Projecting Kentucky's 2025 Opening Day lineup

Of Kentucky’s nine regular starters last season, only seven return for the 2025 campaign. Those who departed — outfielders Nolan McCarthy and Ryan Waldschmidt; infielders Mitch Daly, Grant Smith, Emilien Pitre and Ryan Nicholson; DH Nick Lopez — were cornerstones on the most successful Kentucky baseball team in school history. Of this group, Kentucky must replace:

• 1,422 at-bats
• 342 runs
• 99 doubles
• 72 home runs
• 336 runs batted-in

It’s no small task, but a new group of Wildcats will step in this season with hopes of leading the program to the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season.

The following projections are for the opening day lineup, though some players will have situational roles. There will be everyday players for this team, but it’s likely that over the course of the season, players will be used to mix and match. I’ll take that into account when discussing each position.

If you missed the news, Kentucky will now play a doubleheader against Lipscomb on Friday. The first game will begin at 1 p.m. and Lipscomb is expected to start lefthander Rigo Ramos in one of the games, along with righty Jake Poindexter.

Catcher

Starter: Devin Burkes

Others in the mix: Raphael Pelletier, Ryan Schwartz