April 21, 2026 • 19 mins
Darren Headrick talks with Head Coach Nick Mingione
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everybody, Welcome in to another edition of the Nick
menje Oon Show as the Wildcats are back on the
road this week. The traveling Cats will take on Louisville
at the Patterson Stadium in the Derby City tomorrow night
at seven o'clock. We'll be on the air at six
forty five with the pregame show, and then the Cats
will travel down to South Carolina to take on the
Game Cocks in a three game series Friday through Sunday,
(00:23):
the next home game for Kentucky.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I can't believe I'm saying this May first.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
It's hard to believe the next time the Cats are
home it'll be May. But that's the schedule coming up
for the Wildcats. And over the next half hour, we'll
talk with the head coach about this past weekend against Vanderbilt.
We'll also look forward to the week ahead. Stick around.
It's the Nick menje Oon Show here on the UK
Sports Network. Welcome back into the Nick menje Oon Show
here on the UK Sports Network. The head coach slides
(00:50):
in alongside me. I'm Darren Headrick and coach you coming
off a tough series loss to Vanderbilt this past weekend,
but it was a close series competitive throughout the weekend.
What were some of your take aways from the three
games with the Commodoors.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Well, start with the walk off, let's do it. I mean,
I just.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
Got off the phone with one of my good friends, Bob,
and he was telling me about him and his family
watching the game in their backyard to have beautiful weather.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
And we hit the walk off.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
And they're doing laps around the pool and I actually
had a unique perspective watching watching it from the locker room,
and I was so far behind, and you know, I
knew Braxton was up.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
I didn't know what was going to happen.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
And then obviously I heard Reeves and Clayton Roselle running
down the hallway and I'm like, oh my goodness, and
I could hear the fans, and then I saw the
homer and obviously, what a cool moment, especially for him
and the team. Just to watch them celebrate and do
that was awesome.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
And but this weekend, I feel like we've told this
story five weeks in a row.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
If we had the elixir, we would use it. Right
it's been closed.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
It has I mean, here we are again.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
I mean we're really both ways, We're a swing away
from being swept, and we're two plays away from sweeping,
and it is just one of those things where it's like,
we got to get over the edge and get the
big hit or make the winning pitch to give us
the victory, and the guys desperately want it, there's no
doubt about that.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
What's your message to the team when you look back
over the two losses this weekend and really was it
came down to just three rough innings, but it felt
like Kentucky kind of controlled the other eight. So what's
your message to the guys. What's like, Hey, we're right there,
we just got to get it over the hump.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
Yeah, they know that, they feel it, they want it,
and you know, sometimes in baseball is weird and in
life sometimes if you try too hard, it's like that's
not the answer. But their effort has been great. We
have to Yesterday, for example, we had so many guys
on base and we just didn't get to timely hit.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
We didn't get to timely hit.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
Did a great job getting a start out of game,
executed a game plan to perfection, but when it came
time to get to hit, I mean we had base
loaded one out and we didn't put the ball in
play twice, right, So obviously that's not going to get
it done. But someone's got to step up and make
the pitch. Someone's got to get the hit when it
matters the most, and I actually believe we will.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
And some guys are trending right.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
We're moving in the right direction with some of the guys,
and some of them we've got to kind.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Of get back up.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
But you know, if you told me that we were
going to have a chance to do that, and Nate
and Ben aren't going to throw one pitch, you know,
but to.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
The guy's credit, they battled. But you got to finish.
You gotta finish.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
I know the offense was left frustrated, like you talked
about with the men left on base, Just kind of
take me inside the mindset of it at bat, when
you've done all the work to get the men on
base and set the table, it really changed. The pitcher
is going to change approach though, when he's backs to
the wall, right, So as a hitter, you've got to
just knowing that he's probably going to change the way
(04:05):
he's doing some stuff, right, you know.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
So there's so much video out there about guys and
with the guys in the box, and how you pitch
one guy is not necessarily how you're going to pitch
the next guy. So if you look in our doug out,
you got coach Rozelle, he's looking at all his notes,
Trevor's got his tablet of information and all this you know,
(04:27):
data and things that we and our plan on how
we want to attack guys. So for example, every guy's
different and the way they pitch Braxicon Van Cleeve is
different than the when they pitch Scott Campbell Junior. So
like you having an understanding and a feel for what's
going to happen in the game is absolutely crucial, and
then maybe even paying attention to like maybe sometimes what
(04:47):
they're doing to the guy in front of you or
to two guys in front of you, Like you have
to have an understanding and then understanding the pitcher at
that time, like, hey, what pitches he executing for a strike?
