Returning player spotlight: Ryan Schwartz

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Sophomore outfielder Ryan Schwartz continues our returning player spotlight series.

Previous player spotlights:

Background

One of the top high school baseball players in the 2024 recruiting class, Schwartz originally signed with Texas during his senior year but reopened his recruitment after the Longhorns fired head coach David Pierce. Schwartz took a visit to Kentucky and committed shortly after.

”They were my first visit and one of my best friends from home is from there,” Schwartz told Bat Cats Central in 2024. "I really like the town of Lexington. It felt like somewhere I could live. All of the coaches really seemed invested in me. It seemed like somewhere I really wanted to be and they stood out to me. After visiting everywhere else, money aside, this is where I want to play and go to school.”

Ranked in the top 150 by Perfect Game, Schwartz was a catcher at the prep level while playing at Combine Academy in North Carolina. He hit 10 home runs as a senior, but broke his hand after being hit by a pitch during a training session. That injury set him back when he first got to Kentucky and he missed all of fall practice.

But he got healthy during the spring and eventually cracked the lineup as an outfielder, appearing in 21 games. Schwartz slashed .317/.461/.500 with four doubles, two triples, one homer and 15 RBI in 60 at-bats.

Schwartz's best performance came against Oklahoma on May 10. He went 3-3 and reached base on a walk, finishing just a home run shy of the cycle.

"We believe in Schwartz at a very high level," said Kentucky coach Nick Mingione in an interview with Bat Cats Central in August. "We want to build off what he proved last year, and we want to pick up where he left off and make another jump... Our challenge to him was to continue to get stronger. His body looks great. Love the plan we had, he played up until July and then rested and got stronger. He’s been training ever since. We need to continue to just develop him in the outfield because he has all the natural and gifted ability. He has the chance to be an above-average or elite corner outfielder. We want to continue to build on that defense and get through a fall of overall physical and on-field development.”

He slashed .452/.550/.516 with two doubles and six RBI for Amsterdam in the Perfect Game Collegiate League.