Welcome back for part two of the Bat Cats Central summer mailbag. The first part of the mailbag on Friday mainly focused on the pitching staff. Today's mailbag will tackle the position players and any other remaining questions.
Some questions have been edited for clarity.
Do you feel like (Nick) Mingione has filled needs for next season between the portal and HS recruiting? – Tiffany
This is a great question to lead off the mailbag. Some needs are apparent before a season is over. Players might be out of eligibility, obvious draft picks or transfer candidates. Then there are other needs that might pop up once the MLB draft is completed. That leads us to where we are now.
Kentucky is probably done on the position front after the recent addition of Ohio State infielder Lee Ellis. The Wildcats lacked middle infield depth prior to that pickup, but now have three players who could play shortstop (more on that later), five who could hypothetically play third or second base, and then a few more who could play first. Kentucky also has at least six outfielders for next year's team but potentially more depending on where freshman Kaden Powell lands.
The Wildcats currently have 21 pitchers on next year's roster. Still, a team can never have too many quality pitchers. With the surprise draft selections of Connor Mattison and transfer commitment Cooper Corkrean, Kentucky could probably use another pitching addition. I think there will be important innings logged by some of the transfers Kentucky brought in on the mound, but looking at the current makeup, there's no question it will need to develop pitchers already in the program and get some help from a few of the incoming freshmen.
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What do you think KY will be ranked next year and will they have power in their lineup? – Mike
Kentucky has typically not appeared as a consensus team in preseason rankings. D1baseball.com had the Wildcats in the top 25 to open the 2026 season, and if memory serves me correctly, Baseball America had the 2025 team in the top 25 in the preseason. Although I think pundits will be intrigued by Kentucky's returning offensive core and transfer portal position player additions, my guess is there will be too many question marks with the pitching staff for UK to be widely discussed in the top 25 entering the season.
As for your second question, I do think there will be more pop in the order next season. Kentucky returns 34 home runs from the 2026 season, which isn't a staggering number by any means, but it is the most returning homers for the program since the end of the 2023 season. Ethan Hindle hit 12 home runs as a junior. Hudson Brown finished with seven homers but missed a month with an illness, or he might've had double-digit home runs as well. Jayce Tharnish isn't someone who'd be described as a power hitter, but he did hit six homers in 2026. Could he take another leap next year? Braxton Van Cleave hit six home runs in just 104 plate appearances (all six were against P4 opponents) and was second on the team in SEC homers, trailing Hindle, Brown and top 10 pick Tyler Bell.
Those numbers are just from this past season, but in terms of portal additions, Kentucky is bringing in seven players who have combined for 108 career homers. Wright State transfer JP Peltier leads the way with 30 career homers. In terms of last season, Akron transfer Brody Chrisman hit the most with 13.
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Who will play second now that Luke Lawrence is gone? – Brooke
Hindle will be the frontrunner for second base after starting 36 games there as a junior. But any of the incoming infield transfers – Lee Ellis, Owen Lee and JP Peltier – could be in the mix as well.
Who do you think will be the early front runners to start at shortstop and catcher? Is Caden Cloud playing SS in summer ball? – Robert
Ellis and Lee will be in the mix at shortstop, along with Caeden Cloud. I didn't find Cloud's positional splits for games he's started for the Newport Gulls of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, but scrolling through their social media pages, it seems he's made more starts at second base than at shortstop. Cloud is slashing .286/.374/.549 with seven doubles, one triple, five home runs and 22 RBIs.
At catcher, Riley Jackson from Houston seems like the safest bet at this stage. Jackson is coming off the best offensive season of his college career in 2026 (.271/.387/.512 with 13 doubles and nine homers) and is the most experienced backstop out of the incoming catchers, which includes Indiana transfer Brayden Ricketts and freshman Carson May. Jackson has played quite a bit of first base as well in his career, and has primarily played first base so far during his time in the Cape Cod League.
Who will be our every day CF with (Jayce Tharnish) back? Will we be looking to play small ball baseball again or will we have some more pop in our lineup? Feel like that is the one thing our teams have been missing. Made the CWS when we had guys who could take you deep – Ryan
It would be a surprise if Tharnish is not the center fielder again in 2027. Saint Joseph's transfer Alex Kelsey seems most likely to slide to left field. Braxton Van Cleave closed the season as the right fielder, but Chrisman also profiles as a corner outfielder and is coming off a strong season in the MAC. He hit 14 doubles, 13 homers and stole 23 bases to boot.
Heard anything on non-conference schedule? Think we’ll see a power conference opponent for the first time since 2024? – Nick
Kentucky will play its annual home and home series with Louisville, but I haven't heard of any other teams who might appear on next year's schedule. The Wildcats haven't had a series against a Power-4 non-conference team since hosting TCU during the 2022 season and have kept a consistent scheduling pattern, for the most part, since the 2023 season.
Hypothetically, if Kentucky were to play a non-conference P4 opponent, a series against West Virginia would be at the top of my wish list. I think a healthy respect should exist between the two programs with how many good games they've played in the postseason in recent years. They also met up in the fall last year at Prasco Park in Ohio. Considering that the campuses aren't that far apart and the head coaches of both programs share an alma mater, it's probably not farfetched that a series could be worked out if that's what the two sides wanted.
