Kentucky Baseball Stock Report: Bat Cats Earning National Respect After LSU Series
Sitting halfway through the SEC schedule, Kentucky is 10-5 against in-conference foes. That's a record that head coach Nick Mingione would take if given to him before the season began — he said so:
“I think any coach in our league, if you were to say, ‘hey, midway point, you're gonna have 10 wins,’ I think every coach would sign up for it."
Mingione has been around the conference for quite some time and he's well aware that his team stands in a very good position to finish well in the league, as well as in the national rankings. UK dropped one spot to No. 13 in the newest D1Baseball poll but is still one of six teams in the SEC that have a number next to its name.
The road ahead? Still treacherous...that won't ever change:
- vs. Texas A&M
- @ No. 4 Vanderbilt
- vs. No. 6 South Carolina
- @ Tennessee
- vs. No. 3 Florida
Including midweeks, Kentucky has 18 games remaining until it heads to Hoover for the SEC Tournament. Here's a stock report as the back end of April commences:
STOCK UP: National Respect
Up until this past weekend in Baton Rouge, there was still that air surrounding Kentucky's name and the number next to it. Sure, the RPI looks great, but had the Bat Cats really played anybody yet?
Mingione and his team aren't taking silver linings from the LSU series, because they still lost two of three games. What they did do, though, was put their product out on the field against the No. 1 team in the nation for the world to see. The first thoughts from those who watched the three games at Alex Box Stadium weren't "man, how good are those LSU Tigers?"
No, it was "okay, Kentucky really can hang" or "perhaps the Cats are legit." Some good competitive baseball in a hostile environment is the perfect space for a posing team to get exposed for something it's not. That didn't happen to UK.
NCAA Tournament projections still peg Kentucky Proud Park to be one of the 16 locations hosting a Regional. Circa Sports' current odds for teams to make the College World Series has Kentucky at +5500. At the beginning of the season, those odds were at +20000.
The hype is starting to build.
STOCK UP: Émilien Pitre
Flashback to the 2022 season, and Émilien Pitre was not a fixture in the UK lineup. Serving as the backup to Gold Glove-winning and future MLB draft pick Ryan Ritter, there wasn't room for the Repentigny, Quebec, Canada native to get reps. He played in 11 games, had four at-bats and didn't record a hit.
Then came the offseason, where Pitre proceeded to bat .405 for the Bethesda Big Train of the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League in the summer. Accumulating 20 RBIs, 21 walks and six steals, he had a .973 OPS and .510 on-base percentage. Making that transition from summer ball to college isn't easy, but he's since made it look that way.
Sliding over to second base when shortstop Grant Smith was brought in from the transfer portal, Pitre has manned the cleanup spot in the order for almost the entire season and is currently slashing .373/.516/.508. The .373 batting average is 10th in the SEC, while the .516 OBP ranks fifth.
The sophomore is seventh in walks with 31 and has stolen 12 bases in 14 attempts. It's not just offensively, either. He and Smith have 96 and 97 assists this year, the first and second most in the conference.
It was all highlighted over the weekend in UK's series at No. 1 LSU. Pitre collected seven hits and was a part of multiple inning-ending double plays that got the Cats out of some serious jams.
“He is a very even-keeled, and he's a very consistent person. Even you watch the way he plays like, he is just so steady, whether it's a big hit, or a great play, or a rare strike out, he is the same dude," Mingione said of his 2B. "That helps him, because he's not getting too high, get too low … being an everyday player to manage those ups and downs, that can be really difficult. And he is just so consistent.”
A lot can change over the course of a year. For Pitre, all it took was a summer. He's now an integral part of the Cats' offense and defense.
STOCK UP: Mason Moore
Amongst all of the names that were though to be major pieces in the Kentucky bullpen at the beginning of the season, right-hander Mason Moore was not someone that was immediately mentioned.
Unlike Pitre, Moore was utilized as a freshman, making 19 appearances. He was hit hard, allowing 15 earned runs in 22 innings, giving up at least one run in over half of his outings in 2022, totaling a 6.14 ERA. He didn't go out and dominate his summer league in 2022, but he did rack up some valuable innings.
In six starts and seven total appearances, Moore threw 32.2 innings, struck out 38 batters and managed a respectable 3.58 ERA. Like Pitre, though, whatever worked for the Morehead, Ky. native at the New Market Rebels of the Valley Baseball League transitioned back over to Lexington.
Moore has thrown 11 times in 2023 and currently owns a 2-0 record and a 1.80 ERA, the third best of any UK reliever that had made at least 10 appearances. He's tied with Austin Strickland for the most innings (25.0) of relief from a Wildcat arm and has allowed just five earned on 12 hits, walking 15 while punching out 25, also earning a team-best three saves.
Also like Pitre, Moore shoved in his outing against LSU. Inducing a pair of double plays, he threw 2.2 innings against the Tigers in the Cats' lone win of the series.
"His ability to just land three pitches for a strike has been crucial," Mingione said of Moore after the win. "Teams just hit his fastball into the ground. So at any point in time, if there's a guy on, he is one swing away from a double play, and I just I love how poised he was. I love how competitive — he was stone cold in this environment."
Mingione and pitching coach Dan Roszel have stretched Moore out since the start of SEC play. Four of his six outings against conference foes have been scoreless, including 4.1 IP against Mississippi State and three flawless innings at Georgia.
Opponents are hitting .145 against Moore across 83 at-bats.
More on the LSU series HERE.
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