Jackson Soucie believes he can be a weekend starter for UK. (South Carolina Athletics Photo)
Jackson Soucie didn’t have his “best outing” when he pitched for South Carolina against Kentucky last season but he did appreciate what he saw at Kentucky Proud Park.
“I enjoyed the place and the culture the team had and experiencing the fans,” the left-handed pitcher said.
When he decided to transfer after the season ended, it didn’t take him long to realize Kentucky was the right place for him.
“I talked to all the coaches and they made me feel like Kentucky was the right place for me. Other places just did not seem right like Kentucky did,” he said.
Most SEC teams don’t like playing Kentucky because of the aggressive, boisterous style of play that coach Nick Mingione’s team uses.
“That is definitely accurate. It (Kentucky’s style) made our coaches a little irritated,” Soucie said. “It was a big series we wanted to win and they came out on top. Personally, I enjoy being on a team everybody is annoyed with. I am looking forward to it and like the confidence Kentucky plays with.”
He made 14 appearances with five starts for South Carolina last season. He went 3-1 with 32 strikeouts in 30 innings. The Cambridge, Ontario, native played at Wabash Valley College for two years where he was part of a junior college World Series runner-up team. He was 8-2 with a 2.18 earned run average in 70 innings in 2024 and was the great Rivers Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year.
He comes from an athletic family. His mother is a marathon runner but baseball is the sport of choice in his family. His brother, Tyler, played baseball at Canisius and then semi-pro baseball in Australia. He now runs a baseball facility in Canada. Soucie’s father, J.P., is 59 years old and still plays in an adult baseball league.
“My dad is the reason for everything when it comes to my love for baseball,” Soucie said. “He still plays in an old-timers league but he enjoys it. He grinds through pain every day to play, so I can’t say much if I have something bothering me because he will just tell me to play through the pain.
“My brother is 34 and he showed me what it was like to play college baseball. I still talk to him daily. He was a right-handed pitcher and is still my pitching coach when I am home and going to his facility.”
Soucie also got some informative advice from former Kentucky infielder Emilien Pitre, a key player on UK’s 2024 College World Series team and 58th pick in the 2024 Major League Baseball Draft. He is from Quebec.
“I never knew him personally but I knew he was a French Canadian and they are all super gritty and hard-nosed because I played with one,” Soucie said. “As part of the recruiting process I got to hop on a phone call and he told me about his recruiting process and how the Kentucky coaches are all real. He told me some coaches promise you the world and then you get there and it is not like that. He said when he talked to the Kentucky coaches they were super genuine and that is how they would be in the season, too. I really liked hearing that.”
Soucie, 21, liked what he heard so much that he committed to UK without taking an official campus visit. The 6-foot-4, 240-pound pitcher was not promised any specific role by Mingione but hopes to be a starting pitcher.
“I started in junior college and started some mid-week games last year and also threw some on weekends,” Soucie said. “My goal is definitely to be a starter, go deep in games and put the team on my back. I want to be that guy for the team. Being a starter is my goal but I know it is all determined by how I perform in the fall. I know all roles are earned and Coach told me I had a chance to come in and be a starter and what was good enough for me.”
