March 31, 2026 • 20 mins
Darren Headrick talks with Head Coach Nick Mingione
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Kentucky's back home after a couple of weeks on the
road in the SEC as they will host Missouri this weekend,
but first Tomorrow night at Kentucky Proud Park, it's a
matchup with Miami of Ohio.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome into the Nick Minji Owned Show.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Everybody. I'm Darren Hedrick coaches here. He'll be alongside. In
just a few minutes, we'll talk about where the Wildcats
stand after a tough weekend down in LSU, but overall
a two and two week that included a victory over
Murray State, a team that was in the College World
Series just a season ago. Kentucky's twenty one and six
overall five and four in the SEC as they get
(00:32):
ready to tangle with the Tigers at home this weekend.
There were some exceptional performances on the field this past week.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
We'll get into all of that coming up.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
We'll also answer some of your questions and we'll talk
a little bit about lineups and how they're constructed over
the next half hour stick around. It's the Nick menje
Own Show here on the UK Sports Network.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Welcome back into the Nick Menje Own Show. I'm Darren Heddrick.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Please be joined by the head coach of the Wildcats
coming back from LSU down in Baton Rouge this week.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
The Cats will be.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Home against Missouri this weekend, and coach, it was a
two and two week overall. What are your thoughts coming
out of the series in Baton Rouge, the positives and
the stuff that this team's working hard to get better?
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Well, I'll start with Tuesday's game against Murray. I mean,
a team that was into College World Series here ago
has a ton of wins and we ten run them
and that was good because we needed to get to bed.
And we got on a road Wednesday and had an
early morning practice and a really long travel day that
took us over twelve hours to get down there, and
(01:33):
we had to drive to Louisville, and then we flew
to Dallas and got stuck on a runway in Louisville
for an hour and forty five minutes because a gas
contamination censor.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Oh wow, that was really good. I'm glad we stopped there.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
But then then we flew all the way to to
New Orleans, drive to Baton Rouge, finally get in on Wednesday,
and just thought, our guys just competed at a really
high level. Obviously game one for Jokin just like what
an outing awesome I buy. Our defense did exactly what
we needed to to get to win offensively. You know,
(02:05):
obviously got to got out to a huge lead, we're
up seven to end up making it seven to four,
and then here you go, you got two days to
try to win the you know, the one more game
to try to win the series, and tip my cap,
I thought their starter Schmid did an awesome job on
Saturday made it really difficult on us. And then obviously
yesterday was disappointing to go up seven to nothing and
to lose seventeen ten and just feel like, you know,
(02:27):
two weeks in a row, you have the series right
there and just unable to close it out. And all
you could ever ask is that you go on the
road last two weeks against ole Miss and LSU and
have a chance to win the series on Sunday and
have leads. That's all you could ever ask. Now, you
got to finish it. That's the bottom line. It's like
(02:48):
the bottom line is you have to finish it, and
you have the team on the ropes, you have a
chance to put them away. You don't, we fight back,
They come back, they make it seven to six, We
make it ten six on Sunday, then lose seventeen ten.
That part was disappointing. Love how we put ourselves in
a position to win a game. Didn't like the way
we finished the game.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Yeah, that was going to be one of my next
questions for you. In those games where you had leads
in the fifth inning but then they went back and forth.
He saw it ultimately came up short. How do you
help process that with the guys after games to get
them reset and ready to go with the next challenge.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Well, here's what we do.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
We watch a ton of video and you know this,
but what makes our team and our program special is
guys make adjustments. That's what we do at a high level.
I laugh because Friday night, Tyler Bell finally gets backed
out there on the field. There's a pop up I mean,
(03:42):
and he misplays it and it lands and it's just
like man, and I'm like.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
You know, we'll find you. And he hadn't been in it.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
I mean, he has not been on the field for
a really long time. I mean, you think about the
last time. It was the first game of the year
since he saw ab acts. Now he's been getting defensive reps.
Darren the next I believe, hits another pop up in
the same spot and Tyler catches it and he made
the adjustment. And that's what we need to do. We
need to make adjustments. We call it MTA make the adjustment.
