Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello met with the local media Thursday morning before the BaseVols open fall practice that afternoon.
It’s a critical fall for Vitello’s team. After returning to the College World Series last season for the second time in three years Tennessee lost a number of key players to the MLB Draft and transfer portal. But while the transfer portal hurt the Vols in spots it helped them in spades.
Tennessee added a number of key players in the transfer portal this summer who are looking to find their rhythm this fall.
Vitello discussed the newcomers, the starting pitching competition, a pair of Vols who are currently sidelined and much more. Here’s everything Vitello said Thursday.
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On who the main players in the starting pitching competition are
“Kind of starts with Drew Beam’s leadership. He’s been a rock and kind of a staple of our pitching the last few years. And hopefully his attributes kind of spill out into the new guys. And I think that process has already begun. And the fun thing about any position you want to talk about, we have open competition everywhere. Obviously AJ Russell is looking to make a step forward from what he did last year and would be a strong candidate for doing that. We’d like to mix in a left-handed pitcher and with Zander [Sechrist], [Chris] Stamos – who’s not John Stamos, but is been fun to be around and fun to joke around about that. Others too, there’s too many candidates to list that I think could pop into those roles. And to be honest with you, we don’t need to settle into a starting rotation until SEC play rolls around.”
On LHP Wyatt Evans progress after an injury sidelined him last season
“I’m rusty on the interviews. I’m glad you brought him up because he’s a direct answer to what we were just talking about. When you looked at him as a freshman, he’s getting solid innings, competitive innings, SEC innings as a freshman on one of the best teams in the country in 2022. Then a frustrating year for all last year where he couldn’t get out there consistently with just some soreness – no major injury. I think he has a lot of that past him now. He’s got a lot of spring in his step when he’s at the park and then the ball is jumping out of his hand pretty good.
When you think of starters in our league, a lot of those guys are not just durable bodies, but big physical guys and Wyatt is just that. Now he’s got some experience to boot. Reflecting back on his freshman year, if we could predict the future, we thought he’d get more in it as a sophomore and then be a strong candidate to be a starter on the weekend for us this year. But like I said, there’s a lot of open competition. So, if he were not able to capture one of those roles at any point in the year, I think he can pick back up where he left off in 22 and serve a major role for us.”
On the transfer pitchers Nate Snead and AJ Causey and Chris Stamos
“Yeah, both are fully capable of starting. I don’t really like kind of lumping guys into a specific category that they are. With Snead, he’s got such big stuff and at times I think had really short burst outings for Wichita State last year. That doesn’t necessarily mean that’s what he is for us. He’ll be given every opportunity to show that he can start, but also could be a powerful arm out of the bullpen. Stamos did a lot of different things. If you look at Cal last year, he bounced around with a lot of different roles – served as an opener too. And then Causey, because he’s a low slot guy again, you might say, well, this is a guy that comes in as a situational riding for you out of the bullpen. He’s shown that he’s capable of starting. Overall, those three guys, maybe it’s because we haven’t intersquaded yet, but the three best things or the best things that those three guys bring to the table every day is just their vibe and their attitude. They’re good kids, they’re willing to learn and they certainly are fun to be around.”
On Zane Denton
“The first thing you have to do is reflect on what he did last year. It was kind of add to the nice list of magical moments that we have had here. There is no way you can have those — you can’t coach them and you really can’t train for them in practice. The way they happen is when you have perseverance, which he certainly had throughout all of last year. Not that he hasn’t had it prior to last year. But a ton of it last year. Our team really came close together at the end and he was a big part of that. The first couple scrimmages, I know he won’t be part of. He is handling some things that he has to. But again like last year, he has been able to manage a lot in his life on and off the field and done very well at it. I think the fact that he is in a supportive environment here has kind of helped him to progress in the way that he has.”
On junior college signee Marcus Phillips
“More personality than he had on his official visit. He didn’t say anything on the visit and we quite didn’t know everything we were getting out of him other than a respectful, good kid, good teammate, good worker, some lineage there with his father playing in pro ball. It doesn’t take long to look at him and see that he’s very athletic and has a lot of potential. But what he has sprinkled in, in addition to those three pitchers I mentioned is just — unless he’s tricking us, which I hope he is not — great dude to be around every day. You know, when you come to work every day and you’re a baseball coach, you probably don’t label it work because it’s fun. You get to wear athletic clothing and bounce around on the field with the guys. So when you are changing in the locker room and you get outta your car, you want to come to the field with guys that you’re excited about not just working with, but being around. And he’s a strong combination of both. He’s fun to work with on the mound while at the plate, and then of course defensively too.
