Kentucky continues yearly trend of bringing in quality hitters from Transfer Portal
In terms of the value added by players who had hitting statistics in 2024, Kentucky hauled in the third best hitting class in the nation out of the Transfer Portal this offseason according to 64Analytics.com.
Nick Mingione and his staff brought in seven offensive players this offseason, including four inside the Top 160 rankings. Columbia 1B/DH Cole Hage (No. 92), Kansas State C Raphael Pelletier (No. 114), Illinois State INF Luke Lawrence (No. 152), and San Diego State OF Shaun Montoya (No. 156) are all primed to be the next players to make the leap to the next level while playing in Lexington.
Milwaukee OF Carson Hansen (No. 272), Memphis OF Will Marcy (No. 398), and Campbell 1B Dylan Koontz (No. 752) look to be valuable offensive assets as well.
Big time hitters such as Jackson Gray (Western Kentucky), Hunter Gilliam (Longwood), Ryan Nicholson (Cincinnati), Ryan Waldschmidt (Charleston Southern), and Mitchell Daly (Texas) are just a few to have seen their games taken to another level after transferring to Kentucky in recent memory.
Nicholson was named the 2024 Lexington Regional Most Outstanding Player and belted 23 home runs (tied for the most hit by a Kentucky player in a single season in the Nick Mingione era), Waldschmidt was named a Baseball America All-American and was selected in the First Round of the 2024 MLB Draft, and Daly delivered a walk-off home run to hand the Cats their first ever win in the Men’s College World Series.
Hansen looks to be the most underrated offensive pickup for the Cats, as the 2024 Horizon League First-Teamer hit 25 doubles last season (T-7th in NCAA) and posted a .601 SLG%.
“Given how hard of a sport baseball is I try to stay away from numbers and stats,” Hansen told KSR. “But I do know that if I stay true to my routine, and own my process day in and day out the results will come.”
Six of the seven offensive transfers hit above .290 last season, with three of them earning All-Conference selections either in 2024 or 2023 (Hage, Montoya, Hansen).
The 2025 season looks to be back on a promising track, as the addition of big time transfers, big time freshmen such as Tyler Bell and Ryan Schwartz, and a great offensive minded assistant coach such as Chase Slone bring a lot of optimism to a program once struggling to find it earlier this offseason.
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