(04:10):
We need to make adjustments, and not only as a whole,
but individually, like how we're using some of our guys,
the positions we're putting them in, and then some of
them need to make adjustments on how they execute. Whether
it's not getting my cutter to where it's supposed to be,
not getting the right movement on the fastball, or getting
the fastball to a certain spot, or maybe being early
with two strikes, whatever it is. What makes us different
(04:30):
is we make adjustments. And that's what today is all about,
is making adjustments and putting guys in better positions.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Well, you've already touched on Jackson Jelkin a little bit,
and Coach, I know I've talked to you extensively about
that young man's arsenal. But what's a word or words
you would use to describe how he goes about his business,
preparing for his next outing and just trying to keep
getting better.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
He executes at the highest level.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
So meaning for for example, when you have a two
seam fastball sinker like he does, you don't want to
throw sinkers up in the zone, right, that's not a
thing right like good No, So when you miss, you
miss down. When you have the breaking ball that he's got,
(05:19):
when you miss, you miss with it down, you don't
leave it hanging. He has such amazing feel of all
his pitches, so it doesn't matter if it's he's behind two. Oh,
he can throw an eighty two eighty three mine hour
curveball in his zone for a strike. Well, there's times
where he's throwing ninety mine hour change ups and then
he's swing ninety five to ninety seven mine hour sinkers
(05:42):
in his zone, off the plate, in the zone, down
the middle. Like he can just command the baseball. So
I think at two words, command and feel. He has
that of all his pitches, and he misses in the
right places.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
You have had some pitchers over the years that love
the pitch contact. Jelkin feels like a guy that wants
his defense involved behind him. What kind of fearlessness does
a pitcher have to have to trust his stuff to say,
I want to find your bad but it's going to be.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
On my terms and not yours. You nailed it.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
I mean he is literally out there trying to get
everyone involved. He's not afraid of contact, and the best
pitchers are not afraid of contact. They're not afraid for
somebody to hit the ball. And you know this, when
you start like dancing and tiptoeing around the strike zone,
it's not going good. It will not go good. It's
(06:34):
gonna end bad for you. And he literally, like we
used to word trust a lot, like you've heard you've
been around baseball your life and people say, hey, trust
your stuff, trust your defense, trust your catcher, like trust
the pitch call, all these things. He trusts everything, everything,
and his brain is going at a high level. Like
if you watch him, like he'll wipe some because he's
(06:58):
understanding and seeing and feeling the game at such a
high level that he can do that. But trust is
something that he does and he trusts his stuff and
trust his defense.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Ben cleever got another start this weekend, and you told
me what a big step he took at Old Miss.
What did you see out of the next starting at LSU?
The next start, I should say again, he is so close.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
You look at the first couple innings and you just
he is so close. And where Ben's gotten in trouble
is he throws too many pitches in one particular inning.
And when you start going down that path, history will
show you if we just keep letting him pitch and
the pitch, that's how guys end.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Up getting hurt. Yeah, you end up getting hurt.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Like is what happens is you start getting into that
over thirty pitches in one inning and come back out
and you throw more and more and more and more,
and that's where the injury happened. So Ben is at
his best when he's in his own and Ben did
not throw as many offbeat pitches in his own first
strike a week ago, so many off speed pitches. He's
dumping his curveball, he's getting his cutter in there, he
(08:03):
had his change up in there, and this week, quite frankly,
he didn't do it at a high enough level. So
then as a result, what happens. There's traffic, there's guys
on bases, and he ends up not being able to
finish inning. But he is so close, and sometimes when
you just look at the numbers, he's like man really,
but then when you watch the video, I mean, he
is inches away from doing something special.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
So we got to get him going.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
And we obviously still believe in him, but we got
to get him going.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
It's funny you mentioned his numbers because when I look
at his box score numbers on the season, coach, they're
not terrible numbers, but we know the standard that Ben
has for himself, what he expects and what the team expects,
and so.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
I know he's going through it.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
By next question for you, not just for Ben, but
any high level guy that has competed and succeeded at
an elite level like Ben has, when they go through
things like this, tough stretches, how do you help them
along not just with the physical mechanics, but also keeping
them strong mentally to get in power through lulls like this.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Yeah, when you look at Ben and you watch his outing,
he's carrying himself so much better. So for me, it's
the story they're telling themselves. They have to be able
to tell them the story. And then also they have
to be able to when it's going bad. In sports,
like the game can move fast and you watch some
guys you're like man, the game's moving really slow for
that guy, and sometimes the game can move really fast
(09:26):
for people. So getting them to understand them when the
game starts going fast, what do I do? I pause,
I breathe, I get my one simple thought and then
I move forward to the next action.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
And Ben has done that.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Ben has done that, and he continues through that. But
just the mental part of them understanding that they're the
ones in control and as simple as something as simple
as just a breath where you're breathing through your nose
and out through your mouth and you just breathe to
calm any moment and then boom, move on to the
next pitch, Move on to the next pitch.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
And he's close. But I'm ready for that outing. We're like,
bail there it is. We know he is to coach.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Let's get to our time out here on the Nick
menjeone Radio Show. We'll continue with more right after this
on the UK Sports Network. Welcome back into the Nick
menje Oon Show. I'm Darren Headrick as the Cats get
ready to take on Missouri this weekend. But first of all,
tomorrow night, come out to Kentucky Proud Park as the
Cats host Miami of Ohio for their midweek game this week.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
It's a six thirty first pitch.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
We'll be on the air at six point fifteen on
the UK Sports Network. Should be a great night at
the ballpark and of course you get to see this
great lineup. Let's talk about some of the hitters after
we went in depth on the pitching in the last segment. Coach,
let's start off first of all, just with the lineup.
