Tennessee baseball RHP Seth Halvorsen has been selected in the seventh round of the 2023 MLB Draft by the Colorado Rockies at 202nd overall.
Halvorsen is the fourth Vol to be selected in this year’s draft, behind Chase Dollander (No. 9), Maui Ahuna (No. 117), and Andrew Lindsey (No. 146).
Halvorsen is the third Volunteer pitcher to be selected, following Dollander and Lindsey. Additionally, Halvorsen becomes the 14th Tennessee pitcher to be drafted in the Tony Vitello era.
Halvorsen will join fellow VFL Chase Dollander in the Rockies organization, as Colorado took Dollander with the ninth overall pick of the draft.
Halvorsen heads to the big leagues after five total seasons in college, with the final two coming on Rocky Top. However, due to an elbow injury that kept him out for the entirety of the 2022 season, Halvorsen only played one season for the Vols.
From start to finish in 2023, Halvorsen was one of Tennessee’s top bullpen arms. The Plymouth, Minnesota native put together a great comeback season following the injury, posting a 3-3 record with a 3.81 ERA in 52.0 innings pitched across 25 appearances and one start.
Much like many members of the Vols pitching staff, Halvorsen had several crucial outings on Tennessee’s road to Omaha. Against Clemson in the NCAA Regional, Halvorsen gave up no hits, just one walk and struck out three against Clemson in 3.1 innings of dominant work in extras.
Additionally, Halvorsen was brilliant in 4.0 innings of relief in game one vs. Southern Miss in the Hattiesburg Super Regional, giving up only one hit and one run in Tennessee’s loss.
After a rocky two-game stretch in which he gave up eight combined runs against Tennessee Tech and Vanderbilt, Halvorsen took things to another gear in the last two months of the season. In his next 10 appearances, Halvorsen gave up just eight earned runs and had a 24/9 strikeout to walk ratio.
Halvorsen’s lone start this past season came in Tennessee’s 3-0 SEC Tournament loss to Texas A&M, where Halvorsen gave up two runs off three hits and struck out six in four innings of above-average work.
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Before Tennessee, Halvorsen was Missouri’s Friday night starter for the majority of the 2021 season. Halvorsen led the Tigers in starts (14), wins (4), strikeouts (70) and innings pitched (72.0).
Halvorsen was also a starter in 2020 for the Tigers but it came as a position player. The 23-year-old logged 14 appearances and 10 starts in center field during the COVID-shortened season. 2020 was the final season Halvorsen played in the field, as he was solely a pitcher from 2021 and beyond.
In Halvorsen’s true freshman season in 2019, he took a medical redshirt.
In Colorado, Halvorsen joins Dollander and 2022 draft pick Jordan Beck as VFLs in the Rockies organization.
Outfielder Jared Dickey and infielder Ryan Galanie figure to be two more Vols selected on day two.
