2024 was the year of Kentucky Baseball

As yet another year comes to an end, everybody tends to look back upon what has occurred over the last 12 months.

Usually, Big Blue Nation is looking back fondly on a Bowl Game appearance/win in football or an NCAA Tournament run in basketball. As 2024 comes to an end however, a different sport sticks out among the rest; Kentucky Baseball.

2024 was a historic year for the program, which won a share of its second ever SEC Regular Season Championship and made its first ever appearance in the Men’s College World Series. The Cats didn’t just make an appearance however, as they walked off NC State in their opening game courtesy of a Mitchell Daly game-ending home run.

“I’m just so proud of our group of men,” head coach Nick Mingione said after Kentucky’s season came to an end at the hands of Florida. “Our team really is a group of men. They’re unbelievable in every sense of the word and they made history.”

Made history is an understatement, as the 2024 Kentucky Baseball Wildcats will forever be known as the greatest team in program history. Mingione’s Cats rounded out the season with a 46-16 (22-8) record, totaling the most overall wins (46) and most SEC wins (22) in a season in team history.

Moments make memorable seasons, and this one was loaded with them. Along with the forever iconic Mitchell Daly walk-off home run, the Ryan Nicholson game-tying solo home run in the ninth inning of that NC State game was the reason the game was sent to extra innings. And who could ever forget the pandemonium that was Kentucky’s Super Regional clinching victory over Oregon State, which sent the Cats to the Men’s College World Series for the first time.

Along with that Oregon State win, fans packed Kentucky Proud Park on May 17 as the Wildcats trounced Vanderbilt 17-7 to clinch a share of their second ever SEC Regular Season Championship. Pair those unforgettable moments with iconic plays such as Nolan McCarthy’s iconic slide into home plate against Oregon State (pictured), Grant Smith’s #SCTop10 catch against Indiana State, Ryan Nicholson’s ninth inning home run against Florida on May 10, and McCarthy’s SEC Tournament home run robbery and you’ve got yourself an all-time unforgettable season.

Following the season, seven players were selected in the 2024 MLB Draft and two signed as undrafted free agents. Second Team All-SEC selection Ryan Waldschmidt was selected with the No. 31 pick by the Arizona Diamondbacks, becoming just the seventh Wildcat taken in the first round and first since Evan White in 2017.

31. OF Ryan Waldschmidt (Arizona Diamondbacks)
58. 2B Émilien Pitre (Tampa Bay Rays)
292. 1B Ryan Nicholson (Los Angeles Angels)
306. RHP Trey Pooser (Tampa Bay Rays)
439. RHP Mason Moore (Chicago White Sox)
455. RHP Travis Smith (Milwaukee Brewers)
546. LHP Dominic Niman (Tampa Bay Rays)
UDFA. SS Grant Smith (Chicago White Sox)
UDFA. 3B Mitchell Daly (Los Angeles Angels)

As good as a year as 2024 was for Kentucky Baseball, it seems like it could be just the beginning. Over the offseason, Mingione and his staff hauled in the ninth best transfer class in the country and won big by retaining incoming freshman phenom Tyler Bell, who was selected with the No. 66 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft.

As the calendar turns into 2025, we are now just a month and a half away from Kentucky’s season opener on February 14 at Lipscomb.