What's it like for you to go through the process
of pinning a batting nine that puts your best offensive
(10:47):
guys at the plate, but also your best defense in
the field.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Yeah, that there's so much and literally we can do
a whole radio show about this, but I'll go over this.
This year's team, for example, we typically now that we've
got Tyler back in the lineup, that makes things dramatically
easier from like a standpoint of Okay, Tyler Bell is
going to be able to play shortstop, right, But we
(11:12):
start with the catcher. We start with the catcher. We
have two really good catchers, as you know, and when
we're trying to decide who's going to catch, there's a
lot of.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Things that go into it.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
The catcher's strengths to catcher's weakness. Who were throwing that day,
how many guys were throwing that day. So it's like
that has to be a decision that we have to
go through. And then for us against this year's team,
we have basically established a Hindle has just proven himself
to be our best second baseman. I mean, the plays
that he's making are unbelievable and the plays that he's
(11:44):
saving us from. So and then Jace obviously has been
great in center field. Huddy's been great at first base.
Two spots where we've kind of gone back and forth
some and there's no secret is left and right field,
and a defense goes a.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Lot into that. And here's why.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Those guys that have been playing those corner spots have
been batting towards the bottom of the lineup.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
So when you think.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
About the amount of pure plate appearances that they're getting,
it's sometimes not sometimes it's less than.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
The guys maybe at the top.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
So now you're playing the Hey, the defense versus offensive,
they may only get two to three at bats, especially
if we make a change for them later in the game.
So then we're deciding, Okay, now we're looking at the
pitchers that we're going to throw that day.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Where do they hit the ball? Where do lefties?
Speaker 3 (12:35):
We watch video on every single ball that they hit
to those spots in the field. So think about all that, like, okay,
you're trying to decide on this team between left and
right and who's going to dah, who's going to catch,
And then you've got to understand like who are we
putting out there?
Speaker 2 (12:51):
And then what do opponents do versus them?
Speaker 3 (12:53):
So then all those things go into it, and then
you've got to figure out the order left versus right
and teams. You know this, but they love to look
at the numbers game, so more we can go left,
verst right or left right down the lineup.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
It makes us less susceptible.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
To getting pitched, but just maybe them rolling through a
deal of left handed pitchers or hitters. And so there's
a lot to it, but really understanding the game and
what's about to happen, and really trying to predict where
the other team's going to hit the ball and then
where they're going to hit in the lineup, and then
how do they how do those guys that we're going
to put in match up against the guy that we're
(13:27):
facing that day on amount, and not only the guy
that is going to start, but maybe later because sometimes
towards that bottom of that lineup. Now you're into the
fifth and sixth inning, and who's to go? Two guys
out of the bullpen, and how do they.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Match up for those that bat?
Speaker 3 (13:40):
So there's a lot, a lot of numbers, a lot
of video.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
And the fifth inning.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Kentucky has scored a lot of runs this year at
that fifth inner. Luke Lawrence has such a professional approach
at the plate. But coach, he has played shortstop for you,
second base, third base. What makes him so interchangeable as
a defender his.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Level of toughness. This is one of the toughest players.
I mean, his level of toughness is just it's unbelievable.
And toughness is your ability to consistently perform at the
upper ranges of your talent and skill, regardless of competitive circumstances.
I have that memorize, but that's what toughness is, your
(14:19):
ability to do that. And this guy, it doesn't matter.
He can perform at the upper ranges of his talent
skilled regardless of circumstances or competitive circumstances.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
So it doesn't matter.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
You can play my short you can play me at
third if he told him to play the outfield, if
he needs to play second base, he's gonna perform at
the range because he has a level of.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Toughness that is so high, so high, and quite frank.
He wants to win. Yeah, he wants to win.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
And boy am I happy He's a wildcat.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Aren't we all?
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Hudson Brown offensively five of eleven this past week a double.
