Kentucky Baseball Not Ranked in Perfect Game Preseason Top 25

Despite finishing the 2023 season ranked No. 16 by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, No. 17 by D1Baseball, and No. 19 by Baseball America, Nick Mingione’s Kentucky Baseball program was left out of Perfect Game’s 2024 Preseason Top 25 Rankings.

The full Top 25 rankings can be found below. The Southeastern Conference boasts eight of the Top 15 ranked programs.

.@PGCollegeBall 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐎𝐏 𝟐𝟓 📈https://t.co/8bkuJQR7fQ pic.twitter.com/dB87eOCyjd

— Perfect Game USA (@PerfectGameUSA) January 5, 2024

The Bat ‘Cats find six of Perfect Game’s preseason top-15 teams on their schedule in 2024 (No. 2 Arkansas, No. 4 Florida, No. 6 Vanderbilt, No. 11 Tennessee, No. 13 South Carolina, and No. 15 Auburn). They will face Arkansas, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt at Kentucky Proud Park in Lexington.

Although Kentucky returns pivotal players such as C Devin Burkes, RHP Mason Moore, and 2B Émilien Pitre, they lost a chunk of production with the departures of 1B Hunter Gilliam, OF Jackson Gray, RHP Zack Lee, and RHP Darren Williams. You can read up on all returning players, departures, and incoming transfers in KSR’s 2024 Kentucky Baseball Offseason Review.

The ‘Cats open their 2024 season on the road on Feb. 16 against South Carolina-Upstate.

Perfect Game Preseason Top 25

1. Wake Forest
2. Arkansas*
3. LSU
4. Florida*
5. TCU
6. Vanderbilt*
7. Texas A&M
8. Texas
9. Oregon State
10. Virginia
11. Tennessee*
12. Stanford
13. South Carolina*
14. North Carolina
15. Auburn*
16. Iowa
17. East Carolina
18. UCLA
19. NC State
20. Kansas State
21. Clemson
22. Oklahoma State
23. Duke
24. UC Santa Barbara
25. Coastal Carolina

* Denotes a Kentucky opponent in 2024