Nick Mingione: Kentucky has the chance to be special in 2026

Following Kentucky‘s 13-12 loss to West Virginia in Sunday night’s Clemson Regional Final, head coach Nick Mingione revealed that he is extremely high on the future of his Wildcat program.

The 2025 season was a bit of a rebuilding year for Kentucky, which lost seven of its nine offensive starters, all three of its starting pitchers and multiple bullpen pieces from its 2024 Men’s College World Series team. Unlike 2024 in which many players from the 2023 season returned, the roster was completely turned over for the 2025 campaign.

Mingione shared this sentiment following the loss to the Mountaineers.

“Unfortunately with the transfer portal and with redshirts, we’ve already had to have meetings with our players,” Mingione said. “School’s out and they’re traveling and you’re not hosting. So we have been forced to prepare for next year. I can’t tell you, two years ago, the team that we had coming back two years ago after the Super [Regional]… we had Devin [Burkes] back, [Émilien Pitre] back, [Grant Smith] back and [Ryan Waldschmidt] back. We had all of those guys back and that was so exciting.”

Bell and Cleaver headline returners

Unlike the 2025 team and like the 2024 team, the 2026 Kentucky team returns many young, exciting pieces that should make Big Blue Nation very excited. This crop of players includes 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 continued. “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 offensively.”

Kentucky’s young pieces flashed signs of greatness in the Clemson Regional, led by Hudson Brown. Brown, who played in just 43 games this season, went 4-10 at the plate with a double, a home run and eight RBI. There may not have been a player on the entire team that raised his stock higher than he did over the weekend, as he was also named to the Clemson All-Regional team.

“Look what Nate Harris did today. Look at Ben Cleaver. And you know we’ve got a couple of other guys that continue to progress and bring back. There’s a really strong foundation of guys that now have experience. Man I really believe, depending on how all this works with the portal, we have a chance to be special next year.”

The 2025 campaign may have been a bit disappointing for people who expected it to surpass the 2024 Men’s College World Series run, but the 2026 season looks to get the program right back on track.