He drove in seven runs, including four in that victory
over Murray State. It is so fun to see him
just blow some this season. And we saw it towards
the end of last year, but he has really come
into his own as a hitter this year. Yeah, and
one thing we can't see as well is the job
(15:10):
that he's done on defense. But not only around the
bag and the plays he's making, but the way he's
helping lead and help our pitchers.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Darren, he is in their ear.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
I mean, this is you know a guy where most
first basemen sitting there and I'm just going to bang
andah blah blah. No, Like literally yesterday, it's late in
the game and he's just sweating and I'm going to
pick up his helmet and I'm like, put my arm
around him. I'm like, man, honey, I'm so proud of you. Man,
keep going. You can just tell. It's like it's a lot.
I mean, this is Game three and the weather and
the heat, and he's like, Coach, I'm empty in my
(15:41):
tank for us. I'm like, I know you are, Man,
keep going, keep going. And he's doing it even on
the defensive end, which is special.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
I want to get to Tyler ball while we still
have a few minutes left in the show. Obviously you
got him back playing shortstop this weekend, but he walked
nine times in four games this past week times, and
coach it, I know some of it might be the
opponent's game plan, but I think back to the Murray
State game. He was down two and two at bats
(16:09):
and ended up working walks out of an O two count.
Just talk about his ability to adjust mid at bat
much less a.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
B to a B, but mid at bat.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Yeah, you bring up I mean, obviously your intelligence on
baseball so high, because you're right. You're welcome, but you're right,
because to go from O two to walk, like, you
have to do a lot of things really well, right
That means that he's gonna You're gonna get him to
throw four balls before you can throw another strike, right,
and if he does throw a strike, you either got
(16:38):
to foul it off, right, You got to keep that alive, right,
I mean, that's like, I mean, that's the hardest thing.
To go from O two to a walk. That's the
hardest thing. So the fact that he's done it twice
in one week, the fact that you even knew that
is awesome. But another thing is he understands what the
other team is trying to do to him, and then
he understands how to combat it. We are playing a game,
(17:00):
that's what our minded our team this week. Like, we're
playing a game. And when you have a game, like
each person gets to move their pieces and do different things. Well,
Tyler understands that. He understands a pittron of mound, he
understands what they're trying to do. Then he's able to
execute what he wants to do. And the fact that
he's on base that much is pretty amazing, and I
think none of us are surprised. And while we're on him,
(17:22):
just to get him back in the field, just an
awesome job to him and JD and Degan and doctor
Mayer and all everybody else involved. Just a lot of
work to get him back out there and happy he is.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Jace Tarnish also had a great week between Murray State
and the LSU series in Baton Rouge. Just what an
experienced hitter that you were able to find out of
the portal with Jase Tarnish.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Yeah, and he's what he did this week too.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
If you just look at the numbers the time he
was on base, I mean not only to get hits,
he walked, he was able to steal bases. I mean,
he was really performing and executing at a very high level.
And we need him continue that. And Darren, he smashing
them balls that they just ran down and caught. But
so he has an unbelievable feel for the barrel, has
a knack for the strike zone, and has a knack
(18:06):
for getting on base and he did it a bunch
of different ways this week, and we need him to
continue to do that.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
And like you mentioned, he plays a pretty good center field.
He can he can find the baseball pretty good. Pretty well.
We got about a minute or two left in the show,
so let's let's turn the focus towards Miami of Ohio
and Missouri.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
What are some key ingredients your team needs.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
To execute on this week to bounce back and get
things going the way you did.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
To start SEC play.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Yeah, and you know, when you sit there and you
look at our week, we're two and two and we're
really three plays away from being three and one. So
I think perspective is really big here, you know, to
help guys understand that, Hey, listen, like we are this
close and just remind him like, hey, we went down
there and LSU upset Kentucky.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
That's what happened.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
Yeah, LSU upset Kentucky at alex Box, Like, let's have
some right, So we need to execute better. Obviously when
we get our starting pitching.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
On the weekend.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
I'll jump to the weekend first, Like, when our starting
pitching can get us deeper into games, it makes it
so much easier. The bullpen cared a huge role as
you can imagine this.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Season so far.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
So we need to give you a better job of
getting our starting pitching, and then we need to continue
to do a good job offensively with the strike zone
and being able to do what we do well. Each
batter and each pitcher has strengths and what are they
going to do well? And are they going to be
able to do what they do well? And Forster will
on the game and our opponent, and when we do that,
(19:40):
we're an excellent baseball team. And so we're looking forward
to doing that this week.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Coach, we'll see at the ballparks partite. Thank you, go Katz.
