More offseason roster moves for Kentucky Baseball

The offseason carousel slows for nobody as Kentucky baseball head coach Nick Mingione picked up another commitment this past week. This time coming from Ryder Giles, a two-way junior from Eastern Carolina that D1Baseball reports is heading to Lexington. Giles is another one that looks to be an immediate impact player.

Kentucky picks up help in both ways

Giles is cut slightly differently than we’ve seen over the past few years at Kentucky Proud Park. A shortstop while in the field, the righty appeared in 15 games this season on the mound for a Pirates team that was consistently among the top-10 this entire season. He impressed too, posting a 3.27 ERA through nine starts and a hand full of relief opportunities.

Only allowing eight walks in 44 innings of work this season, Giles appears to be a low-walk, reliable arm on the mound that could prove to be vital once the bullpen runs deep. Giles will also be joining a familiar face with former ECU assistant Dan Roszel already on staff.

UPDATE: @ECUBaseball shortstop/pitcher @RyderGiles announced on Instagram he will be transferring to Kentucky. Former Pirate pitching coach Dan Roszel just completed his second year on the Wildcats staff pic.twitter.com/CX2N8cgPmB

— Pirate Radio ☠️ (@PR927FM) July 2, 2022

Primarily a shortstop when in the field, the North Carolina native has never been a sparkplug at the plate. Giles finished the year with a slash line of .176/.288/.235. He makes that up for with fielding — he’s genuinely been a reliable glove over his collegiate career.

It’s unsure where he’ll be slotted on the 2023 ‘Cats, but worst-case scenario Mingione and his staff found another reliable arm to throw in the pen.

Take one and let one walk away

As expected, Kentucky couldn’t attack the portal this hard and still expect their entire roster to stay from this past season. D1Baseball is also reporting that Michael Dallas, the freshman infielder from Arlington, Tenn., has decided to throw his name into the transfer portal. Dallas’ entry marks the third Wildcat to enter their name into the portal this offseason.

Kentucky isn’t losing much with Dallas. The freshman struggled to crack the lineup last season, recording four at-bats in nine appearances and failing to record a hit. In an already overcrowded infield, there simply wasn’t enough room to keep them all and Dallas just seems to be a casualty of numbers. It doesn’t appear as if he’ll get his opportunity here, so it makes sense to try and find somewhere that will give you consistent at-bats.