Kentucky’s top reliever will have to face former team in next College World Series game

For Kentucky baseball to remain on the winners’ side of its College World Series bracket, the Wildcats’ best reliever of late might need to retire several of his former teammates.

Right-handed pitcher Robert Hogan has blossomed into a key component of the UK bullpen this spring after transferring from Texas A&M, the Wildcats’ Monday opponent.

It is not a progression that seemed certain when Hogan arrived in Lexington.

“To do what he’s done here is truly remarkable and it’s a true testament to the type of man that he is,” UK coach Nick Mingione said of Hogan after he helped the Wildcats clinch the program’s first trip to the College World Series.

Hogan, a native of North Oaks, Minnesota, started his college career at North Iowa Area Community College before transferring to Texas A&M. In two seasons with the Aggies, Hogan pitched only sparingly.

He threw just eight innings in his final season in College Station in 2023 and did not record an out in any of his final three appearances.

“The thing I remember about Robert Hogan is watching him on (sports video service) Synergy, and earlier in the year watching and seeing a player with tremendous energy and excitement and confidence,” Mingione told reporters in Omaha, Nebraska, before Kentucky’s first world series game. “Then when you fast-forward to some of his outings after, it didn’t look like the same guy.”

Mingione and Hogan quickly bonded over their faith and mutual friendship with a young Texas A&M fan with autism Mingione had met during a previous trip to Houston for an early-season showcase tournament.

That quick bond appears to have helped Hogan quickly settle into a more important role for Kentucky.

Hogan did not surrender a hit in his first four outings as a Wildcat but gave up two runs without recording an out in his first SEC appearance of the season. There was a point in April when it looked like Hogan might be in store for another second-half tailspin after giving up six total runs in consecutive outings against Tennessee and South Carolina, but he rallied with two scoreless appearances the next week against a top-five Arkansas team.

Since the end of the regular season, Hogan has elevated his performance to another level.

He struck out five while surrendering just one hit in three scoreless innings against LSU in the SEC Tournament. He recorded the final 10 outs without surrendering a run in Kentucky’s NCAA Tournament opener against Western Michigan, striking out four batters and walking two.

In the super regional-clinching win against Oregon State, Hogan struck out No. 1-ranked MLB draft prospect Travis Bazzana in a key moment with men on first and third and only one out in the seventh inning. Hogan finished that night with 2 1/3 more scoreless innings.

For the first time in the NCAA Tournament, Hogan looked vulnerable Saturday in UK’s College World Series opener. He walked the first batter he faced in the ninth inning then recorded an out on a lineout to right field. After surrendering a single that put runners on first and third with one out, Hogan was removed for UK saves-leader Johnny Hummel, who allowed the inherited runner on third base to score on a wild pitch.

Still, Hogan will almost certainly be used again against his former team Monday after throwing just 12 pitches against N.C. State.

Hogan reached the College World Series with Texas A&M in 2022 but did not pitch in Omaha.

“It’s a pretty special feeling,” Hogan said after UK’s first NCAA Tournament game. “This place is unreal. There’s no other place I’d be right now other than here in Kentucky playing for this school and this state. And the guys, too, they’re my brothers.

“I don’t know what else to say. It’s just pretty awesome being here and being able to play for these guys, Coach Ming, everyone. There’s nothing I could ever have asked for.”

The nerves were evident in Hogan’s first world series appearance Saturday and surely would be present again if he faces his former team. He told The Bryan-College Station Eagle on Thursday in Omaha he has no hard feelings toward Texas A&M and has enjoyed reconnecting with friends and former teammates at the hotel the two teams are sharing in Omaha.

The version of Hogan that would face Texas A&M is different than the one that left College Station for the transfer portal, though.

“I just remember talking to him and just really just mentoring him that night about how his identity is not wrapped up in this sport, and it cannot be no matter what,” Mingione said. “Like, you are Robert Hogan, who happens to play baseball. You’re not Robert Hogan, a baseball player. We just connected.

“Believe it or not, by the time we hung up on that conversation, it was very shortly after he became a Wildcat. I feel like with all my heart this is exactly where God wanted Hogey. To watch his development just from the time he first got here — somebody that was lost, trying to find his way and lacking confidence — to a guy that is now standing on the mound who acts like he owns the place and can pitch and get outs in the biggest moment is really what’s cool about coaching. As important as this is and the trophy and everything else, I really believe that Kentucky has changed his life. That means more to me than maybe anything.”

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