It's not yet time to give up on the Kentucky Bat 'Cats
It literally just happened it in Lexington a few weeks ago. A Kentucky team full of turmoil and uncertainty throughout the regular season was counted out of any semblance of playoff aspirations. That team came up from the depths of apprehension and beat the No. 1 ranked team in the country on one of the biggest stages.
If we learned anything from our women’s hoops team this year, it’s not time to count out the Bat ‘Cats.
You’re in the best conference for a reason
We all saw it. It was ugly, no doubt. Kentucky got spanked 18-6 over the weekend throughout their three-game skid against the No. 3 ranked Arkansas Razorbacks. The potent offense came to a screeching halt and it seemed like the pitching staff was overmatched once again. Numbers don’t tell the whole story though.
Despite a catastrophic failure last year in the Super Regional against America’s darling NC State, the Razorbacks were the clear and unrivaled No. 1 team in America for 95% of last season. The team was an absolute juggernaut that fell victim to the wacky nature of baseball last season, it happens.
Loaded with two potential first-round picks this year with Robert Moore and Cayden Wallace, Arkansas by no means is any slouch this year compared to last. And I’m sure they’re filled with future first-rounders in the coming years.
They came into the series against the Wildcats riding an eight-game win streak in which they outscored their opponents 79-24. It’s easy to skew the minds of viewers and fans based on one bad series against a national championship contender to kick off SEC play. The only SEC team that Arkansas ranks behind is Ole Miss. We see the Rebels come to Lexington in a few weeks, but let’s not get too ahead of ourselves.
This is still a team loaded with potential
Part of what worries the BBN, which is completely warranted, is that this season is already starting to seem like a re-run of a bad daytime soap opera. Kentucky was off to their best start since 2018, going 14-3 in their non-conference tilt to begin the year. Baseball is such a stupid and unpredictable sport that losses to Western Kentucky and Ohio shouldn’t even bother you, it just happens sometimes.
Still, fans have every right to worry that this is just a repeat of almost every Kentucky team since head coach Nick Mingione made it to the Super Regional in his inaugural season in 2017. They play well against mid-majors and lower-tier competition, only to get boat raced once conference play comes around.
I’m not here to say that it’s absolutely, definitively, better this go around. But acting like it’s the same ole Kentucky baseball team is doing a disservice to the members on the squad and yourself as a fan.
It took all of about a few games to realize that there is something different about this team. Different enough to make serious noise in the SEC and the postseason? We’re not sure — nobody is. But you can without a doubt see that this team has greater potential than any other they’ve thrown out over the past few years.
Despite lacking the numbers in their first showing against elite-level pitching, this lineup is still oozing with potential down the road. They have their elite shortstop in Ryan Ritter who’s showing power numbers that now define him as an overall fantastic player, rather than simply a gold-glove caliber player you hide in the lineup.
Chase Estep has potentially been the hottest bat in the country so far this season. He’s already been named a National Player of the Week while showing exponential growth at the plate and in the field. He had a cold week in Fayetteville, going 3-13 on the weekend, but that shouldn’t worry you about the Corbin, KY native. Cayden Wallace was nearly just as bad this past week, and he’s definitely getting drafted high.
Overall the lineup still has five regulars boasting over a .300 average. It would be a complete shock to see them fall off completely.
Pitching was actually pretty decent against Arkansas
Okay I know it sounds crazy to say this, especially with the final scores this weekend, but Kentucky’s pitching staff actually held their own against the Razorback lineup this past week — for the most part.
The most worrisome aspect of the Wildcat staff this season has been the performance of Cole Stupp. There’s no other way to put it, Stupp has been shoddy in his lead-up to conference play. The Friday night starter came into the tilt with Arkansas boasting a 7.71 ERA on the year. His walk-to-strikeout rate hasn’t been bad, but he’s been hit consistently. Admittedly though, things were starting to look up after a quality start against High Point.
Inarguably, Stupp had his best performance of the year this past Friday, purely from a pitching standpoint. It’s mind-boggling to say that if you’re a box score watcher. But as they say: men lie, women lie, but numbers don’t.
Well… sometimes they do.
Stupp allowed eight hits and five runs, one earned, in the start against Arkansas. But let me be clear, Stupp has each and every right to challenge his teammates to a locker-boxing match after the catastrophe they put on behind him.
Kentucky has been incredibly reliable defensively, but that all went away this weekend. The Wildcats had three errors that led to innings continuing and runs coming across. The earned run wasn’t even Stupp’s fault either. The hits total got inflated because the defense wasn’t able to get out of innings.
The bullpen was fantastic all weekend too, if you discount a couple of innings from Hagenow on Saturday.
Speaking of Saturday, I’ll let the haters have that one. Magdiel Cotto struggled once again as he tries to find any rhythm in a Kentucky uniform. A decision is going to have to be made quickly regarding him and his 8.22 ERA as a starter or they might be in big trouble. And even after Hagenow floundered on the mound Saturday, the bullpen still only allowed one run over the final 4.1 innings.
On Sunday, Kentucky might’ve had their best pitching performance of the season, all things considered. Tyler Bosma looked excellent in his 2.2 innings of work. Mingione was pulling his starters early all weekend, otherwise, it was strange that he only got such limited time. Even then, Darren Williams and the rest of the bullpen locked down, allowing one run over the final 5.1 innings that day.
The pitching staff was the biggest worry regarding Kentucky coming into the weekend. Oddly enough, we feel more confident about the staff than before despite the sweep. A couple of things go differently, a few balls get caught, and this series is much different than what it looks like.
Kentucky is a good baseball team this year. It’s unfortunate and ugly that they had to run into one of the best teams in the country to start SEC play.
They have the chance to right the ship this weekend against Georgia. And if they do, it’s not time to count out the Bat ‘Cats in 2022. What else do we have to root for? Basketball? We’d rather not talk about it…
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