Best Price: $49.95Kentucky Wildcat Baseball
When you talk about the Kentucky Wildcats baseball program, there are several players that you need to add to the conversation. Many players that are in MLB today as well as several retired players, have played for the Wildcats and led the team to several SEC titles in the past few years.
These players are part of the reason why the Kentucky Wildcats in baseball are such a powerhouse. The rich tradition and history that is associated with Wildcat baseball leads several people to wonder why this team has yet to win a NCAA title.
Some of the names that have made a career out of playing baseball and doing so in successful fashion. One of the players that placed a Wildcats uniform on and went on to the majors was Joe Blanton.
Blanton career started with the Oakland Athletics, here he played for four years before being acquired by the Phillies in 2008. In his career he has had over 640 strikeouts as well as a record of 63-54.
Joe Blanton in his two years pitching for the Wildcats had a 13-12 record as well a ERA of 4.69. He led the SEC during his career with the most strikeouts.
Jeff Abbott was a force to be reckoned with when he played for the Wildcats. He would later go on to have a great career in the MLB posting numbers that were not that bad. Many people thought he was the wrong size to be an effective outfielder.
However many of these people were silenced when he Posted a number of impressive stats during his short career. Between the years of 1997-2001 he posted 157 hits, with 87 of those resulting in runs.
Even though his career only lasted four years, his contributions to the Kentucky Wildcats will last a lifetime.
Scott Downs is another Wildcat that has brought honor to the Wildcat uniform. During his 10 year career in MLB he has posted over 300 strikeouts, along with a slue of other awards.
Downs was drafted in 1994, but made the decision to stay in college and play for the Wildcats. Two years later he would be drafted yet again, this time deciding to head to the majors, and play for the Atlanta Braves.
Many people say that the best years of Downs are just around the corner, and that he will become a Hall of Fame pitcher before too long.
There are several other players that have started their careers at the University of Kentucky. These players went on to have wonderful careers that brought them a lot of success.
In addition to the personal success that they experienced, there is the pride that they brought the Kentucky Wildcats, after all they may play for several teams as a pro, but deep down they will always bleed Kentucky Blue.
You never know, there may be a future big league ball player on the team now, only time will tell as to who will be the next great ball player that will come from the Wildcats baseball team, and go on to the Hall of Fame as a baseball great.
