Mailbag: Answering questions about UK baseball in 2026
With the draft completed, we have a better idea of remaining needs and what the 2026 team could look like.
Since 2021, two changes have extended the college baseball offseason deep into the summer: the transfer portal and MLB's move of the draft to July.
The draft wrapped up on Monday with five potential players for next year’s team being selected. If all five sign, as expected, it’s possible Kentucky could go to the transfer portal to fill out its roster. The Wildcats added 11 transfers roughly over a month span, but with spots becoming limited, they did not add another transfer (Tagger Tyson) until it became likely that high school catcher signee Jase Mitchell would be drafted and sign.
Kentucky’s roster is probably not finished yet, but the heavy lifting for the 2026 team is done. That means it’s a good time for a mailbag before things mostly slow down during August. I received several good questions, so let’s get to it.
Do you think we go after some more guys in the portal or are we all done? — William Bergolla enthusiast
With Walker and Flores getting drafted, where do they turn for pitching? — Daniel
I’ll pair these two questions, because Daniel’s question is where I’m taking this answer. Kentucky had eight pitchers committed in the portal before the draft, though it’s expected to lose NKU transfer Kaden Echeman after he was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 12th round. In addition to Echeman, Kentucky is likely to lose RHP Josh Flores and LHP Ethan Walker, and even though his heart seemed to be playing outfield, I still think Conor Essenburg had a great shot at getting some innings on the mound next year. Essenburg signed for nearly $1.2 million with the Atlanta Braves on Thursday, according to Jim Callis of MLB.com.
That means the draft took away four potential pitchers for next year’s team. They could still look to add another righthanded pitcher to replace Flores or Echeman’s spot, but lefthanded bullpen help seems like the most logical add. Ben Cleaver is locked into the weekend rotation, so that leaves lefthanders Leighton Harris and South Carolina transfer Jackson Soucie as the only projected weekend bullpen pieces who have college experience. Freshmen Toby Peterson and Will Coleman are on the roster, but they’ll need to prove themselves this fall before being considered real factors in SEC play. Finding at least one more lefty who can help get outs out of the pen would improve the outlook of the roster.
Who are a couple players from last year’s teams that will have a bigger role this year? Which of the portal guys will likely have starting roles? — BBN_WeAreUK
I’m sticking with Leighton Harris as one who will have a bigger role. He’s had a good summer in the New England Collegiate Baseball League — earning All-Star honors for the league — which should give him some confidence coming back to campus this fall. I like the talent, for one, but there are plenty of innings available for a lefty. I’m sure he’ll enter the fall hoping to compete for a weekend spot, but it’s hard to imagine his floor not being a weekend reliever.
Positionally, I’ll go with Hudson Brown, mainly because there’s a question about Ethan Hindle later on that I want to dive into. Brown played in 43 games and received 141 plate appearances, so he got his feet wet as a redshirt freshman. A fantastic Clemson Regional should help his standing. There are some other internal options who can provide reps at first if needed, but with two other first basemen transferring out (Dylan Koontz, and I’ll count James McCoy as a first baseman despite his versatility) and none brought in from the portal, Brown looks like the front-runner at first base in 2026.
With Cerny seeming like a lock for third base where does this leave Hindle for next year? DH role?
I understand the logic behind Cerny at third base. Kentucky’s middle infield of Tyler Bell and Luke Lawrence returns after a year of starting together, and Cerny’s production at Indiana over three years makes him an ideal plug-and-play candidate at an open position in the infield. But according to Baseball Reference, Cerny has not played third base in his career. Here are his games played defensively during his Indiana career:
First base: 2
Second base: 91
Shortstop: 85
This summer, Cerny has played 15 games at shortstop, four games at second and five games in center field. He could wind up at third, but it’s worth pointing out that it will be a new position for him. Would the coaching staff shuffle its starting middle infield from a season ago? I’m not sure, but Lawrence has played 51 games at third base in his career. With that said, Lawrence had only played six games in his college career at second base before handling the position well last year. Perhaps Cerny will end up doing the same with third base.
Now to Hindle. I’m such a big believer in what he can be at Kentucky despite his “traditional” stat line not jumping off the page.
