{"id":871738,"date":"2026-04-22T08:12:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T08:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/871738\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T08:12:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T08:12:18","slug":"kentucky-qb-signee-matt-ponatoski-faces-mlb-draft-deadline-as-decision-looms-in-july","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/871738\/","title":{"rendered":"Kentucky QB signee Matt Ponatoski faces MLB Draft deadline as decision looms in July"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kentucky recently recorded a very big recruiting win in the 2027 high school cycle. Jake Nawrot<\/a> was Will Stein<\/a>\u2018s first official addition at quarterback. But an inherited commit also counts. Cincinnati (Ohio) Moeller quarterback Matt Ponatoski<\/a> stuck with his UK pledge after the coaching change. Now the blue-chip prospect and Elite 11 finalist has a decision to make.<\/p>\n

That decision will happen soon.<\/p>\n

Ponatoski is finishing up his senior year and that means finishing the baseball season. This multi-sport athlete still has a decision to make. Play football and baseball at Kentucky? Or enter the MLB Draft? We are getting close to official decision-making mode. The 2026 prospect went on record about that upcoming decision and what his process is as the school year comes to an end.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it school? Is it the draft?\u201d Ponatoski told Spectrum News<\/a>. \u201cAnd it\u2019s, you know, it\u2019s my decision. But at the same time, I\u2019m basically going through the recruiting process again with these teams, and I\u2019m trying to show I have it, day in and day out. So, it\u2019s not stressful. But at the same time, I\u2019m going to have my bags packed and I\u2019m not going to really know where I\u2019m going.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to be fully prepared to go to school and go be at Kentucky and enroll and go compete for a quarterback battle when I get there. But at the same time, like going and putting my best foot forward to these MLB teams and showing them like I have what it takes for you to draft me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The MLB Draft is on July 11. Ponatoski still has plenty of time to figure out his final decision. It is one that a lot of players never have make. This quarterback and shortstop is not a normal player. This prospect has a big future, but eventually, a final decision has to be made. Ponatoski will either continue a football career at Kentucky (while also playing baseball) or will start a professional baseball journey in the minor leagues.<\/p>\n

There is no clear right answer. Both paths can be successful.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one A and one B,\u201d Ponatoski said. \u201cI\u2019m going to go have a great career at Kentucky, or I\u2019m going to go be a professional baseball player. It\u2019s like you can\u2019t draw it up much better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kentucky recently recorded a very big recruiting win in the 2027 high school cycle. Jake Nawrot was Will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":871739,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2026],"tags":[7,25700],"class_list":{"0":"post-871738","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-matt-ponatoski-26-archbishop-moeller"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116447356169828680","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=871738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/871739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}