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Which one can he not execute for a strike.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
And there's times where you got to sit on pitches,
and there's times where you don't want to sit on pitches.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
You just want to react.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
But for us, the guys that have had the most
success is when they've had guys in scoring position.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
We have swung early.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
We're not sitting there taking pitches and falling behind like
we are getting our swings off. And we had some
guys do that, but obviously not enough.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
One guy that stood up for me this weekend, besides
Braxton van Cleeve and his heroics Friday night, it's been
really fun to see Ethan Hindle get back to where
he was early in the season. And this goes back
to last weekend against Auburn. How have you seen him
make adjustments to be as productive as he's been the
last two weeks.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
Yeah, Well, Ethan, prior to playing Auburn, we made an
adjustment with his upper body.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
We had just watched video. He was super stiff.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
We got him to if you watch him now, he'll
be in his setup where he's like relaxing his elbows
and trying to relax his upper half because you know this,
when you're stiff in the box, you cannot be quick.
And when you're facing guys that are up to ninety
eight miles an hour, and I mean yesterday there's guys
throwing eighty seven mile hour breaking balls and I was
laughing with coach Madison before the game. I'm like, I
remember when guy's fastballs were eighty seven. Now they're throwing
(06:10):
off speed pitches that are eighty shaving. But just him
loosing and freeing up his upper body was a major
adjustment for him and has helped him. And to his credit,
he's like built off of that. And you can just
see the look in his face, the confidence he's had
got a huge hit this weekend, but his ability to
just want to be coachable and get to work and
just the looseness of in his upper half has helped him.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
How have you seen modern hitters evolve and adapt to
the fact that they're seeing ninety four, ninety five, ninety
six with these hot because it's still sixty feet six inches,
but now the reaction times far less.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Yeah, you have to train it, and I we've done
a good job of like training that.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
But you also have to understand, like you have to
have feel for the game and understand what the pitcher's
trying to do to you. And you know, Couzi asks
the guys this all the time, what picture you want?
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Like and you're at bat, like were you on a fastball?
Speaker 4 (07:04):
Like what timing? When we say, like what pitch. Were
you on were you on time for a fastball? Were
you on time for a breaking ball? Were you on
time for the change up?
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Like? What were you on time for? And you got
to be on time for something? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (07:16):
And there are certain guys where you actually have to
be on time for off speed because you know that's
what they're going to throw you. So the fastball might
beat you, but you might take it. So it's like,
what are you on time for? And in a lot
of a lot of ways now, because I've lost you
so high, Darren, you almost have to pick one.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
You have to pick one.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
And when you see a guy miss a pitch and
he missed it by a mile, you're like, he was
on a.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Fastball and he got to off speed.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
Right, or the guy got his doors blown off by
a fastball, he must have been off speed, but you
got to be on something.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Have you been pleased still even as this team tries
to grind and start working through some of these whatever
you want to call it, the adversity of the last
couple of weeks, have you been pleased with how they've
shown up and come to work every day trying to
get better?
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Yeah, they do do that. That's what I have so
much respect for.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
And some of them we've had to tell them like, hey,
you don't need this many swings, like come on, like it's.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Here we are and it's April. It's getting work.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
As you mentioned in the opener, it's almost May, right,
so like, let's just be smarter about our work and
let's have the quality of work be more important than
the quantity, right Like.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
So, yeah, they've continued.
Speaker 4 (08:25):
To work, make adjustments up and down the lineup. If
you think about Scott Campbell, Junior, Tyler Bell, Will Marcy,
they all continue.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
I mean Jason Tarnis in.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
The last month has made an adjustment with his wing.
That guys just continued to want to work and get better.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Coach, So we got to get to a break in
just a second. But the last question for this segment,
I wanted to ask you. It's kind of a philosophical one,
but I know is everybody focuses so much on results.
You have a process and it's proven to work in
this program. You've been to Omaha. How much do you
tweak that when things maybe go off script every once
(09:00):
in a while, off I don't want to say off
the rails, but they kind of get sideways a little bit.
How much do you tweak that in your process through
a season of ups and downs?
