Tennessee baseball is just over a week into fall practice.
Fall practice is extremely important in college baseball. The comparison to spring football one is an easy one but not accurate. Fall baseball is six weeks compared to the limited three-to-four weeks of preseason practice in the middle of the winter. Fall baseball often carries more weight for coaches than what happens in the preseason. So while we’re still over four months away from Tennessee baseball’s season opener, what’s happening in fall practice has a great impact on the starting lineups you’ll see on opening day.
Tennessee is nine days into fall practice and has had five intrasquad scrimmages. I’ve been at three of the scrimmages and have acquired unofficial stats from all five scrimmages with the help of other Tennessee baseball beat writers. My observations will lean on what I’ve seen in the three scrimmages (two six innings scrimmages and a four inning scrimmage) I’ve watched but the stats are unofficial from all five scrimmages
That’s enough preamble. Let’s get on to the notes and observations.
Offense
My biggest takeaway from the first week of fall practice has been the offensive newcomers stealing the show. In Tennessee’s first fall scrimmage both North Carolina State transfer catcher Cannon Peebles and Clemson transfer infielder Billy Amick hit home runs. The dup were two of the most highly touted transfers in the country and the biggest wins in the Vols’ transfer class.
Amick has two home runs in the first week and Peebles has been one of the Vols best hitters and the switch hitter has reached base in five of 10 at-bats.
While Amick and Peebles are the two most highly sought after Tennessee newcomers, they aren’t the only ones who have had a strong week.
Junior college transfer Robin Villeneuve has had an extremely hot bat so far hitting four-of-nine with two home runs including a Lindsey Nelson Stadium staple Friday. Villeneuve roped a low line drive that would have been a double just about everywhere in the SEC. But the first baseman’s hard hit liner just stayed high enough to fall in the first deck of the porches.
Freshman outfielder Holden Brauner has also really impressed to date. The Florida native has a nice swing from the left side and has been productive at the plate to date. Brauner made one of the best plays I’ve seen early in fall practice Friday when he made a “scrimmage saving” diving catch in center field. The scrimmage was tied and the other team had runners on second and third with one out. Brauner made the catch and fired to second for a double play before the runner tagging up from third scored.
Freshman infielder Dean Curley, freshman catcher Stone Lawless, freshman outfielder Jeremy Comer and junior college transfer infielder Bradke Lohry have all had their moments and have been productive batters to date.
As good as the newcomers have been, junior outfielder Kavares Tears has had the best start to the fall of Tennessee Vol hitter. The left hander has slimmed down a bit over the summer and is an extremely physically imposing player. He looks that way mashing baseballs too.
Through five scrimmages, Tears is five-of-seven with three home runs and seven RBIs and two more walks. It’s an important fall for the talented junior as he tries to lock down a starting outfield spot in a outfield full of talent. Tears is off to a nice start.
It’s been a slow start for a number of talented Tennessee outfielders. Dylan Dreiling, Reese Chapman and Hunter Ensley are all off to slow starts at the plate this fall but it’s still very early.
Blake Burke and Christian Moore are off to solid starts in the infield but neither have been dominant to date either.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk any about the shortstops in my first update. That is the biggest storyline of fall practice. It’s early to draw any major conclusions but Moore and Ariel Antigua have gotten a lot of work at the spot and neither have made any glaring defensive mistakes while I’ve been present. Antigua has really impressive range and the arm isn’t a major concern given his small stature. The freshman infielder has been solid at the plate too and showed some pop with a home run.
But it’s one week into fall practice and consistency will be the most important factor in the shortstop competition.
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Pitching
If it’s too early to draw any conclusions about the hitting it’s too early to even draw too many takeaways from the pitchers. Tennessee typically lets pitchers throw two innings in a scrimmage and since we’re only a week in no pitchers have thrown more than four innings to date.
Tennessee’s lone returning starter Drew Beam and the candidate most likely to join him in that role, AJ Russell, have yet to pitch this fall.
But here are some first thoughts watching the Vols’ pitchers.
Wichita State transfer Nate Snead clearly has impressive stuff and has been effective in two outings. Snead was solid in the one outing I watched him but electric in the one I missed. He has seven strikeouts in four innings pitched.
I was present to watch Cal transfer Chris Stamos and I found myself impressed by the veteran left-hander. Stamos had the least buzz of any incoming Tennessee transfer but struck out five in two innings.
Another left-handed pitcher that I watched strike out five guys in his first outing of the fall is sophomore Andrew Behnke. Behnke pitche sparingly on midweeks as a freshman last season but is due for a bigger role this season. He was a tad wild in his lone outing with two walks and a hit batter but he didn’t allow a hit nor a run.
Freshman left hander Bryson Thacker has had two solid outings while allowing just one hit and three baserunners.
A number of Vol pitchers have had at least one poor outing on the first week including freshman Dylan Loy, redshirt sophomore Wyatt Evans, redshirt freshman Austin Hunley and freshman Luke Payne. But again, it’s one week into fall and these are short outings. There’s not a ton you can glean from the good at this point and even less from one bad outing.
