On Sunday evening, no less than one College of Tennessee participant goes to get taken within the first spherical of the MLB Draft. Left-hander Liam Doyle is a lock to go within the high 15, with as many as half a dozen of his teammates (plus 4 or 5 Tennessee commits) additionally within the operating to get picked in a while Day One.
That’s common nowadays; since 2020, the Vols have produced six first-round picks, second-most of any program within the nation. However it’s new. Tennessee had six gamers picked within the first spherical correct from 1985 to 2019 inclusive. That run consists of Todd Helton and R.A. Dickey, each of whom are older than Tony Vitello, the person who turned a mediocre SEC program into the most popular ticket in school baseball.
Incidental to all this spectacular expertise growth: 5 straight Tremendous Regional appearances, three School World Sequence appearances, and a nationwide championship in 2024. Life is nice, each for these in Knoxville and for these departing the scene for professional ball.
Most nice school sports activities applications have an outlined model. For Tennessee underneath Vitello, it’s three issues: pitchers who throw arduous, place gamers who hit for energy, and an enormous angle all through the roster.
That final half has made Tennessee a bit polarizing nationally. If there’s something extra annoying than a staff that wins on a regular basis, it’s a staff that wins on a regular basis and crows about it.
“I’m an extrovert. I work together with individuals nicely. I imply, possibly not on the sector, in between the strains, proper?” says infielder Andrew Fischer. “Some individuals don’t love the best way I play the sport, however I’m very comfy in my very own pores and skin.”
Fischer transferred to Tennessee from Ole Miss earlier than his junior yr, and led the Vols in most offensive classes throughout his solely yr in Knoxville. He figures to listen to his identify referred to as on Sunday.
It was Fischer who stood on the plate throughout a regional sport towards Wake Forest, when Wake head coach Tom Walter was caught on digital camera utilizing a homophobic slur. That very same at-bat, Fischer rotated and launched certainly one of his 25 house runs, inflicting pandemonium within the Volunteer dugout.
“[Playing with attitude is] not a requirement for us, and subsequently it’s not one thing we seek for,” Vitello says. “I simply would relatively have a man whose hearth burns slightly too shiny, like Drew Gilbert, and we’ve acquired to try to management it, or get them to make use of it as a bonus versus an obstacle, than need to try to hearth a child as much as play a sport.”
This viewpoint is definitely fairly frequent all through sports activities, however Vitello’s instance is instructive. In 2022, Gilbert acquired ejected from an excellent regional sport towards Notre Dame for arguing balls and strikes; in school baseball, a participant who will get ejected from a sport will get suspended from the next sport as nicely, which meant Tennessee performed half the tremendous regional with out its finest participant. And later on this previous yr’s regional win over Wake Forest, catcher Cannon Peebles acquired tossed within the eighth inning of the decisive sport, placing him on the bench for Recreation 1 of the tremendous, which the Vols misplaced to Arkansas.
In different phrases, in yearly for the reason that pandemic, the Vols have both had a starter suspended in the course of the tremendous regional, or they’ve made it to Omaha. Fairly a dichotomy.
However as a lot as opposing followers may dislike the Vols, their rivals don’t appear to have an issue with a staff that talks trash or argues with umpires.
“They’re an incredible staff, coached by an incredible coach, nice gamers, they carry that power each single day,” says South Carolina slugger Ethan Petry.
Vanderbilt jack-of-all-trades RJ Austin is aware of the Tennessee-Vandy rivalry in addition to anybody, however relatively than harboring animosity towards his opponents, he principally loved taking part in towards high-level competitors.
“It’s been a whole lot of enjoyable,” Austin says. “Actually, it’s a whole lot of hate that goes into it, phrases, actions, that you simply in all probability wouldn’t do towards different groups. However I simply went to have dinner with three of their gamers, they usually’re all cool guys.”
Florida State’s Jamie Arnold, one of many high pitchers on this yr’s class, took a no-decision towards Tennessee final yr in top-of-the-line video games of the season.
“I believe Coach Vitello does issues a unique method than most different coaches,” Arnold says. “From what I’ve heard, he’s an incredible gamers’ coach. I’ve had buddies that I’ve met from Tennessee, and a lifelong good friend of mine performed there final yr, so I’ve heard good issues about him. They’re a enjoyable staff to play towards. They compete arduous, and I believe they actually care about one another.”
The Tennessee gamers I talked to at this yr’s Draft Mix all preferred taking part in in an setting that allowed them to be themselves.
“It’s liberating to have the ability to go there and present your true colours,” says Tennessee righty Marcus Phillips. “Folks have a damaging connotation in the direction of the best way that folks do issues at Tennessee, simply due to the true emotion that will get proven. Folks appear to assume there’s antics behind it, nearly as if we follow for it… Once you work as arduous as we do to perform one thing, it’s sort of arduous to not present true emotion behind that. For those who can hit a ball 450 ft, you need to have the ability to stand there and take a look at it.”