Speaker 4 (09:09):
Yeah, like when you I'll give you one example of
what I believe this is what you're talking about. So
we went through a phase where our bullpen had not
been doing well and pregame depending on the pitcher. Most
of them though, the relievers like to get off the mound.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
For a couple pitches.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
They just like, hey, they throw pregame, they get off
the mound for a couple of pitches, kind of set
their stuff and they get their pitches in. Well, never
in my career have I ever gone down there for that.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Never.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
Well, during that time, coach Rozelle is with the starter,
getting the starter ready. Well, you know this coach Rozelle
has half the team that falls under him. So who
is with the pitchers during that time? There isn't a coach.
Trevor's with the catchers getting our catcher ready. So the
last three weeks I've been going down there with them
and we have changed that process about how they go
(10:06):
about their pregame bullpen routine, about where they're executing, the
type of pitch, and then what happens if they don't.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
So we've shifted their mentality.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
And since we've been doing that, I've gotten in a
fight like with the pitchers, Like not like I'm in
the fight, Like we're a team and I'm there and
they have loved having me down there, and I've connected
with them and I've helped them, and we've you know,
bounced the ideas off each other and we've tweaked things
and so like that is an example of a process
that it was like, hey, this part of our team
(10:36):
is not in a good spot. How can I help
as the leader of the program and what could the
players use?
Speaker 3 (10:41):
So now I go down there.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
A matter of fact, Coach Cohen when we were at
Auburn came the dugout to see me before one of
the games. They like, he's in a bullpen. Coach Cohen's like,
he's in a bullpen? What's Nick doing in a bullpen?
And He's like, he's just with some of our relievers.
So yes, you tweak it, and every team's different. Every
team's different, and you gotta find what works for them.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Let's take a quick time out.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
We've got another segment coming up with coach Menjeon right
here on the UK Sports Network. Battle segment of the
Nick Minjeon Show for this week is the Cats travel
to Louisville for the second meeting in the Battle of
the Bluegrass tomorrow night. Tuesday night at seven o'clock. We'll
be on the air at six forty five. The Cats
will meet South Carolina down in Columbia this weekend Friday
through Sunday. It is the penultimate road trip for the Wildcats.
(11:26):
They'll have just one remaining after this weekend. The regular
season starting to wind down just a bit. Coach, I
wanted to talk to you a little bit about Scott
Campbell Junior before we dive into some of the top
pitching performances. The more I watch this young man, the
more I become a fan of him. You watch his defense.
He's got a strong arm and left. He's super accurate
(11:48):
seven outfield assists he had two this weekend. What makes
him so accurate on his throes on trying to nail runners.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
Well, I think when you look at the assist total
velocity he can throw the ball. I mean it's I
haven't coached a guy with arm strengths like this in
Hunter renfro Wow and obviously he was the thirteenth overall pick,
first round halft pick, and but I mean he's throwing
the ball in the mid to upper nineties, so there's
not many arms like that, And then you factor in
(12:18):
it's in left field, and so obviously third base is
a lot shorter throw, but also home and just I
would just tell you, I don't I don't believe that
third base coaches are used to seeing an arm like
this in left field because it just doesn't happen every day.
So he gets great jumps, he's instinctive and he wants
to use his arm.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
You know, sometimes that could beat to his disadvantage.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
But yeah, just and then even offensively, Darren, I don't
know if you notice this week, but we made an
adjustment with him with his timing in his front foot.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
He had been doing a lake kick.
Speaker 4 (12:50):
All season long, and this week we put in a
toe tap and we talked about it on the bus
on the way home. It was I think midnight, we're
sitting here watching video on the bus at home. But yeah,
he ends up putting in a toe tap this week
and it paid off for him. Another guy like Ethan
Hendle a week prior Hindle is totally open to relaxing
(13:13):
his elbows and getting his hands closer to his ear
on his load for hindle and being more loose, and
then Harris Scott campbe Judier changes his whole timing mechanism
and that's something that he's never done before and it paid.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Off for him.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Yeah, He's been a lot of fun to watch this
season for Kentucky. And now we wanted to touch on
some pitchers real quick. I want to start with Connor Madison.
You basically asked him last minute to start on Sunday
and he came out.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Final line did not.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Reflect how well that young man pitched five and a
third innings, five strikeouts, He only allowed one run through
five innings, and that change up was just nasty on Sunday.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
Yeah, I mean, obviously with Nate Shoulder, you know, we
actually told Connor.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
That morning I came in, we're going to you to pitch.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
He's like, all right, And the day before he told me,
or two days before he's like, hey, coach bench, He's
like whatever you need, like I'm I'm ready, And we
intentionally didn't use him just in case he was going
to be one of the guys that we're going to
have to start or rely heavily on long relief. And
we told him at nine I think it was at
(14:22):
nine fifty eight, and man, you're starting it.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Okay, sounds good. But he gave us exactly what we needed.
