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Kentucky

Nick Mingione details Kentucky's approach to transfer portal

Danby: Daniel Hager06/24/25DanielHagerOn3
Nick-Mingione-details-Kentucky-approach-to-transfer-portal
Photo via UK Athletics

Nick Mingione‘s Kentucky baseball program has had an eventful offseason.

Fresh off a “rebuilding” season in which Kentucky advanced to the Clemson Regional Final (its third consecutive NCAA Tournament Regional Final), the ‘Cats are having a stellar showing in the Transfer Portal.

Mingione sat down with Kentucky’s “LEX 18” news station this week, where he discussed the Wildcats’ approach to the transfer portal and the offseason as a whole.

“With the amount of commitments and time and effort, we’ve been able to really dive into the transfer portal,” Mingione said. “We’ve been studying players and developing relationships and doing background checks and talking to people we know and trust. All this takes time. I wish I could tell you that you recruit one guy and get every single guy. It’s not ‘oh yeah we only recruited seven guys, we got seven of them’. No, that’s not how this works. You have to recruit multiple guys to get the right ones.”

Incoming Transfers:

Outgoing Transfers:

“I give coach [Austin Cousino] and the staff so much credit because there is so much video,” Mingione said. “There’s also so much data that we can capture. So we’ve created our own little system that we just plug in and crunch the numbers and see how these people do against all these different things and metrics that we feel are important. On top of that, we put a ton of stock into the phone conversations. It’s one thing to be able to watch the video and be able to see that they meet the metrics, but are they who we are? Are they gonna thrive in this environment? Do they value the things we value like being a family? Are they committed to winning in all areas of life? There’s so many levels to this.”

The transfer portal has been a detriment to some and a blessing to others. It has definitely been a blessing to Kentucky, as many impactful players have made their way to Lexington through the portal in the last few seasons. Just to name a few, right-handed pitcher Tyler Guilfoil (Lipscomb) and DH Nick Lopez (USC) were named First Team All-SEC selections, outfielder Ryan Waldschmidt (Charleston Southern) was selected in the First Round of the 2024 MLB Draft, Ryan Nicholson (Cincinnati) belted a program record 24 home runs in 2024 and Mitchell Daly (Texas) blasted a walk-off home run in the 2024 Men’s College World Series.

“We put a lot of stock into phone calls. If those go well, then the background checks. It’s us calling coaches and scouts. For example, we’ve got a guy committed who I’ve known his coach at a previous institution for years. And he’s just like ‘Minge, you’re gonna love this guy’. And I’m like ‘elaborate, what does that mean?’ And he’s like ‘this guy is all about the team. Our team wouldn’t do anything without this guy. I know how much you value the team. This guy was that guy.”

Along with a strong portal class, Kentucky returns a strong core of players headlined by sophomore shortstop Tyler Bell, junior left-handed pitcher Ben Cleaver, sophomore right-hander pitcher Nate Harris, freshman utility player Ryan Schwartz and redshirt sophomore first baseman Hudson Brown.

“I’m really excited about next year’s team,” Mingione said after Kentucky‘s 13-12 loss to West Virginia in the Clemson Regional Final. “I think if the guys continue to grow and develop and we bring all this back, depending on what happens with the Draft, if you told me we were a preseason top-10 team in the country I could believe it. That’s how highly I think of the guys we have coming back.”