A decade in the past, that may’ve been an outlier opinion. The tradition in school baseball has modified so quickly since then it in all probability deserves its personal article. However as just lately as 2015, legendary coach Augie Garrido was utilizing “The most important factor fallacious with school baseball as we speak is entitlement” as an applause line. Vitello was nonetheless years away from his first head teaching gig again then, however he knew the prevailing mindset. His father was a Corridor of Fame highschool coach who had a equally “militaristic” method, to make use of Vitello’s phrase.
“It’s not simply Augie and [former Rice coach] Wayne Graham, it’s my dad,” Vitello says. “Even when you get a stroll, put your head down and run to first, and when you hit a homer, the identical factor. Put your head down.”
On the identical time, that façade was beginning to crack on the main league stage.
“José Bautista hits that homer and throws his bat. And Josh Hamilton a pair years prior — the Rangers begin a celebration anytime they get to second base. All that was changing into an increasing number of frequent within the sport at each stage, whether or not it’s celebrating or model or no matter you wish to name it.”
Across the identical time, Joe Maddon was main the Cubs to the World Sequence with a laissez-faire managerial method. So long as the gamers have been doing the work, he wouldn’t micromanage them. Vitello discovered from that teaching model and figured that embracing gamers’ individualism was the best way to go.
“Even your cellphone case is personalised. All the pieces is individualized and customised in our world. So why would that not bleed into baseball slightly bit?” he says.
“You get a stage of freedom when you’ve a coach like that,” says Fischer, who described himself as “at all times on the gasoline pedal.” “It simply frees you as much as play, realizing he has your again it doesn’t matter what.”
And individuality means individuality, says infielder Dean Curley, even for guys who’re slightly extra buttoned-down.
“That’s not likely my model of play,” Curley says. “However baseball’s gonna change. It’s a unique period. [Vitello] lets us be ourselves and be comfy in our personal pores and skin. We’ve acquired guys like Fish and Doyle who present it, and that’s who they’re. It’s not pretend, it’s who they’re.”
Being the staff that feels massive emotions doesn’t make Tennessee as a lot of an outlier as you’d assume. However being able to again all that up takes outlier efficiency. Keep in mind, Phillips’ assertion about celebrating your property runs was a conditional: You possibly can stand on the plate till the ball lands… if and provided that you’ll be able to hit it 450 ft.
Fortuitously, that hasn’t been an issue.
I requested Arnold if anybody from final yr’s Tennessee lineup stood out to him. His response: “I imply, that they had 5 guys with 20 pumps, so, yeah, take your decide. Anybody in that lineup was good.”
In 2024, the Vols hit 184 house runs in 73 video games. The typical main league staff hit 182 house runs in a season of (as you in all probability know already) 162 video games. Then there’s the pitching workers.
On the Mix, I spoke to a few Tennessee pitchers — Doyle, Phillips, and Nate Snead — who put triple digits on the radar gun no less than as soon as in the course of the 2025 season. Not far more than a decade in the past, there’d be three guys a yr who might say that in all of Division I. However that’s par for the course at Tennessee, the place Vitello’s different college students have included Garrett Crochet, Ben Joyce, Chase Dollander, Seth Halvorsen, and (for 2 seasons, earlier than he transferred to Wake Forest) Chase Burns.
Right here’s a enjoyable reality: There have been 64 pitchers who thrown no less than one pitch at 100 mph or extra within the majors this season. Of these, 17 performed school baseball since 2018, Vitello’s first season at Tennessee. 5 of these 17 performed no less than one season for the Vols:
Pitchers Who Performed School Baseball Since 2018, and Have Hit
100 mph within the Majors This Season
SOURCE: Baseball Savant
Vitello didn’t come to Knoxville planning to construct this two-way energy juggernaut. Upon taking the job in the summertime of 2017, his first rent was veteran pitching coach Frank Anderson. (By the way, Anderson was Garrido’s pitching coach at Texas, the place he received a nationwide championship in 2002.)
“Me and Frank talked about [wanting] to pitch and throw strikes and play protection. If we deliberate something, it was that,” Vitello says. “However what got here out of it was all these guys making velo jumps, after which our guys hitting for energy. I come again to our energy coach for lots of this.”
Conditioning is an enormous factor. Vitello famous, with some pleasure, that Doyle dropped 19 kilos of fats throughout his junior yr, which contributed to his very good draft yr efficiency. Vitello says stepping into Tennessee’s conditioning program could be a robust transition for some gamers.
“There finally ends up being, not even a love-hate, only a hate relationship there,” Vitello says. “However with Liam, he was decided to get it. So although he was getting his butt kicked the primary month and actually couldn’t sustain with the group, he was very decided to get via it.”
And that energy program pays dividends even for gamers who must be reaching their ceiling. Snead says that when he began taking baseball critically in highschool, he was throwing within the low 80s, and he is aware of the precise date — December 28, 2020 — when he hit 90 for the primary time.