“But again, in addition to those three guys, Wyatt, back to full strength. The consistent theme for the coaches when we meet and have a round table discussion about these guys is, not how many homers do we think they’re gonna hit or because they can hit (batting practice) homers, can they hit ’em in a game? And he’s gonna need some reps to do that, being from a northern state like I was, but, the group’s been a pleasure to be around. That needs to get stronger as we go forward, not weaker.”
On the catcher spot
“Yeah, Cal (Stark) had an operation that a lot of guys have that are hitters with his hamming bone, so he’s out right now and rather than kind of sit on the sidelines and either feel sorry for himself or just be inactive, he’s almost kind of taken on the role of an extra coach and because of his experience, we’re good with that. And because he’s such a likable dude, his teammates are with it or are good with it. So that’s been pretty, pretty cool to see and is a good example of what I’m harping on with the environment we have over there.
“But you got Chuck (Charlie Taylor) who’s just a guy who will probably be a CEO of a company one day, which means you’re certainly not afraid to put him in charge of a pitching staff or in charge of anything else as it relates to defensive duties behind the plate.
“Then we have one of the more talented freshmen in the country in Stone Lawless and then two guys who you could just take away their catching duties with (Cannon) Peebles and (Dalton) Bargo coming in and they could be middle of the order bats for a lot of people in the country.
“So it’ll be a fun one to sort out. And the thing that I think they’ve already bought into is when Coach Elander works that intensely with you every day and you have an opportunity to learn from a guy like Frank Anderson on how to handle pitchers, you’re gonna get better. So if each one of those guys gets better every day, I think most of ’em will have a pro opportunity. They’ll all have an enjoyable experience and we’ll have true, true depth at the most important position on the field or the toughest position on the field to fill.”
On Missouri transfer Dalton Bargo
“The biggest thing is he just wanted to be here. Hey, in recruiting, we all go probably overboard on listing the positives and maybe you tuck any negatives away or hide ’em in the closet. With him, just with where we were at the summer, we were awfully honest with him and being around him every day, I’m so glad he’s here. I look back and I’m like, ‘why were we that honest with him?’ But we just kind of laid it out. And really what it came down to is he wanted to be here. And he had his mindset on it for whatever reason. You’d have to ask him and he gave us a few, but he could probably speak for himself better than I can. But he is a low maintenance — again, when you come to work every day, you like guys like this. He is a low maintenance, blue-collar worker. And that’s a credit to his family and then how he has shaped his career. Probably a little bit of even where he has spent his college time prior here. But he’s not afraid to work and he kind of is that, keep his head down, yes sir guy that you really like and on top of it, hit a hit a big homer against us last year. He’s capable of hitting for average and a little bit of power as well, but he could probably end up playing anywhere on the field. So during scrimmages we’ll bounce him around like crazy and hopefully it doesn’t drive him crazy. ‘Cause I think it can benefit him a little bit down the road.
On their shortstop options right now
“Yeah, I was out there the other day and tried to field one. It popped outta my glove, so I’ve been eliminated. It’s too early to eliminate anybody else because we’ve had a lot of guys run over there, whether it’s during BP and it’s on their own, or during practice. We ask him to kind of go to wherever they want and heck, who wouldn’t wanna be an SEC shortstop?
“Now I was speaking with one of my friends who knows nothing about baseball, but he does follow the team and he said, ‘who’s your shortstop?’ And I said, ‘we don’t have one.’ And what I meant with that answer is just, I don’t even know that there’s necessarily somebody we’re targeting to be the guy or someone that’s a front runner at this point. But I certainly feel comfortable that we have several options at that position. Whether you get a guy who turns an ankle on a base or you feel like Trey Lipscomb, who we knew could play shortstop. We felt we were better with him at third in the combination. So it might come down to just what’s the best overall combination. But right now we have several guys that are gonna become better players, better infielders, and better people, because there’s a few guys pushing each other at that spot.”
On the Omaha hat he’s wearing
“Yeah, we’re under the watchful eye here of Tyler Johnson, who’s our sport administrator and probably goes to bat — no pun intended — for our program, more than anybody in the administration. And of course our SID, Sean Barows, is here. And I knew I had this, but I’m not a good waker-upper guy in the morning. I just want to make sure I have clothes on, unlike the guy that was in the DFW airport, a week or two ago. I honestly would rather not be wearing this hat. It was a gift last year and it’s a great hat, but that was last year. So no message trying to be sent. I’m not into politics or subtle messages at all. I like to wear comfortable clothing or if somebody gives me something for free, I’ll certainly wear it. Hint, hint to anybody listening. It was last year. IfI was to wear anything with Omaha written on it intentionally or for style purposes around the building, it would be a reminder that the next time our program’s fortunate enough to be there, we need to play better. That’s a weird and long answer.”