That's Nick Menjeona. This has been the Nick MEN'SI Oones Show.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
We'll talk to you tomorrow night from Kentucky Proud Park
when the Cats hosts Miami of Ohio at six point
thirty our airtime six fifteen right here on the UK
Sports Network
Kentucky's back home after a couple of weeks on the
road in the SEC as they will host Missouri this weekend,
but first Tomorrow night at Kentucky Proud Park, it's a
matchup with Miami of Ohio.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome into the Nick Minji Owned Show.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Everybody. I'm Darren Hedrick coaches here. He'll be alongside. In
just a few minutes, we'll talk about where the Wildcats
stand after a tough weekend down in LSU, but overall
a two and two week that included a victory over
Murray State, a team that was in the College World
Series just a season ago. Kentucky's twenty one and six
overall five and four in the SEC as they get
(00:32):
ready to tangle with the Tigers at home this weekend.
There were some exceptional performances on the field this past week.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
We'll get into all of that coming up.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
We'll also answer some of your questions and we'll talk
a little bit about lineups and how they're constructed over
the next half hour stick around. It's the Nick menje
Own Show here on the UK Sports Network.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Welcome back into the Nick Menje Own Show. I'm Darren Heddrick.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Please be joined by the head coach of the Wildcats
coming back from LSU down in Baton Rouge this week.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
The Cats will be.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Home against Missouri this weekend, and coach, it was a
two and two week overall. What are your thoughts coming
out of the series in Baton Rouge, the positives and
the stuff that this team's working hard to get better?
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Well, I'll start with Tuesday's game against Murray. I mean,
a team that was into College World Series here ago
has a ton of wins and we ten run them
and that was good because we needed to get to bed.
And we got on a road Wednesday and had an
early morning practice and a really long travel day that
took us over twelve hours to get down there, and
(01:33):
we had to drive to Louisville, and then we flew
to Dallas and got stuck on a runway in Louisville
for an hour and forty five minutes because a gas
contamination censor.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Oh wow, that was really good. I'm glad we stopped there.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
But then then we flew all the way to to
New Orleans, drive to Baton Rouge, finally get in on Wednesday,
and just thought, our guys just competed at a really
high level. Obviously game one for Jokin just like what
an outing awesome I buy. Our defense did exactly what
we needed to to get to win offensively. You know,
(02:05):
obviously got to got out to a huge lead, we're
up seven to end up making it seven to four,
and then here you go, you got two days to
try to win the you know, the one more game
to try to win the series, and tip my cap,
I thought their starter Schmid did an awesome job on
Saturday made it really difficult on us. And then obviously
yesterday was disappointing to go up seven to nothing and
to lose seventeen ten and just feel like, you know,
(02:27):
two weeks in a row, you have the series right
there and just unable to close it out. And all
you could ever ask is that you go on the
road last two weeks against ole Miss and LSU and
have a chance to win the series on Sunday and
have leads. That's all you could ever ask. Now, you
got to finish it. That's the bottom line. It's like
(02:48):
the bottom line is you have to finish it, and
you have the team on the ropes, you have a
chance to put them away. You don't, we fight back,
They come back, they make it seven to six, We
make it ten six on Sunday, then lose seventeen ten.
That part was disappointing. Love how we put ourselves in
a position to win a game. Didn't like the way
we finished the game.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Yeah, that was going to be one of my next
questions for you. In those games where you had leads
in the fifth inning but then they went back and forth.
He saw it ultimately came up short. How do you
help process that with the guys after games to get
them reset and ready to go with the next challenge.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Well, here's what we do.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
We watch a ton of video and you know this,
but what makes our team and our program special is
guys make adjustments. That's what we do at a high level.
I laugh because Friday night, Tyler Bell finally gets backed
out there on the field. There's a pop up I mean,
(03:42):
and he misplays it and it lands and it's just
like man, and I'm like.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
You know, we'll find you. And he hadn't been in it.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
I mean, he has not been on the field for
a really long time. I mean, you think about the
last time. It was the first game of the year
since he saw ab acts. Now he's been getting defensive reps.
Darren the next I believe, hits another pop up in
the same spot and Tyler catches it and he made
the adjustment. And that's what we need to do. We
need to make adjustments. We call it MTA make the adjustment.
