Four games into 2023 season, UK baseball pitching staff offering reasons for optimism
One weekend into Kentucky baseball’s preseason practice schedule, there were reasons to sound the alarm about the Wildcats’ pitching staff.
So UK’s strong start on the mound in the first week of the season had to be accompanied by a sigh of relief.
“If you would have seen our first intrasquad (scrimmages) coming back, there’s no way,” UK baseball coach Nick Mingione said. “I give our team a lot of credit. We had some leaders step up when we first got back and basically told them, ‘Hey, look man, we’ve got to pitch the ball better, we’ve got to defend better.’
“That’s what our team has done. After that first weekend, we have thrown the ball exceptionally well.”
The quality of competition has to be taken into account with an opening series against Elon and a Tuesday midweek game against Evansville, but a year ago Kentucky surrendered more runs in its season opener against Jacksonville State (eight) than it has through four games this season (six).
Kentucky lost three of the top four pitchers from a staff that ranked 10th in the SEC in ERA (4.89) last season. The only returner from that group is senior right-hander Darren Williams, who is working his way back from Tommy John surgery.
Mingione looked to the transfer portal to boost the staff, headlining the transfer pitcher class with former Sewanee star Logan Martin, but improvement will be needed by a group of returning pitchers who struggled for most of 2022.
There are early signs of progress toward that goal.
Saturday starter Tyler Bosma, who recorded a 4.79 ERA in 11 games last season, pitched six scoreless innings to record a win over Elon. Sunday starter Zack Lee, who recorded a 6.11 ERA in 16 games in 2022, struck out seven batters in five scoreless innings against Elon. Right-handed relievers Mason Moore and Austin Strickland, who each recorded ERAs over six last season, recorded three-inning saves in their first appearances.
Perhaps most encouraging, multiple key arms returning from injury enjoyed positive 2023 debuts.
Williams, who was arguably Kentucky’s best pitcher when healthy in 2022, struck out seven batters while walking just one in three scoreless innings of relief against Elon. Redshirt freshman Travis Smith, the Wildcats’ top-ranked recruit in 2021 who missed all of last season while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, surrendered one run in three innings in a start against Evansville in his college debut.
“Since we’ve been back, after that first weekend, you could just see it coming with each guy,” Mingione said. “The guys just kept getting better and better and better and better.”
Williams’ role moving forward could change as he is able to throw more pitches the further he gets from surgery, but the best-case scenario for Kentucky might be keeping him in a multiple-inning relief position.
That’s the role where All-American Tyler Guilfoil thrived last season, striking out 80 batters in 51 innings before being drafted by the Houston Astros in the eighth round. Guilfoil carried that success into professional baseball, surrendering just one run in 17 1/3 innings across two minor league levels.
Asked for his preferred role at UK’s preseason media day, Williams said he was open to being used wherever he was needed.
“I think if we have three guys on the weekend rotation that can make quality starts week in, week out that I’d be a great fit in the back end of the bullpen,” Williams said.
For the weekend rotation to thrive without Williams, Martin will need to prove he can make the jump from Division III baseball to the Southeastern Conference.
At Sewanee, Martin struck out 98 batters while walking 25 in 69 1/3 innings with a 3.89 ERA. Against Elon, he was charged with the loss in the season opener but surrendered just two runs on six hits in five innings, while striking out six batters and walking one.
Mingione also credited the work of catchers Devin Burkes and Chase Stanke for their leadership of the pitching staff as being key in the improvements. The defense, which made multiple diving plays against Evansville, has to help as well.
Kentucky does not face a Power Five conference opponent until its 18th game of the season. The back-loaded schedule means doubts about the pitching staff may still not be answered by the time conference play starts on March 17, but the Wildcats’ pitchers should have plenty of chances to build their confidence over the next month.
Bosma knows that confidence can be key. Throughout the offseason, he used his final 2022 start in which he struck out 10 batters while surrendering two runs over six innings in an elimination game win over LSU in the SEC Tournament as proof he could elevate his game to another level.
“Physically, I wasn’t feeling my best going into that weekend, and we needed to win, obviously,” Bosma said. “Coach trusted me to take the ball. I took it one inning at a time. Seriously, after the first inning, I was like, ‘I think I’ve got one more in me. Then, I went out there one, two, three. I’ve got one more in me, and it just kept rolling.
“Honestly, I think that’s changed my perspective as a pitcher, being able to do that every game. Being able to say I’ve got one more inning in me, putting it all on the line and do that over and over again.”
The rest of Kentucky’s staff would do well to follow Bosma’s lead. Four strong games against overmatched opponents will not define the season.
But taking it one inning at a time, building on the early success might position the pitching staff to carry Kentucky to its first NCAA Tournament since 2017.
This weekend
Wright State at Kentucky
What: Three-game non-conference series
When: 4 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. Saturday, 1 p.m. Sunday
TV: SEC Network Plus (online only)
Records: Wright State 1-3, Kentucky 3-1
Series: Kentucky leads 13-7
Last meeting: Kentucky won 15-1 on March 7, 2017, in Lexington