Kentucky's 2026 roster is coming together

The Wildcats are still adding to the roster -- and the MLB draft will play a role in the final product -- but we have a vision of what next year's team could be.

Photo by Ethan Rand of UK Athletics

Kentucky’s 2025 season ended nearly three weeks ago in the Clemson Regional, bringing forth a busy offseason focused on player retention and adding potential missing pieces from the transfer portal.

To date, the Wildcats have hit on key objectives. Jacob Rudner of Baseball America reported five days after the season that shortstop Tyler Bell, outfielder Ryan Schwartz, righthanded pitcher Nate Harris and sophomore lefty Ben Cleaver all committed to returning to Lexington for the 2026 season.

Retaining its core was a critical first step. Building through the portal was next, and as of Thursday, Kentucky has 10 transfer commitments. Seven of the commits are righthanded pitchers, and the three position players are possible plug-and-play starters for next season.

Kentucky baseball’s expectations will be high in 2026. Following the Wildcats’ season-ending loss to West Virginia, head coach Nick Mingione told reporters that, depending on what happened with the draft, he wouldn’t be surprised if Kentucky was ranked in the top 10 to begin the 2026 season.

In a sit-down interview with Maggie Davis of BBN Tonight on June 18, Mingione reiterated that stance.

“I still feel really good about next year’s team,” Mingione said. “Obviously the draft is going to sway me one way or the other, but if you told me ‘on paper, Nick, you have a preseason top 10 team in the country, I’d be like ‘yep, I can believe it.’ Now, that’s not gonna be the case if the guys don’t go out and do what they’re supposed to this summer.

“Whether that be what Ben Cleaver is doing, we have some guys playing summer baseball right now. Ryan Schwartz just had a big day yesterday, gets three hits in his opening day. We have some incoming freshmen having amazing summers. Guys on our current team, other than Schwartz, who are having good summers. As long as we keep progressing and moving like I believe we can, I don’t see why we wouldn’t.”

While Kentucky is not yet done in the portal, the offseason has reached an interesting point. We have a good idea of what the roster could look like, but the finished product is still likely more than a month away. The MLB draft will take place over two days this season (July 13 and 14) instead of three, and the transfer portal remains open until July 1. Sources indicated to Bat Cats Central that no more transfers are expected from the program, but it’s still something to keep in mind until the date passes.

I’d encourage readers to consult the roster tracker page before moving on. It’s the most updated information on the roster and will be a good refresher before reading the subsequent sections.

Consider this a 1.0 version of next year’s team. The expectation is that some players currently slated for the 2026 roster will be drafted or sign a professional contract; however, until then, they will be mentioned as possibilities.

A pre-draft position player outlook

As is usually the case, I’ll have an in-depth primer in the days leading up to the MLB draft. Information is typically more reliable at that point, as most pre-draft workouts and interviews have been completed, providing a clearer picture of what could happen. But anyone who follows the draft knows the unpredictability that exists. It makes it fun, but also makes an exercise like this a bit harder.

Still, with the players from last year’s team set to return and some who are committed, we have a better idea of some of the position battles to pay attention to once fall practice starts.