On Clemson transfer Billy Amick
“The fun thing about our interactions at the beginning of the year when you say your name, where you’re from, and then we try and follow up on that and get the guys to know each other as quickly as possible. The consistent theme with him is he just wants to win. And it’s one thing to say that because many kids will do so, but you can sense that coming off of hi (in) the vibe that he presents and then also in his actions the way he is. I think he is here to make himself better and to win. I’ve been impressed at how quickly he’s kind of taken to his teammates and how quickly they’ve taken to him. He is not a loud jokester or a big-time — I don’t want to say big-time personality because I like his personality — but he’s not as outgoing or as loud as a guy like Evan Russell. Let’s put it that way. But for him to interact with and get acclimated so quickly with our team is huge because he comes from one of the strongest programs in the country. He’s already spent a couple years in college baseball.
You don’t want that mercenary feeling like, ‘Hey, this guy’s just here to help us for maybe a year and then move on.’ It’s been quite the contrary.”
On getting a team to mesh and when that takes place
“It depends on the team. One of the returners from last year, I’ll just say it — (Kavares Tears) — is such a different kid to talk to as a freshman. I don’t have kids of my own, but that freshman year to maybe sophomore year, even freshman that junior year, it’s so fun to see how much they change. Not that he was an immature kid, but he’s increased so much in the maturity category. He’s fun to sit down and pick his brain. And we had a convo up in the office and he basically said, our team right now, our group is probably about where we were at when we played in Memphis last year, which was near the end of the fall. It was a scrimmage day or a game against an outside opponent where you can really find some things out about yourself. For whatever reason, maybe it’s the makeup of the guys, the extra motivation, the enjoyment, seeing the construction. It’s been a quick turn and the freshmen have been a part of that, too. Sometimes, they’re on the outside looking in and it takes a while for them to be a part of this group, but you can’t pick and choose when it’s gonna happen. There’s some things that can help speed it up and you can be proactive about it, but ultimately it’s about the people. I feel like we have good people over there at our stadium.”
On the construction at Lindsey Nelson Stadium
“It’s awesome. When you stay in a hotel, you travel recruiting or you guys have to travel to watch our teams and the hotel says, excuse our progress, and then you hear like a drill and you’re trying to sleep at 7:00 a.m. or whatever, that’s their way of saying, too bad, too sad, but you should be happy. This is gonna get even better down the road. If we had a a comic up here like (Josh) Mancuso, we could say it better. But I think for us it’s a little bit of a headache. You could look at it that way — like the 7:00 a.m. drill bit you hear or you could look at it as the sign that says we’re making progress. I think our kids are kind of amped up every day to see literally the future right in front of them. I know people expected to see construction as soon as the program really started to have significant success and it doesn’t work that way. It is an absolute grind and it’s a process that comes with a lot of paperwork and people lobbying and raising money and there’s too many people to list that we need to be thankful for. But probably the biggest group is the players that have come before this team. I know some of them have been a part of it — Drew Beam freshman year — are to thank more than anyone. It’s just really cool to look out the window or to get out of the car in the morning and, and see that and it’ll be even more fun when it’s complete — at least this phase of it for this year.”
On the infield cross training and how much Christian Moore will work at shortstop
“Right now he’s made the decision he is not gonna leave there until I tell him, which is fine. Again, we’ll see how it works out. I think it’s pretty evident for us to be the best version of us, we need him to be who he is on the field, which has been obviously strong in the first two years. But now this year we need him to be a leader as well. Regardless of what spot he’s doing from — because it could be from the dugout at times — hopefully, that means we have good leaders or something like that. But in the clubhouse and on the field, he needs to be a leader and I feel he can do that in any position. But at short, you are in the middle of the field and, let’s be honest with each other: It’s attractive for scouts to see a guy that is athletic enough to play in the middle of the field. I don’t mean to speak for scouts at all, but if you make Team USA, you’re probably athletic enough to be somewhere on the field at pro level. It’ll work out the right way. I like the determination that he and some others are hungry to either capture that position or another or just a position in general. Again, there’s options. So maybe we tinker around a little bit and just find that best combination or let it be the best man win. There’s a variety of experience there, whether it be junior college, transfer portal currently in the program or just freshmen that have played at a high level at some of these events these guys get invited to. I feel like everyone will be ready. We’ll play the guys that are just most ready or most developed. If I could have a crystal ball, I think as the season goes on, someone’s gonna knock on the door and kind of walk through and maybe get innings that they weren’t getting early in the year and maybe there’ll be some other things that kind of evolve as well.”
