Nick Mingione Beams About his Team on Baseball Media Day
Fresh off a late season run to finish in the semifinals of the 2022 SEC Baseball Tournament, Kentucky baseball head coach Nick Mingione was beaming from head to toe about this year’s squad on Media Day Wednesday afternoon.
Mingione opened his presser with kind remarks for Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart.
“I’m thankful for [Mitch] for the leadership he shows. I often say a leader knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. That’s what he’s done for over 20 years.”
This offseason, Kentucky fielded 12 incoming transfers to replace many key players that were lost, including Gold Glove INF Ryan Ritter, INF Chase Estep, and RHP Tyler Guilfoil. IF Isaiah Byars (North Florida), RHP Seth Chavez (ETSU), and OF Kendal Ewell (EKU) are some of these transfers that will look to make an impact right away.
Coach Mingione spoke very highly of the new pieces.
“For us, it was just sitting here trying to address some needs and making sure some of the guys that were in our program are ready to play. There’s no question positionally, whether it’s in the (MLB) Draft, graduation, or guys signing pro contracts, those are areas we have to address.”
Every starting infielder from last season’s team, except catcher Devin Burkes, has either graduated or left the program. It was very important for Mingione and his staff to go out and bring in some great, experienced talent to keep this train rolling, and they seem to have done a great job (on paper). We’ll have to wait until February 17th to see what this new look infield will look like.
“It’s about learning them as a player,” Burkes said about his new teammates. “Being a leader on the team, you have to know what works for each player. It’s not too hard… I’m a social guy.”
Coach Mingione didn’t hold back on his excitement about this team’s speed, power, and tenaciousness.
“You know what I’m looking for? Mass chaos,” Mingione said with a grin. “We’re talking about stealing, hit-and-running, bunting, two-strike bunting, you name it. Going first to third, first to home, we’re just going to be super aggressive and we’re going to force our opponents to make plays.”
“They have to believe,” Mingione said about his team after last season’s run. “…winners act like winners before they win. No team has won yet. The scoreboard is still 0-0. Are we acting like winners first?”
After coming so close last season in finishing off the Cinderella run, this coaching staff and these returning players know what it takes to get to that point. The SEC will be a gauntlet this season, with nine of College Baseball’s Preseason Top 25 teams hailing from the Southeastern Conference. We’ll just have to wait and see what this team can accomplish.
Kentucky Baseball kicks its season off on February 17th at Elon.
You can listen to Coach Mingione’s entire press conference here:
Stay tuned for KSR’s 2023 Kentucky Baseball Preview coming soon.
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