Remaining notes from Bat Cat Central's interview with Nick Mingione

Bat Cats Central met with Kentucky baseball coach Nick Mingione near the end of August. It was a wide-ranging interview previewing fall practice and some other big-picture items with the program. Here are the four other stories from the series:

• Nick Mingione breaks down incoming position player class
• UK coach Nick Mingione discusses returning pitchers from 2025 roster
• Kentucky was 'in need of arms' this offseason
• Nick Mingione reflects on UK tenure as he nears his 10th fall as head coach

The remaining notes touch on the roster-building process this year compared to recent years because of rule changes, how development this fall could be accelerated with more returning players than in recent years, and more.

The transcript has been lightly edited for clarity. Player-specific notes on a few returning players were omitted because they will be used in the Returning Player Spotlight series instead.

On how this fall will be different from last year with more returning players: 

MINGIONE: “We return 17 guys that were on our team from a year ago, which is a huge number compared to what we’ve maybe had in years past. But it started this summer in the weight room. The coaches are not allowed to be there, but the job that Ben Cleaver, Nate Harris, Jaxon Jelkin, Luke Lawrence, and even the freshmen that came in early, was awesome... You just feel like this group knows what to expect. Really, even from a staff perspective, with last year looking back, Chase Slone (hitting coach), our athletic trainer (Justin Durham), there was change. This year, Chase is back for a second year, JD is back as our trainer for the second year. Brent Jones, our strength coach, is back with us in the fall. All of this has been really good. It’s not just from a player perspective, but from a staff and a leadership perspective, you feel like we are further ahead because of the experience on the staff and player side.”