He gave us a chance to win.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
And you know what, I might have left him in
there an inning too long, but he had pitched so good.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
He deserved that. Sure, he deserved to go back out there.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
And the effort he gave was phenomenal, with unbelievable like
teachable spirit and he man, it was fun to watch
him compete, and you know, gave us something that we
hadn't had on a Sunday, you know, gave us like
a really good start, and we hadn't had a ton
of those where they go deep into the into the
into the game. And he gave us a chance to
win and we needed that.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Would you look at his arsenal in the way he
attacks hitters, how much I feel like hitters a lot
of times can get stuck looking for that change up,
which makes his cutter all the more effective. Right, or
he stole a couple of strikes with his curveball yesterday.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Yeah, Darren you're exactly right. When you think about his fastball,
it's naturally going to run away from a lefty and
it's going to go into the righty. Sum his changeup
is moving into a righty a way to a lefty.
So to his credit, he has really got the cutter
going now where it's like, to your point, it's going
(15:32):
the other way.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
He needed something to go left.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
And then the curveball is more vertical and it's more
up and down. So he was up to ninety two yesterday.
I hope I'm not cutting him short. There might have
been ninety three, but I know I saw ninety two
for sure.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
So he's got the fastball and the change up.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
He's got to cutter this way, and he's got the
curveball this way. So he's like attacking them in a
bunch of different spots. And to your point, when you
throw the change up or the cutter and then you
zip a fastball in there, it just plays harder.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
It plays harder.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
And now you get to what we're talking talked about
earlier is now they're caught in between what are you on?
Are you on the fastball, are you on the cutter?
Are you on the curveball or are you on the
change up right? So it's like, now he is showing
starter stuff. He's got the fastball, he's got the cutter,
he's got to change up, and he's got the curveball.
(16:24):
And now there's a colerethra of pitches that you've got
to try to be on time for.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Speaking of plethora of pitches, Jackson Jelkin had all of
his work and going eight innings on Friday night with
nine strikeouts only one walk. It was great to see
him get back to form on Friday.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
Yeah, and to watch from my phone in the locker
room was for a majority of it was just to
see that perspective and I watched I watched that because
we watch all the games and I say pitch by pitch,
but to see it, I think I was I think
I realized I figured out I.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Was three pitches behind, like actual lifetime. But just to
watch that and.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
Just it's like to see and have a feel and
just watch his competitive spirit. Man does our team just
rally and play well behind him, And just so much
credit to him. He made an adjustment from the week before.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
It was great.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Coach. We only have a couple of minutes left in
the show.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
But I do want to spotlight some shining stars in
the bullpen this weekend, the youth, Sam's Hunter and Peterson,
but also Oliver Boone gave you two scoreless really good
innings on Sunday.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
Yeah, I mean the job that Jack SAMs did on
Saturday and Tristan Hunter, they gave us six shoutout innings. Yeah,
and gave us a chance to get back in that
game we fall behind seven to one. Well, how are
we able to come back and be a swing away
is because of a job that Jack and Tristan did
and Jack's whole evolution from the time he got to
our program in the fall till now unbelievable. Give him
(17:50):
so much credit for his growth. I mean, he has
just done a magnificent job and just so so proud
of him, and then Tristan just to watch him come
off them on that last inning with the energy and
the emotion and the job that he did. But those
two guys, and then Oliver Boone just continues to impress
another guy that we ran him back out there because
(18:10):
he deserved it. He had been throwing and what a
job by him. And then obviously Toby coming in and
doing his job two weeks in.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
A row has been fun to watch.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
When you talk about Oliver Boone, we've got about a
minute lift in the show, but it's coming back from
a lengthy time miss like he's done.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Have you seen him getting.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
More into what I would call pitch shape where he's
getting into shape as a picture on the mound.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
Yes, And we've tried to be intentional about using them
once a week and getting him out there, and he
has just done phenomena. When you start looking at the
slider that like when we watch video review and the
guy see his slider, it's like, oh, like do you
have to just look it again because the fastball is
going another way and his confidence level, his comfort level
(18:53):
all continues improves. And you know this coming back from
an injury's hard and we love the way that he's progressing.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Coach, appreciate your time on the show this week. We
look forward to seeing you at Louisville tomorrow night.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Come out and see us go Cats.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
This has been the Nicknase you Own show on the
UK Sports Network
Hello everybody, Welcome in to another edition of the Nick
menje Oon Show as the Wildcats are back on the
road this week. The traveling Cats will take on Louisville
at the Patterson Stadium in the Derby City tomorrow night
at seven o'clock. We'll be on the air at six
forty five with the pregame show, and then the Cats
will travel down to South Carolina to take on the
Game Cocks in a three game series Friday through Sunday,
(00:23):
the next home game for Kentucky.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I can't believe I'm saying this May first.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
It's hard to believe the next time the Cats are
home it'll be May. But that's the schedule coming up
for the Wildcats. And over the next half hour, we'll
talk with the head coach about this past weekend against Vanderbilt.