(04:10):
We need to make adjustments, and not only as a whole,
but individually, like how we're using some of our guys,
the positions we're putting them in, and then some of
them need to make adjustments on how they execute. Whether
it's not getting my cutter to where it's supposed to be,
not getting the right movement on the fastball, or getting
the fastball to a certain spot, or maybe being early
with two strikes, whatever it is. What makes us different
(04:30):
is we make adjustments. And that's what today is all about,
is making adjustments and putting guys in better positions.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Well, you've already touched on Jackson Jelkin a little bit,
and Coach, I know I've talked to you extensively about
that young man's arsenal. But what's a word or words
you would use to describe how he goes about his business,
preparing for his next outing and just trying to keep
getting better.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
He executes at the highest level.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
So meaning for for example, when you have a two
seam fastball sinker like he does, you don't want to
throw sinkers up in the zone, right, that's not a
thing right like good No, So when you miss, you
miss down. When you have the breaking ball that he's got,
(05:19):
when you miss, you miss with it down, you don't
leave it hanging. He has such amazing feel of all
his pitches, so it doesn't matter if it's he's behind two. Oh,
he can throw an eighty two eighty three mine hour
curveball in his zone for a strike. Well, there's times
where he's throwing ninety mine hour change ups and then
he's swing ninety five to ninety seven mine hour sinkers
(05:42):
in his zone, off the plate, in the zone, down
the middle. Like he can just command the baseball. So
I think at two words, command and feel. He has
that of all his pitches, and he misses in the
right places.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
You have had some pitchers over the years that love
the pitch contact. Jelkin feels like a guy that wants
his defense involved behind him. What kind of fearlessness does
a pitcher have to have to trust his stuff to say,
I want to find your bad but it's going to be.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
On my terms and not yours. You nailed it.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
I mean he is literally out there trying to get
everyone involved. He's not afraid of contact, and the best
pitchers are not afraid of contact. They're not afraid for
somebody to hit the ball. And you know this, when
you start like dancing and tiptoeing around the strike zone,
it's not going good. It will not go good. It's
(06:34):
gonna end bad for you. And he literally, like we
used to word trust a lot, like you've heard you've
been around baseball your life and people say, hey, trust
your stuff, trust your defense, trust your catcher, like trust
the pitch call, all these things. He trusts everything, everything,
and his brain is going at a high level. Like
if you watch him, like he'll wipe some because he's
(06:58):
understanding and seeing and feeling the game at such a
high level that he can do that. But trust is
something that he does and he trusts his stuff and
trust his defense.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Ben cleever got another start this weekend, and you told
me what a big step he took at Old Miss.
What did you see out of the next starting at LSU?
The next start, I should say again, he is so close.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
You look at the first couple innings and you just
he is so close. And where Ben's gotten in trouble
is he throws too many pitches in one particular inning.
And when you start going down that path, history will
show you if we just keep letting him pitch and
the pitch, that's how guys end.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Up getting hurt. Yeah, you end up getting hurt.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Like is what happens is you start getting into that
over thirty pitches in one inning and come back out
and you throw more and more and more and more,
and that's where the injury happened. So Ben is at
his best when he's in his own and Ben did
not throw as many offbeat pitches in his own first
strike a week ago, so many off speed pitches. He's
dumping his curveball, he's getting his cutter in there, he
(08:03):
had his change up in there, and this week, quite frankly,
he didn't do it at a high enough level. So
then as a result, what happens. There's traffic, there's guys
on bases, and he ends up not being able to
finish inning. But he is so close, and sometimes when
you just look at the numbers, he's like man really,
but then when you watch the video, I mean, he
is inches away from doing something special.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
So we got to get him going.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
And we obviously still believe in him, but we got
to get him going.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
It's funny you mentioned his numbers because when I look
at his box score numbers on the season, coach, they're
not terrible numbers, but we know the standard that Ben
has for himself, what he expects and what the team expects,
and so.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
I know he's going through it.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
By next question for you, not just for Ben, but
any high level guy that has competed and succeeded at
an elite level like Ben has, when they go through
things like this, tough stretches, how do you help them
along not just with the physical mechanics, but also keeping
them strong mentally to get in power through lulls like this.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Yeah, when you look at Ben and you watch his outing,
he's carrying himself so much better. So for me, it's
the story they're telling themselves. They have to be able
to tell them the story. And then also they have
to be able to when it's going bad. In sports,
like the game can move fast and you watch some
guys you're like man, the game's moving really slow for
that guy, and sometimes the game can move really fast
(09:26):
for people. So getting them to understand them when the
game starts going fast, what do I do? I pause,
I breathe, I get my one simple thought and then
I move forward to the next action.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
And Ben has done that.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Ben has done that, and he continues through that. But
just the mental part of them understanding that they're the
ones in control and as simple as something as simple
as just a breath where you're breathing through your nose
and out through your mouth and you just breathe to
calm any moment and then boom, move on to the
next pitch, Move on to the next pitch.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
And he's close. But I'm ready for that outing. We're like,
bail there it is. We know he is to coach.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Let's get to our time out here on the Nick
menjeone Radio Show. We'll continue with more right after this
on the UK Sports Network. Welcome back into the Nick
menje Oon Show. I'm Darren Headrick as the Cats get
ready to take on Missouri this weekend. But first of all,
tomorrow night, come out to Kentucky Proud Park as the
Cats host Miami of Ohio for their midweek game this week.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
It's a six thirty first pitch.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
We'll be on the air at six point fifteen on
the UK Sports Network. Should be a great night at
the ballpark and of course you get to see this
great lineup. Let's talk about some of the hitters after
we went in depth on the pitching in the last segment. Coach,
let's start off first of all, just with the lineup.