“The yr after that, I hit 93, after which two years after that, I hit 96 for the primary time, after which I went to varsity and I used to be persistently hitting 94 to 96,” Snead says. After one yr at Wichita State, he transferred to Tennessee, and the speed stored coming. “Final yr, as much as 101 sitting within the mid-to-upper 90s. This yr, I used to be sitting within the higher 90s the entire time, hitting 100 or 101 nearly each time I went on the market. That was a very enjoyable expertise. Simply realizing that’s not accomplished but is the enjoyable half.”
Wait, is 101 not the tip of the road?
“I hope not,” Snead says. “It’d be cool to see 102, possibly 103 sooner or later, however we’ll cross that bridge after we get there.”
One factor Snead has in frequent with Phillips and Doyle, aside from fastball velocity: All three are transfers. So are Fischer, Peebles, and Gavin Kilen, a extremely regarded infield prospect who’s additionally on this draft class. Joyce, Halvorsen, and Dollander have been transfers as nicely, as you noticed within the desk above. And of all the present and former Tennessee gamers I’ve talked about to this point on this article, the one ones who have been really born within the state of Tennessee have been Dickey and Helton.
Which, once more, flies within the face of the whole lot we thought we knew about school baseball 10 years in the past.
“After we first acquired right here, individuals have been adamant about us ‘claiming the state,’ and it’s the state college,” Vitello says. However even in a comparatively massive, talent-rich state like Tennessee, that wasn’t possible. The Memphis space is definitely extra linked to Arkansas and the Mississippi colleges, as an illustration, whereas Chattanooga may as nicely be an exurb of Atlanta.
“And likewise, we’re subsequent to Vanderbilt,” says Vitello, who took over at Tennessee whereas Tim Corbin’s membership was wrecking home three hours down I-40. “On the time, that they had a greater scholarship scenario than anyone within the nation. For us, we simply got here to grips with the truth that we would have liked gamers wherever we might get them.”
A few of these finds are simpler than others; Fischer and Doyle are from the Northeast, however each transferred in from one other SEC college. Hardly a troublesome scouting mission. However Curley got here to Tennessee straight from highschool in Southern California. Snead got here from Wisconsin by way of Wichita State.
However recruiting success breeds extra recruiting success. The extra Tennessee guys get to the majors, the extra these alumni — similar to Crochet — have been in a position to assist in recruiting. Maybe extra importantly, the nationwide scouting dragnet pulls up extra expertise as time goes on.
Phillips, as an illustration, comes from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Which is, I can say from expertise, a stunning metropolis. However in baseball phrases, it’s past the center of nowhere. You’ve acquired a greater likelihood of being recruited from Brigadoon.
“Rob Allison, the man that runs PBR Minnesota, he was the one who made the decision to get Drew Gilbert right down to Tennessee,” Phillips says. “I went to all his occasions rising up, and he reached out to Frank Anderson about me and mentioned, ‘Look, you’ve acquired to get this man.’ Frank was like, ‘Why? Why would we go get some random man from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, who hasn’t even picked up a ball in junior school?’
“And [Allison] just about simply mentioned, ‘Properly, I acquired you Drew Gilbert, a future first rounder, didn’t I?’ And so there was some credibility, they usually went out and acquired me.”
And at a sure stage, taking part in SEC baseball sells itself. Vitello places it this manner: A highschool draft decide, if the whole lot goes nicely, hopes to get to the majors in 5 years. Rising from school as a well-rounded, polished prospect, can reduce that quantity down. Crochet skipped the minors fully; Christian Moore reached the massive leagues in underneath a yr.
“However the different factor is, a child from Wisconsin now can work on his craft six hours a day if he desires, due to all these indoor amenities and the whole lot else that’s out there. So these youngsters, they work their ass off, and when you’re going to work that onerous, you may as nicely get pleasure from it. I believe all of us, particularly coaches, we don’t take the time to get pleasure from stuff.”
As a child from Wisconsin who labored his ass off at an indoor facility, maybe Snead has ideas on that hypothetical.
“It’s a whole lot of enjoyable, particularly being there. That place is basically particular,” he says. “They take nice, nice care of individuals, and it’s a good looking place to be, too. I assume you may say it’s a corporation lots of people wish to play for. Coach V is the perfect of the perfect, and Coach Frank, he’s the person.”
“[Vitello] is much more than a coach to me now, he’s really only a good friend and an incredible particular person to be round,” Doyle says. “He has that aggressive spirit that makes you wish to be much more aggressive than you already are. Taking part in for a man like that, it’s really surreal.”
It does seem to be the important thing to all that is making the gamers really feel supported, making them really feel like they are often themselves. After which having them work out till the perfect model of themselves throws 100 mph or hits 20 homers a yr. Within the trappings of a serious SEC program, that’s fairly a sexy proposition for a university ballplayer. There’d be no scarcity of Volunteers.