We'll also look forward to the week ahead. Stick around.
It's the Nick menje Oon Show here on the UK
Sports Network. Welcome back into the Nick menje Oon Show
here on the UK Sports Network. The head coach slides
(00:50):
in alongside me. I'm Darren Headrick and coach you coming
off a tough series loss to Vanderbilt this past weekend,
but it was a close series competitive throughout the weekend.
What were some of your take aways from the three
games with the Commodoors.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Well, start with the walk off, let's do it. I mean,
I just.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
Got off the phone with one of my good friends, Bob,
and he was telling me about him and his family
watching the game in their backyard to have beautiful weather.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
And we hit the walk off.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
And they're doing laps around the pool and I actually
had a unique perspective watching watching it from the locker room,
and I was so far behind, and you know, I
knew Braxton was up.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
I didn't know what was going to happen.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
And then obviously I heard Reeves and Clayton Roselle running
down the hallway and I'm like, oh my goodness, and
I could hear the fans, and then I saw the
homer and obviously, what a cool moment, especially for him
and the team. Just to watch them celebrate and do
that was awesome.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
And but this weekend, I feel like we've told this
story five weeks in a row.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
If we had the elixir, we would use it. Right
it's been closed.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
It has I mean, here we are again.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
I mean we're really both ways, We're a swing away
from being swept, and we're two plays away from sweeping,
and it is just one of those things where it's like,
we got to get over the edge and get the
big hit or make the winning pitch to give us
the victory, and the guys desperately want it, there's no
doubt about that.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
What's your message to the team when you look back
over the two losses this weekend and really was it
came down to just three rough innings, but it felt
like Kentucky kind of controlled the other eight. So what's
your message to the guys. What's like, Hey, we're right there,
we just got to get it over the hump.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
Yeah, they know that, they feel it, they want it,
and you know, sometimes in baseball is weird and in
life sometimes if you try too hard, it's like that's
not the answer. But their effort has been great. We
have to Yesterday, for example, we had so many guys
on base and we just didn't get to timely hit.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
We didn't get to timely hit.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
Did a great job getting a start out of game,
executed a game plan to perfection, but when it came
time to get to hit, I mean we had base
loaded one out and we didn't put the ball in
play twice, right, So obviously that's not going to get
it done. But someone's got to step up and make
the pitch. Someone's got to get the hit when it
matters the most, and I actually believe we will.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
And some guys are trending right.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
We're moving in the right direction with some of the guys,
and some of them we've got to kind.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Of get back up.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
But you know, if you told me that we were
going to have a chance to do that, and Nate
and Ben aren't going to throw one pitch, you know,
but to.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
The guy's credit, they battled. But you got to finish.
You gotta finish.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
I know the offense was left frustrated, like you talked
about with the men left on base, Just kind of
take me inside the mindset of it at bat, when
you've done all the work to get the men on
base and set the table, it really changed. The pitcher
is going to change approach though, when he's backs to
the wall, right, So as a hitter, you've got to
just knowing that he's probably going to change the way
(04:05):
he's doing some stuff, right, you know.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
So there's so much video out there about guys and
with the guys in the box, and how you pitch
one guy is not necessarily how you're going to pitch
the next guy. So if you look in our doug out,
you got coach Rozelle, he's looking at all his notes,
Trevor's got his tablet of information and all this you know,
(04:27):
data and things that we and our plan on how
we want to attack guys. So for example, every guy's
different and the way they pitch Braxicon Van Cleeve is
different than the when they pitch Scott Campbell Junior. So
like you having an understanding and a feel for what's
going to happen in the game is absolutely crucial, and
then maybe even paying attention to like maybe sometimes what
(04:47):
they're doing to the guy in front of you or
to two guys in front of you, Like you have
to have an understanding and then understanding the pitcher at
that time, like, hey, what pitches he executing for a strike?
