Nick Mingione discusses difficulty of scouting in transfer portal

Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione is in a very different situation than what he was in last year. The Wildcats in the summer of 2022 were coming off a 33-26 season and went to the transfer portal to help fill in a lot of holes on the team.

This offseason is different. Kentucky is in a much stronger place after a resurgent 40-21 year that resulted in a run to the Super Regional round of the NCAA Tournament

“The good news is — as it relates to the transfer portal — we don’t need as many players as we did a year ago,” Mingione said at a recent press conference. “That’s kind of where we want to get our program to the spot where you just need a handful of guys out of the transfer portal as opposed to trying to bring in 12 or 13 or 14 guys. Our goal would be to develop our high school guys and eventually not need as many.”

Working the transfer portal is not an easy thing for the Kentucky head coach. There is a lot to handle and keep track of with so many players entering.

“The transfer portal does go fast. We are checking it by the minute. Our guys are on there hitting the refresh button every five seconds,” Mingione said. “We’ve done a great job of that. The last two years, we brought in top 10 classes. It goes fast trying to have to build the relationships, tracking down phone numbers, developing relationships.”

Mingione has landed four players out of the transfer portal so far: Western Kentucky outfielder Ty Crittenberger, Texas infielder Mitchell Daly, Delaware State third baseman Trey Paige and Charleston right-handed pitcher Trey Pooser.

Daly, who started at second base and shortstop for the Longhorns was named to the All-Big 12 first team as a freshman in 2021. But he has struggled the past two seasons at the plate for Texas.

Paige hit .372 for the Hornets to go along with 14 home runs. Crittenberger started at least 30 games in the outfield for the Hilltoppers each of the past three seasons. Pooser was twice named to the CAA All-Tournament Team and has started 36 games in his four-year career.

“The neat thing about Kentucky is it does sell itself,” Mingione said. “We’ve gotten into a spot now where when you look at the facility, you look at the players, you look at our ability to help them grow as students, as people, as players. We’ve kind of have some of that built now. That does help in the process. It does help too now where you can say hey, go back and watch that regional final game. Tell me if that’s something you want to be a part of.”

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