Kentucky baseball accused of being 'bush league'

When Kentucky baseball comes to town, there are always a few things you can count on. They are going to steal a lot of bases, they are going to try to bunt goes over, and they will find any rule and push it to the limit.

That has led to an Omaha berth, several Super Regionals, and an SEC regular season championship. So it is effective, but is it "bush league?"

The Glue Guys took to X to explain their thoughts after the Cats lost a series to LSU last weekend though they were able to steal game 1.

"They play a really annoying style, but I've seen it pretty much every weekend this year, especially when they play a team like LSU...The series gets put more on a pedestal and high profile when it's on the road. There is always like some drama." The host, Chris Phillips, asked former MLB Pitcher Anthony Ranaudo.

Ranaudo replied, "I'm pretty confident that it's a bush league program, and it starts with the top, and again, if Mingione was sitting right in this room with me, I would say it right to his face...I would say 'you are a bush league coach and you encourage bush league antics.' When I was at LSU, he was a first base coach. I can't remember where he was coaching, but we got into it, and we got into it with them at one point...he did the hide behind somebody antics...and to me, that is the culture that he has created. And I think it's the whole recruiting process, and he knows the type of players...and he has put together a group of kids that they buy into it...they chant in the dugout like a softball team."

But is that really a problem?

Kentucky baseball's chanting is not an issue

The chanting doesn't bother me as a baseball fan. It never has, and it really shouldn't bother the opposing team. There are some legitimate things you can argue about, like last year when Texas A&M accused Kentucky of slow-playing to try to take advantage of the curfew rule. That rule forces games to be called by a certain time on Sunday, so opposing teams can make it back to campus in time for classes on Monday.

That is a legitimate gripe. If Ranaudo had brought that up, I would have just said, I don't agree, but I can see where he is coming from. Instead, he focused on how they chant from the dugout and the dances they do.

Was the Boston Redsox bush league when Chris Sale would yell from the dugout? What about the Seattle Mariners' Triton or the San Diego Padres' sword? It's just sour grapes here.

Kentucky has won the SEC the same number of times as LSU since 2017. LSU has been to only 1 more CWS than Kentucky during that time, and this year Kentucky has a better team.

So, if you are mad that your program is on the same level as Kentucky after being dominant in baseball for years, get mad at your own administration, not Nick Mingione.