He’s only logged 70 at-bats in two years, but he was behind better players as a freshman and was receiving regular playing time last year before a fluke injury during practice cut his season short in April. The batting average is low — .200 career average and .189 in the SEC — but he ran a 134 wRC+ and .446 wOBA. Of his 13 hits, seven went for extra bases. He was also hit by a pitch 19 times last year and drew 13 walks, helping his OBP land at .484. Add in the fact that he stole 11 bases, and there was a lot to like with his limited sample size as a sophomore.
Can I pick out a spot right now and say Hindle will definitely play there? No. But I can’t shake the feeling that Hindle is going to be one of the nine best players on this team in 2026. I like him as a breakout candidate next year.
Your best guess on starting lineup opening day? — Nick
I’ll play along, but my confidence level that this will be the opening lineup is very low. Here it is by position:
C — Alex Duffey
1B — Hudson Brown
2B — Luke Lawrence
SS — Tyler Bell
3B — Tyler Cerny
LF — Carson Hansen
CF — Scott Campbell
RF — Ryan Schwartz
DH — Ethan Hindle
Top bench options: Will Marcy, Tagger Tyson, Owen Jenkins, Braxton Van Cleave (if healthy)
I feel pretty good about the top nine, even if the positions listed aren’t exact. I’d pick Marcy as having the best chance out of the bench options to actually be an opening day starter, though I think Tyson and Jenkins will get chances to play early on.
Best guess....Who leads the team next year in average, homers, stolen bases? — Jeff
Average: Ryan Schwartz
Homers: Tyler Bell
Stolen bases: Ethan Hindle
Scott Campbell was nearly the pick for batting average. I know it was the Big South, but a .388 batting average is impressive in any league. Hitters hit, and I’d bet on Campbell posting another good average despite the step up in competition. But Schwartz was impressive in his smaller sample size. He didn’t receive regular playing time until April 18 against Tennessee. That meant that most of his at-bats the rest of the season came against quality pitching. He finished the year hitting .317 overall and .353 in 34 at-bats in SEC play.
Bell homered 10 times as a freshman, which makes him the returning leader from a season ago. Bell and Cole Hage were the only Wildcats to reach double-digit homers in 2025. He also doubled 17 times and tripled twice, so with some more strength and another year of development, it’s easy to see him winding up somewhere in the 15-20 home run range. Carson Hansen would probably be my second pick. He homered seven times in 99 at-bats last year, so if he records double the at-bats next year, could he also be in the 15-20 range?
Lawrence is the returning leader in stolen bases (12) from last year, but Bell and Hindle tied for second with 11. The caveat is that Hindle played 30 fewer games than those two. With the anticipation that Hindle will continue getting on base at a high rate, I think he’s a good pick here.
How would you grade Cousino in his time as recruiting coordinator and could you see him gain interest as a HC somewhere soon? — Trey
He’s done well, particularly in high school recruiting. Bell was his first big recruiting win shortly after being hired, and it’s not hyperbole to say that his showing up to school was a big part of the reason Kentucky was in the NCAA Tournament in 2025. He’s Kentucky’s best player going into next year and could give the program another first-round pick in 2026. We’ll wait to see if that happens before spending a lot of time on it, but what a tremendous proof of concept it could be for the program to show future recruits if Bell improves his draft position from 2024.
Ryan Schwartz and Nate Harris were also players with big roles on last year’s team who signed with the program after Cousino was hired.
Kentucky had been portal-heavy prior to Cousino’s hiring in 2023. The program needed to win, and getting more experienced college players was the smart path. I thought Will Coggin, now at Georgia, really did well in that space. He had a good eye in the portal at a time that Kentucky really needed it.
But I think the priorities have shifted somewhat. While Kentucky still heavily recruits the portal, its brand in high school recruiting is stronger now than it was even three years ago, thanks to its appearance in the College World Series. I think you can already see that in the 2026 class, which looks like one of the best on paper in many years. All nine commitments are in the top 250 of PBR’s rankings. There’s no guarantee that a highly-ranked high school player will pan out, but Cousino and the staff are doing a good job landing players who are sought after by other quality programs.
As far as head coaching prospects, he’s in a good spot right now. Cousino is still just 32 and got a nice raise after last season. I think it makes a lot of sense to stay in Lexington and continue developing as an assistant for the foreseeable future.
Good read