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Which one can he not execute for a strike.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
And there's times where you got to sit on pitches,
and there's times where you don't want to sit on pitches.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
You just want to react.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
But for us, the guys that have had the most
success is when they've had guys in scoring position.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
We have swung early.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
We're not sitting there taking pitches and falling behind like
we are getting our swings off. And we had some
guys do that, but obviously not enough.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
One guy that stood up for me this weekend, besides
Braxton van Cleeve and his heroics Friday night, it's been
really fun to see Ethan Hindle get back to where
he was early in the season. And this goes back
to last weekend against Auburn. How have you seen him
make adjustments to be as productive as he's been the
last two weeks.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
Yeah, Well, Ethan, prior to playing Auburn, we made an
adjustment with his upper body.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
We had just watched video. He was super stiff.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
We got him to if you watch him now, he'll
be in his setup where he's like relaxing his elbows
and trying to relax his upper half because you know this,
when you're stiff in the box, you cannot be quick.
And when you're facing guys that are up to ninety
eight miles an hour, and I mean yesterday there's guys
throwing eighty seven mile hour breaking balls and I was
laughing with coach Madison before the game. I'm like, I
remember when guy's fastballs were eighty seven. Now they're throwing
(06:10):
off speed pitches that are eighty shaving. But just him
loosing and freeing up his upper body was a major
adjustment for him and has helped him. And to his credit,
he's like built off of that. And you can just
see the look in his face, the confidence he's had
got a huge hit this weekend, but his ability to
just want to be coachable and get to work and
just the looseness of in his upper half has helped him.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
How have you seen modern hitters evolve and adapt to
the fact that they're seeing ninety four, ninety five, ninety
six with these hot because it's still sixty feet six inches,
but now the reaction times far less.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Yeah, you have to train it, and I we've done
a good job of like training that.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
But you also have to understand, like you have to
have feel for the game and understand what the pitcher's
trying to do to you. And you know, Couzi asks
the guys this all the time, what picture you want?
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Like and you're at bat, like were you on a fastball?
Speaker 4 (07:04):
Like what timing? When we say, like what pitch. Were
you on were you on time for a fastball? Were
you on time for a breaking ball? Were you on
time for the change up?
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Like? What were you on time for? And you got
to be on time for something? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (07:16):
And there are certain guys where you actually have to
be on time for off speed because you know that's
what they're going to throw you. So the fastball might
beat you, but you might take it. So it's like,
what are you on time for? And in a lot
of a lot of ways now, because I've lost you
so high, Darren, you almost have to pick one.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
You have to pick one.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
And when you see a guy miss a pitch and
he missed it by a mile, you're like, he was
on a.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Fastball and he got to off speed.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
Right, or the guy got his doors blown off by
a fastball, he must have been off speed, but you
got to be on something.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Have you been pleased still even as this team tries
to grind and start working through some of these whatever
you want to call it, the adversity of the last
couple of weeks, have you been pleased with how they've
shown up and come to work every day trying to
get better?
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Yeah, they do do that. That's what I have so
much respect for.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
And some of them we've had to tell them like, hey,
you don't need this many swings, like come on, like it's.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Here we are and it's April. It's getting work.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
As you mentioned in the opener, it's almost May, right,
so like, let's just be smarter about our work and
let's have the quality of work be more important than
the quantity, right Like.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
So, yeah, they've continued.
Speaker 4 (08:25):
To work, make adjustments up and down the lineup. If
you think about Scott Campbell, Junior, Tyler Bell, Will Marcy,
they all continue.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
I mean Jason Tarnis in.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
The last month has made an adjustment with his wing.
That guys just continued to want to work and get better.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Coach, So we got to get to a break in
just a second. But the last question for this segment,
I wanted to ask you. It's kind of a philosophical one,
but I know is everybody focuses so much on results.
You have a process and it's proven to work in
this program. You've been to Omaha. How much do you
tweak that when things maybe go off script every once
(09:00):
in a while, off I don't want to say off
the rails, but they kind of get sideways a little bit.
How much do you tweak that in your process through
a season of ups and downs?
