NIL
Nick Mingione Shares Process for Finding Right Transfer Portal Players
Finding the right players within the chaos of the transfer portal is the key to success in almost every college sports program. It has fueled Nick Mingione’s turnaround at Kentucky, where the baseball program appeared to be in a rut, only to be rejuvenated with unprecedented success over the past three seasons. Kentucky won back-to-back […]
Finding the right players within the chaos of the transfer portal is the key to success in almost every college sports program. It has fueled Nick Mingione’s turnaround at Kentucky, where the baseball program appeared to be in a rut, only to be rejuvenated with unprecedented success over the past three seasons.
Kentucky won back-to-back regional championships, culminating with a run to the 2024 College World Series. The Wildcats followed that up with an appearance in the 2025 Regional Championship, the first time the program has ever advanced to three straight NCAA Tournaments.
Advanced Metrics in the Transfer Portal
Kentucky is looking to build on that momentum this offseason by adding talented players from the transfer portal. It’s a vast space with over 5,000 players. The Bat Cats’ 2026 roster is not a finished product, but they currently have a top-five transfer portal class, according to 64Analytics. Mingione shared with BBN Tonight how his staff navigates the talent pool in the transfer portal.
“There is so much video. There’s also so much data that we can capture,” said Mingione. “We’ve created our own little system that we just plug in and crunch the numbers and see how these people do against all of these different things and metrics that we feel are important.”
Kentucky isn’t just looking for players with a good batting average. They’re examining how well players hit the ball against the fastest pitches they faced and how well they hit against certain types of pitches. Additionally, they are just looking at the highlights. They want to see where mistakes were made and if they’re correctable.
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How Players Fit In at Kentucky
That’s just one part of the equation. You heard Mark Stoops talk about finding “the right fit.” Mingione wants players who fit the Kentucky baseball culture and are willing to buy in.
“We put a ton of stock into the phone conversations. It’s one thing to be able to watch the video, to be able to see that they meet the metrics, but are they who we are? Are they going to thrive in this environment? And do they value the things we value, like being a family? Are they committed to winning in all areas of life? Are they into the development piece? There’s so many levels to this, so we put a lot of stock into phone calls. If things go well, then the background checks.”
This isn’t a background check where they run a name through a system. Mingione and his staff are calling coaches and scouts who have been around these players to get a feel for how they are in the clubhouse.
“It takes a lot of phone calls, because it’s one thing to figure out what someone can do skill-wise, but it’s hard to find out what’s in their heart. How do we find that? That’s where I feel like we’ve done a good job of not only having talented players, but the right players,” said the Kentucky baseball coach.