What's it like for you to go through the process
of pinning a batting nine that puts your best offensive
(10:47):
guys at the plate, but also your best defense in
the field.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Yeah, that there's so much and literally we can do
a whole radio show about this, but I'll go over this.
This year's team, for example, we typically now that we've
got Tyler back in the lineup, that makes things dramatically
easier from like a standpoint of Okay, Tyler Bell is
going to be able to play shortstop, right, But we
(11:12):
start with the catcher. We start with the catcher. We
have two really good catchers, as you know, and when
we're trying to decide who's going to catch, there's a
lot of.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Things that go into it.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
The catcher's strengths to catcher's weakness. Who were throwing that day,
how many guys were throwing that day. So it's like
that has to be a decision that we have to
go through. And then for us against this year's team,
we have basically established a Hindle has just proven himself
to be our best second baseman. I mean, the plays
that he's making are unbelievable and the plays that he's
(11:44):
saving us from. So and then Jace obviously has been
great in center field. Huddy's been great at first base.
Two spots where we've kind of gone back and forth
some and there's no secret is left and right field,
and a defense goes a.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Lot into that. And here's why.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Those guys that have been playing those corner spots have
been batting towards the bottom of the lineup.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
So when you think.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
About the amount of pure plate appearances that they're getting,
it's sometimes not sometimes it's less than.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
The guys maybe at the top.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
So now you're playing the Hey, the defense versus offensive,
they may only get two to three at bats, especially
if we make a change for them later in the game.
So then we're deciding, Okay, now we're looking at the
pitchers that we're going to throw that day.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Where do they hit the ball? Where do lefties?
Speaker 3 (12:35):
We watch video on every single ball that they hit
to those spots in the field. So think about all that, like, okay,
you're trying to decide on this team between left and
right and who's going to dah, who's going to catch,
And then you've got to understand like who are we
putting out there?
Speaker 2 (12:51):
And then what do opponents do versus them?
Speaker 3 (12:53):
So then all those things go into it, and then
you've got to figure out the order left versus right
and teams. You know this, but they love to look
at the numbers game, so more we can go left,
verst right or left right down the lineup.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
It makes us less susceptible.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
To getting pitched, but just maybe them rolling through a
deal of left handed pitchers or hitters. And so there's
a lot to it, but really understanding the game and
what's about to happen, and really trying to predict where
the other team's going to hit the ball and then
where they're going to hit in the lineup, and then
how do they how do those guys that we're going
to put in match up against the guy that we're
(13:27):
facing that day on amount, and not only the guy
that is going to start, but maybe later because sometimes
towards that bottom of that lineup. Now you're into the
fifth and sixth inning, and who's to go? Two guys
out of the bullpen, and how do they.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Match up for those that bat?
Speaker 3 (13:40):
So there's a lot, a lot of numbers, a lot
of video.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
And the fifth inning.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Kentucky has scored a lot of runs this year at
that fifth inner. Luke Lawrence has such a professional approach
at the plate. But coach, he has played shortstop for you,
second base, third base. What makes him so interchangeable as
a defender his.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Level of toughness. This is one of the toughest players.
I mean, his level of toughness is just it's unbelievable.
And toughness is your ability to consistently perform at the
upper ranges of your talent and skill, regardless of competitive circumstances.
I have that memorize, but that's what toughness is, your
(14:19):
ability to do that. And this guy, it doesn't matter.
He can perform at the upper ranges of his talent
skilled regardless of circumstances or competitive circumstances.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
So it doesn't matter.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
You can play my short you can play me at
third if he told him to play the outfield, if
he needs to play second base, he's gonna perform at
the range because he has a level of.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Toughness that is so high, so high, and quite frank.
He wants to win. Yeah, he wants to win.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
And boy am I happy He's a wildcat.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Aren't we all?
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Hudson Brown offensively five of eleven this past week a double.