Speaker 4 (09:09):
Yeah, like when you I'll give you one example of
what I believe this is what you're talking about. So
we went through a phase where our bullpen had not
been doing well and pregame depending on the pitcher. Most
of them though, the relievers like to get off the mound.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
For a couple pitches.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
They just like, hey, they throw pregame, they get off
the mound for a couple of pitches, kind of set
their stuff and they get their pitches in. Well, never
in my career have I ever gone down there for that.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Never.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
Well, during that time, coach Rozelle is with the starter,
getting the starter ready. Well, you know this coach Rozelle
has half the team that falls under him. So who
is with the pitchers during that time? There isn't a coach.
Trevor's with the catchers getting our catcher ready. So the
last three weeks I've been going down there with them
and we have changed that process about how they go
(10:06):
about their pregame bullpen routine, about where they're executing, the
type of pitch, and then what happens if they don't.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
So we've shifted their mentality.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
And since we've been doing that, I've gotten in a
fight like with the pitchers, Like not like I'm in
the fight, Like we're a team and I'm there and
they have loved having me down there, and I've connected
with them and I've helped them, and we've you know,
bounced the ideas off each other and we've tweaked things
and so like that is an example of a process
that it was like, hey, this part of our team
(10:36):
is not in a good spot. How can I help
as the leader of the program and what could the
players use?
Speaker 3 (10:41):
So now I go down there.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
A matter of fact, Coach Cohen when we were at
Auburn came the dugout to see me before one of
the games. They like, he's in a bullpen. Coach Cohen's like,
he's in a bullpen? What's Nick doing in a bullpen?
And He's like, he's just with some of our relievers.
So yes, you tweak it, and every team's different. Every
team's different, and you gotta find what works for them.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Let's take a quick time out.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
We've got another segment coming up with coach Menjeon right
here on the UK Sports Network. Battle segment of the
Nick Minjeon Show for this week is the Cats travel
to Louisville for the second meeting in the Battle of
the Bluegrass tomorrow night. Tuesday night at seven o'clock. We'll
be on the air at six forty five. The Cats
will meet South Carolina down in Columbia this weekend Friday
through Sunday. It is the penultimate road trip for the Wildcats.
(11:26):
They'll have just one remaining after this weekend. The regular
season starting to wind down just a bit. Coach, I
wanted to talk to you a little bit about Scott
Campbell Junior before we dive into some of the top
pitching performances. The more I watch this young man, the
more I become a fan of him. You watch his defense.
He's got a strong arm and left. He's super accurate
(11:48):
seven outfield assists he had two this weekend. What makes
him so accurate on his throes on trying to nail runners.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
Well, I think when you look at the assist total
velocity he can throw the ball. I mean it's I
haven't coached a guy with arm strengths like this in
Hunter renfro Wow and obviously he was the thirteenth overall pick,
first round halft pick, and but I mean he's throwing
the ball in the mid to upper nineties, so there's
not many arms like that, And then you factor in
(12:18):
it's in left field, and so obviously third base is
a lot shorter throw, but also home and just I
would just tell you, I don't I don't believe that
third base coaches are used to seeing an arm like
this in left field because it just doesn't happen every day.
So he gets great jumps, he's instinctive and he wants
to use his arm.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
You know, sometimes that could beat to his disadvantage.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
But yeah, just and then even offensively, Darren, I don't
know if you notice this week, but we made an
adjustment with him with his timing in his front foot.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
He had been doing a lake kick.
Speaker 4 (12:50):
All season long, and this week we put in a
toe tap and we talked about it on the bus
on the way home. It was I think midnight, we're
sitting here watching video on the bus at home. But yeah,
he ends up putting in a toe tap this week
and it paid off for him. Another guy like Ethan
Hendle a week prior Hindle is totally open to relaxing
(13:13):
his elbows and getting his hands closer to his ear
on his load for hindle and being more loose, and
then Harris Scott campbe Judier changes his whole timing mechanism
and that's something that he's never done before and it paid.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Off for him.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Yeah, He's been a lot of fun to watch this
season for Kentucky. And now we wanted to touch on
some pitchers real quick. I want to start with Connor Madison.
You basically asked him last minute to start on Sunday
and he came out.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Final line did not.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Reflect how well that young man pitched five and a
third innings, five strikeouts, He only allowed one run through
five innings, and that change up was just nasty on Sunday.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
Yeah, I mean, obviously with Nate Shoulder, you know, we
actually told Connor.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
That morning I came in, we're going to you to pitch.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
He's like, all right, And the day before he told me,
or two days before he's like, hey, coach bench, He's
like whatever you need, like I'm I'm ready, And we
intentionally didn't use him just in case he was going
to be one of the guys that we're going to
have to start or rely heavily on long relief. And
we told him at nine I think it was at
(14:22):
nine fifty eight, and man, you're starting it.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Okay, sounds good. But he gave us exactly what we needed.
