Nick Mingione raves about Kentucky's culture
The baseball program at Kentucky has seen a major turnaround over the past two seasons. Much of that has come from the newfound culture that they’ve established on their team and in their dugout, which has been nothing short of a pleasure to be around for Nick Mingione.
Mingione spoke about his team, including in comparison to last year’s roster, during a press conference on Wednesday. To him, there are plenty of things that are the same as well as different between the two teams.
“There’s a lot of similarities. There’s a lot of differences as well,” Mingione said.
However, Mingione wanted to focus on the resemblances between the two. That starts with the energy that they both brought to the diamond, even if that aspect last year was more about individuals and that quality this year is more about the team as whole.
“I just think that they are a team. Like, they legitimately are a team. You know, we say the strength of our team is our team. It is just filled with people that just legitimately want to do whatever they can to help Kentucky win,” said Mingione. “We just have a lot of unselfish people that are willing to make sacrifices, whether it’s either playing time, their style of play, their mentality. They’re just very, very unselfish. They genuinely like and care for each other. They want to play for each other and they have fun doing it.”
“Last year’s team had, like, maybe four or five stronger, different personalities. This one is just, like as a unit, funner. Like, they just have a lot more fun,” Mingione explained. “That team had fun last year too. So maybe that’s like a difference. We had certain personalities last year to where, like, you’d go to that one guy. Now, it’s just that we’re a team full of just a bunch of guys.”
That unity this season has made the coaching staff’s job easy according to Mingione. They all work together and have the same approach toward their common goal as a group.
“It’s just hard to get that many 18 to 24 year olds to just be all together on the same page. It’s just really hard,” Mingione said. “This team is just great dudes. Like, just week in and week out.”
“They’re just a joy. Like, just bring this – I can’t, I don’t know. I’ve got to do a better job of finding the words. They just give you this peace, that, ‘Hey, we got this,'” said Mingione. “Their belief, their edge, their toughness – everything about them from that standpoint is just so much fun to be around.”
All that has come together to build to a record of 77-23 over the past two seasons for Kentucky. The Wildcats went 40-21 last year in earning the No. 12 seed nationally before losing in the Baton Rouge Super Regional. Now, this season, they are 37-11 going into their final conference series with a chance to win the league title and further make their case for the No. 1 seed in the bracket.
Kentucky has come a long way in just the last pair of seasons. That’s all a credit to the players that have come through their program who have made it as enjoyable and as successful of an experience as it has been.
“Overall, a common thing is their love for Kentucky and their desire to win – wanting to win for this city, this state, to BBN, and also each other,” said Mingione.
“They’re just a very well-rounded group of people. It has just been a joy. It has been so fun,” said Mingione. “I’m going to miss these dudes, especially our seniors that we’re honoring this weekend. Just a lot of really good, good, good people.