Highly touted Louisville infield transfer Gavin Kilen committed to Tennessee baseball over Florida and LSU on Thursday afternoon.
“See you soon, Knoxville,” Kilen captioned his Instagram post.
A rising junior, Kilen hit .330 with nine home runs, 35 extra-base hits and 41 RBIs last season at Louisville. The left-handed hitter flashed power last season at Louisville but also displayed incredibly impressive bat to ball skills, striking out in just 9% of his at-bats.
Kilen was one of Tennessee baseball’s top targets in the transfer portal this offseason. He visited Knoxville for the super regional series against Evansville and took his time afterwards before eventually committing to Tony Vitello and his staff.
Baseball America ranks Gavin Kilen as the No. 1 player in the entire transfer portal this offseason. The Milton, Wisconsin native played both shortstop and second base last season for the Cardinals. Second base seems like the most plausible position for Kilen at Tennessee with Dean Curley sliding over to third base and rising sophomore Ariel Antigua stepping into the starting shortstop spot.
Kilen started his summer baseball circuit in the Cape Cod League and both Vitello and associate head coach Josh Elander visited with him last weekend. But since then, Kilen has played with the USA Baseball Collegiate Team alongside Tennessee’s Nate Snead and Curley.
The Vols lost seven players to the transfer portal this offseason including infielders Zane Denton, Camden Bates and Bradke Lohry, utility bat Robin Villeneuve and pitchers Matthew Dallas, Derek Schaefer and Wyatt Evans.
Kilen becomes Tennessee’s second transfer portal commit of the offseason alongside Kennesaw State right-handed pitcher Tanner Franklin.