He gave us a chance to win.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
And you know what, I might have left him in
there an inning too long, but he had pitched so good.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
He deserved that. Sure, he deserved to go back out there.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
And the effort he gave was phenomenal, with unbelievable like
teachable spirit and he man, it was fun to watch
him compete, and you know, gave us something that we
hadn't had on a Sunday, you know, gave us like
a really good start, and we hadn't had a ton
of those where they go deep into the into the
into the game. And he gave us a chance to
win and we needed that.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Would you look at his arsenal in the way he
attacks hitters, how much I feel like hitters a lot
of times can get stuck looking for that change up,
which makes his cutter all the more effective. Right, or
he stole a couple of strikes with his curveball yesterday.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Yeah, Darren you're exactly right. When you think about his fastball,
it's naturally going to run away from a lefty and
it's going to go into the righty. Sum his changeup
is moving into a righty a way to a lefty.
So to his credit, he has really got the cutter
going now where it's like, to your point, it's going
(15:32):
the other way.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
He needed something to go left.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
And then the curveball is more vertical and it's more
up and down. So he was up to ninety two yesterday.
I hope I'm not cutting him short. There might have
been ninety three, but I know I saw ninety two
for sure.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
So he's got the fastball and the change up.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
He's got to cutter this way, and he's got the
curveball this way. So he's like attacking them in a
bunch of different spots. And to your point, when you
throw the change up or the cutter and then you
zip a fastball in there, it just plays harder.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
It plays harder.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
And now you get to what we're talking talked about
earlier is now they're caught in between what are you on?
Are you on the fastball, are you on the cutter?
Are you on the curveball or are you on the
change up right? So it's like, now he is showing
starter stuff. He's got the fastball, he's got the cutter,
he's got to change up, and he's got the curveball.
(16:24):
And now there's a colerethra of pitches that you've got
to try to be on time for.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Speaking of plethora of pitches, Jackson Jelkin had all of
his work and going eight innings on Friday night with
nine strikeouts only one walk. It was great to see
him get back to form on Friday.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
Yeah, and to watch from my phone in the locker
room was for a majority of it was just to
see that perspective and I watched I watched that because
we watch all the games and I say pitch by pitch,
but to see it, I think I was I think
I realized I figured out I.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Was three pitches behind, like actual lifetime. But just to
watch that and.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
Just it's like to see and have a feel and
just watch his competitive spirit. Man does our team just
rally and play well behind him, And just so much
credit to him. He made an adjustment from the week before.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
It was great.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Coach. We only have a couple of minutes left in
the show.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
But I do want to spotlight some shining stars in
the bullpen this weekend, the youth, Sam's Hunter and Peterson,
but also Oliver Boone gave you two scoreless really good
innings on Sunday.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
Yeah, I mean the job that Jack SAMs did on
Saturday and Tristan Hunter, they gave us six shoutout innings. Yeah,
and gave us a chance to get back in that
game we fall behind seven to one. Well, how are
we able to come back and be a swing away
is because of a job that Jack and Tristan did
and Jack's whole evolution from the time he got to
our program in the fall till now unbelievable. Give him
(17:50):
so much credit for his growth. I mean, he has
just done a magnificent job and just so so proud
of him, and then Tristan just to watch him come
off them on that last inning with the energy and
the emotion and the job that he did. But those
two guys, and then Oliver Boone just continues to impress
another guy that we ran him back out there because
(18:10):
he deserved it. He had been throwing and what a
job by him. And then obviously Toby coming in and
doing his job two weeks in.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
A row has been fun to watch.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
When you talk about Oliver Boone, we've got about a
minute lift in the show, but it's coming back from
a lengthy time miss like he's done.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Have you seen him getting.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
More into what I would call pitch shape where he's
getting into shape as a picture on the mound.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
Yes, And we've tried to be intentional about using them
once a week and getting him out there, and he
has just done phenomena. When you start looking at the
slider that like when we watch video review and the
guy see his slider, it's like, oh, like do you
have to just look it again because the fastball is
going another way and his confidence level, his comfort level
(18:53):
all continues improves. And you know this coming back from
an injury's hard and we love the way that he's progressing.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Coach, appreciate your time on the show this week. We
look forward to seeing you at Louisville tomorrow night.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Come out and see us go Cats.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
This has been the Nicknase you Own show on the
UK Sports Network
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