He drove in seven runs, including four in that victory
over Murray State. It is so fun to see him
just blow some this season. And we saw it towards
the end of last year, but he has really come
into his own as a hitter this year. Yeah, and
one thing we can't see as well is the job
(15:10):
that he's done on defense. But not only around the
bag and the plays he's making, but the way he's
helping lead and help our pitchers.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Darren, he is in their ear.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
I mean, this is you know a guy where most
first basemen sitting there and I'm just going to bang
andah blah blah. No, Like literally yesterday, it's late in
the game and he's just sweating and I'm going to
pick up his helmet and I'm like, put my arm
around him. I'm like, man, honey, I'm so proud of you. Man,
keep going. You can just tell. It's like it's a lot.
I mean, this is Game three and the weather and
the heat, and he's like, Coach, I'm empty in my
(15:41):
tank for us. I'm like, I know you are, Man,
keep going, keep going. And he's doing it even on
the defensive end, which is special.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
I want to get to Tyler ball while we still
have a few minutes left in the show. Obviously you
got him back playing shortstop this weekend, but he walked
nine times in four games this past week times, and
coach it, I know some of it might be the
opponent's game plan, but I think back to the Murray
State game. He was down two and two at bats
(16:09):
and ended up working walks out of an O two count.
Just talk about his ability to adjust mid at bat
much less a.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
B to a B, but mid at bat.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Yeah, you bring up I mean, obviously your intelligence on
baseball so high, because you're right. You're welcome, but you're right,
because to go from O two to walk, like, you
have to do a lot of things really well, right
That means that he's gonna You're gonna get him to
throw four balls before you can throw another strike, right,
and if he does throw a strike, you either got
(16:38):
to foul it off, right, You got to keep that alive, right,
I mean, that's like, I mean, that's the hardest thing.
To go from O two to a walk. That's the
hardest thing. So the fact that he's done it twice
in one week, the fact that you even knew that
is awesome. But another thing is he understands what the
other team is trying to do to him, and then
he understands how to combat it. We are playing a game,
(17:00):
that's what our minded our team this week. Like, we're
playing a game. And when you have a game, like
each person gets to move their pieces and do different things. Well,
Tyler understands that. He understands a pittron of mound, he
understands what they're trying to do. Then he's able to
execute what he wants to do. And the fact that
he's on base that much is pretty amazing, and I
think none of us are surprised. And while we're on him,
(17:22):
just to get him back in the field, just an
awesome job to him and JD and Degan and doctor
Mayer and all everybody else involved. Just a lot of
work to get him back out there and happy he is.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Jace Tarnish also had a great week between Murray State
and the LSU series in Baton Rouge. Just what an
experienced hitter that you were able to find out of
the portal with Jase Tarnish.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Yeah, and he's what he did this week too.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
If you just look at the numbers the time he
was on base, I mean not only to get hits,
he walked, he was able to steal bases. I mean,
he was really performing and executing at a very high level.
And we need him continue that. And Darren, he smashing
them balls that they just ran down and caught. But
so he has an unbelievable feel for the barrel, has
a knack for the strike zone, and has a knack
(18:06):
for getting on base and he did it a bunch
of different ways this week, and we need him to
continue to do that.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
And like you mentioned, he plays a pretty good center field.
He can he can find the baseball pretty good. Pretty well.
We got about a minute or two left in the show,
so let's let's turn the focus towards Miami of Ohio
and Missouri.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
What are some key ingredients your team needs.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
To execute on this week to bounce back and get
things going the way you did.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
To start SEC play.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Yeah, and you know, when you sit there and you
look at our week, we're two and two and we're
really three plays away from being three and one. So
I think perspective is really big here, you know, to
help guys understand that, Hey, listen, like we are this
close and just remind him like, hey, we went down
there and LSU upset Kentucky.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
That's what happened.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
Yeah, LSU upset Kentucky at alex Box, Like, let's have
some right, So we need to execute better. Obviously when
we get our starting pitching.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
On the weekend.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
I'll jump to the weekend first, Like, when our starting
pitching can get us deeper into games, it makes it
so much easier. The bullpen cared a huge role as
you can imagine this.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Season so far.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
So we need to give you a better job of
getting our starting pitching, and then we need to continue
to do a good job offensively with the strike zone
and being able to do what we do well. Each
batter and each pitcher has strengths and what are they
going to do well? And are they going to be
able to do what they do well? And Forster will
on the game and our opponent, and when we do that,
(19:40):
we're an excellent baseball team. And so we're looking forward
to doing that this week.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Coach, we'll see at the ballparks partite. Thank you, go Katz.
That's Nick Menjeona. This has been the Nick MEN'SI Oones Show.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
We'll talk to you tomorrow night from Kentucky Proud Park
when the Cats hosts Miami of Ohio at six point
thirty our airtime six fifteen right here on the UK
Sports Network
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