Collett Providing Early Power for UK Baseball Offense
Since his arrival in Lexington, UK baseball sophomore T.J. Collett has been known for his powerful bat. Despite playing with a knee injury all of last season, Collett was able to bat 23 times, largely in a pinch hitting capacity.
In one of those pinch hitting roles in 2017, Collett connected on a grand slam in an SEC game against Ole Miss, clearing the wall in deep left center field at Cliff Hagan Stadium, displaying the power that the UK coaching staff knew he had.
Now healthy, Collett is off to a fast start in 2018. In Saturday’s 17-6 win over Oakland, Collett hit his fourth home run of the season, and his third in three games this week. For good measure, Collett added a two-run single, as he knocked in a total of five runs, a career high.
“It’s been a lot of work between me and the hitting coach (Todd Guilliams),” Collett said. “We definitely made some changes from the fall to the spring. Once I focused on the things the coaches were saying, I started doing well.”
A change in his batting stance is paying off for Collett early in the season.
“I kind of had a lot wider stance because that’s what I had done my whole life,” Collett said. “They said I should try to shorten up and be more upright. They said that would allow me to swing at better pitches and get some more behind the ball. It’s amazing what happens when you listen to your coaches.”
Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione sees the changes in Collett.
“T.J. did not have the fall he wanted and at the end of the fall, we had a really difficult but productive meeting,” Mingione said. “We just explained to him that he was trying to put too much pressure on himself.”
The change was more than just mental for Collett, according to Mingione.
“He also made a change to his body over the break,” Mingione said. “He did extra conditioning every day but Christmas, so he’s made a commitment not only mentally but physically and it’s paying off for him.”
Collett entered Saturday’s game tied for the SEC lead in home runs, and the Terre Haute, Indiana, native wasted little time adding to his total, sending a towering shot over the wall in right center field to give the Cats a 4-1 lead in the third inning.
He nearly added another bomb just before his two-run single in the fourth inning. Collett hit another high, long ball to right field, but it went foul as it went over the wall and into the parking lot.
In the seventh inning, Collett knocked in his fifth run of the game on an RBI groundout.
Collett’s big bat has already had an impact on the 2018 season. Mingione knows how valuable the sophomore can be to this team.
“When T.J. is right mentally, he’s as good as any player we have,” Mingione said. “Our guys feel like every time the bat leaves his shoulder, he’s got a chance to hit a home run.”
Collett has showed his power early and often this season, and the Cats hope that will continue in the coming months.
