eligible, but he ultimately made it known that he wanted to return to college. With his end goal being to make it to the next level, he felt like he needed to leave St. Bonaventure and transfer to a conference like the SEC to compete against the best. Tharnish said he felt like he "would've regretted it" if he chose not to play at the highest level of college baseball and compete for the College World Series. However, as a rising senior academically, he encountered an issue with getting transfers to credit at a few schools.

"I would talk to a decent amount (of schools), and then they would be uneasy about the credit side and being able to graduate within two semesters and a summer, which was my biggest concern," Tharnish said. "Kentucky was able to do that for me.”

Kentucky recruiting coordinator Austin Cousino established contact with Tharnish. Following a good initial conversation, Tharnish spoke with hitting coach Chase Slone about the different stances that he incorporates to stay balanced at the plate. After that, he talked with head coach Nick Mingione and quickly established a connection over an autoimmune condition he has.

"Within the first two minutes, I was talking about how I have Celiac disease and how it was kinda hard during the baseball season to eat right, especially on the road when we would get pizza," Tharnish said. "It would just be hard to find meals. And (Mingione) was like, ‘Jayce, my wife has Celiac,’ and started talking all about it. It made me feel good that a staff was super knowledgeable in that subject. He just talked about how I would be able to have good meals provided for me after practices, after games. It made me feel really good and really welcomed."

Tharnish said his mind was not yet made up when he made his visit to Kentucky, but that the Wildcats had pulled ahead as the front-runner based on his connection with the coaching staff.

"The visit went really well," Tharnish said. "It was really impressive being able to see the facility, the campus. It just felt awesome to see.”

He committed to Kentucky's coaching staff on a Sunday evening and made his announcement public the next day. Tharnish has continued to play in the Cape Cod League with the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox. Entering Sunday's game, Tharnish was slashing .308/.333/.404 with two doubles, one home run and four RBIs and was four for five on stolen bases.

"I’ve always wanted to play in the Cape," Tharnish said. "My freshman year, I had a temp contract but got hurt, so I wasn’t able to go. Since then, I always wanted to check that off my bucket list.”

Playing in the Cape Cod League will help his draft profile for next summer. While he wanted to compete at the highest level of college baseball, having the opportunity to be seen by scouts was another reason for choosing Kentucky.

"I think (St. Bonaventure) is the farthest place for a Northeast scout to travel to," Tharnish said. "It was just hard to get the exposure this past season. The most exposure was when I played at Tennessee this past year, and it was because we played a top 10 team in the country.”