Tyler Bell is the third highest rated recruit ever to play for Kentucky. (UK Athletics Photo)
Tyler Bell is ready for Kentucky’s baseball season to start even though it is “coming a little quicker” than normal with the Wildcats opening play Feb. 14 in Nashville against Lipscomb.
“Usually my season would start in late March, so this is a little sooner,” said Bell, the highest pick in last year’s Major League Baseball Draft to attend college this season.
Bell was the 66th pick overall by the Tampa Bay Ray and has been ranked as the nation’s 13th best freshman play by Perfect Game. The switch-hitting shortstop will be eligible for the draft again in 2026.
Bell, one of the top shortstops in the 2024 recruiting class, played at Lincoln-Way East High School in Frankfort, Ill. That’s the same school that produced Ryan Ritter, a Gold Glove shortstop and fourth-round draft pick in 2022 after playing for Nick Mingione at Kentucky. He is the third-highest rated UK recruit according to Perfect Game behind Alex Meyer and Ryan Hagenow.
“Nick is the same guy on and off the field. He is a great person who genuinely cares about everything. He preaches the family aspect to this program,” Bell said. “He makes us earn everything. He really cares about all his players.”
Bell communicated regularly with Mingione during the draft process but the Kentucky coach did not pressure him to turn down a professional contract to play for UK.
“They allowed me to make my decision and they respected the process. I am very happy I am here and think I made the right decision,” Bell said. “I think it did surprise him and make him really happy when I decided to play college baseball. I feel like I have earned respect with how I work since I got here and I also try to be as good a person as I can be but I am very, very happy here.”
Bell got to Lexington in July, took a few classes and “lived” at the baseball facility for eight or more hours daily.
“I was hitting two or three times a day, running, doing glove work and infield work,” he said. “I would also lift (weights) about an hour each afternoon.”
Bell said he could play anywhere in the infield as needed but shortstop is where he’s the best.
“I am very humble. I work very hard defensively and take great pride in my defense. I feel like defense is always something you have the ability to make every play with,” Bell said. “Hitting is the hardest thing to do in sports and you are going to have slumps.”
That’s why Bell fields ground balls in the practice facility as often as he can because he knows the more reps he has the easier it is to make routine plays and make hard plays look routine.
“I was never the biggest or strongest guy. In middle school I saw guys deadlift 225 (pounds) and I never thought I could do that but I worked to get stronger and as I did I got more quickness,” he said.
He’s a natural right-handed hitter but at age 3 his father tried to convert him to a switch hitter, a move he fought before getting comfortable with the move. Now he has more power from the left side because of his dominant right arm which gives him more loft in his swing from the left side.
“On the right side I hit more singles and doubles,” Bell said. “I probably hit more opposite field home runs on the right side. I like to hit singles and doubles and just let the home runs come. I don’t try to hit 30 home runs.”
Bell followed UK’s historic run to the College World Series in 2024 and likes the high expectations for the Cats going into this season. Kentucky is ranked No. 23 in one preseason poll.
“Now that the team has made it to Omaha, our goal is not to just make it but to win,” he said “Everybody has that mentality on and off the field. You can feel it. That is the standard here now.
“Our team is really coming together. We have about 30 new guys but the Kentucky culture gives you the right mindset to play with. We have gotten really close and have a chip on our shoulder to prove last year was no fluke for this program.”
