Future Looks Bright for Baseball Cats
The 2025 Kentucky baseball season came to an end of Sunday with a regional final loss to West Virginia. With that, the attention turns to the 2026 UK roster, which has the potential to be very talented.
The Cats had several underclassmen contribute to this year’s NCAA Tournament team. Depending on what happens in the transfer portal, many of those players are expected to be key pieces of the team next season. UK head coach Nick Mingione spoke about the team’s prospects for next year following Sunday’s game.
“I’m really excited about next year’s team,” Mingione said. “I think if guys continue to grow and develop and we bring all of this back. Depending on what happens with the draft, if you told me we were a preseason Top 10 team in the country, I could believe it. That’s how highly I think about the guys we have coming back offensively. I really believe, depending on how all of this works with the portal, we have a chance to be special next year.”
Second baseman Luke Lawrence had an outstanding postseason and finished the year second on the team with a .306 batting average. Freshman shortstop Tyler Bell finished the season with a .296 batting average and was second on the team with 10 home runs.
Another freshman, Ryan Schwartz, flashed a ton of potential in 2025. In 23 games, he hit .317 and knocked in 15 runs. Redshirt freshman Hudson Brown hit .265 with three homers in 43 games. Junior Carson Hansen became the team’s starting center fielder in the second half of the season. He hit .283 with seven home runs for the Cats in 2025. Mingione likes what he has seen from these players.
“Boy, am I excited about what (Schwartz) can do in the future and Huddy and Carson Hansen and TJ, Luke and some of these other guys,” Mingione said. “They really developed.”
On the mound, sophomore lefty Ben Cleaver became the ace of the staff in 2025. Cleaver was 6-3 with a 3.25 ERA. He struck out 92 batters in 83 innings of work.
Freshman Nate Harris had an outstanding first season for the Cats. He was the Friday night starter for the back half of the season and went 5-2 with a 4.70 ERA. Harris was the winning pitcher in UK’s NCAA Regional win over No. 11 Clemson.
“Look at what Nate Harris did. Look at Ben Cleaver,” Mingione said. “And we’ve got a couple of other guys that as they continue to progress and get back, there’s a really strong foundation.”
After having to replace so many pieces prior to the 2025 season, Mingione and his staff hope to have many returnees next season, which will give the Cats a solid foundation upon which to build.
