Tennessee baseball led the way with four players selected on the opening day of the 2024 MLB Draft. Second baseman Christian Moore and Blake Burke went in the first round while third baseman Billy Amick and Dylan Dreiling went in the second round.
For the second time in three seasons, Tony Vitello joined the MLB Network’s coverage of the MLB Draft breaking down each selection in the first two rounds of the draft on Sunday night.
That made an already special day for Tennessee baseball even cooler as Vitello discussed the four players selected that finished their career at Tennessee.
Vitello discussed Christian Moore’s will to win, Dylan Dreiling’s clutch factor and much more. Here’s everything Vitello said about Moore, Burke, Amick and Dreiling.
Christian Moore (No. 8 overall to the Los Angeles Angels)
On what a moment it is for Moore and Vitello’s program
“For him in particular, his squad looks great and he was great all year long. That’s why he shot up the board. The one thing I want to say about being around him is for a position player to impact the game it is difficult. You need strikes from the pitcher, you may hit a ball hard at somebody. I’ve never been around a guy that can decide he wants to win a game and impact it the way he did. In order to win the SEC this year you were going to have to beat Kentucky— a great club. We were 1-1 going into game three against them and he literally took over the game. That’s a great sight, him coming out (to the stage) right there. The other thing I’ll say, in uniform it’s very obvious how physical he is. Cognitively, he is off the charts. Ian Kinsler (and) Max Scherzer are really the only two guys I’ve been around that have the same type of cognitive ability that CMo has.”
“He’s got about as much conviction to him as you’ll ever find and sometimes it teeters over the line and opponents or whoever else can get disturbed by it. But you would rather have a fire burning too bright than not burning at all and you heard it in his voice with that conviction, it is burning.”
On how much better he got at Tennessee
“It was steady development physically but maturity and it all started with Trey Lipscomb and some of those other guys taking him under their wing when he was a freshman and, again, that will to win or like he said he’s bred for it— to win. It was fed by the players around him and he continued to get better.”
Blake Burke (No. 34 overall to the Milwaukee Brewers)
“That’s a home run if you ask me. Blake Burke, he can hit home runs but also he has phenomenal hand eye. Some of the two strike battles that we were able to witness were incredible. The biggest thing for me with Blake Burke is that CMo led us on the field in a lot of different ways, our catcher was phenomenal. But Blake Burke was probably our best all around leader whether it be away from the field, clubhouse, on the field. We literally got to the point where I would go out to make a pitching change and Blake Burke was the one that would meet the relief pitcher and coach him up. Obviously it worked. He got a lot better defensively at first base through a lot of hard work and I’ll tell you what, he plays like a little leaguer. He loves to play the game which is required at the big league level with how many repetitions are involved.”
Billy Amick (No. 60 overall to the Minnesota Twins)
“Thank goodness. In my opinion, obviously I’m prejudiced, a steal. Jim (Callis) and I were talking, you’d think he would go earlier. One thing he did was play third base for the first time this year and I would kind of comp him to (LSU 3B) Tommy White a little bit. Last year was Tommy’s first full year in college baseball playing third base and it wasn’t perfect, but it got better. I think with reps and also his aptitude, it’s going to get better at third base but the reason you draft him is because he can hit. He swings a bunch and it’s because he wants to hit and he’s incredibly physical. Drove the ball to all fields and was a danger at all times to the opponent. Kind of compared him at times a little bit to Trevor Story with his swing— I know you have a different comp, different view but were also a fan.”
Dylan Dreiling (No. 65 overall to Texas Rangers)
“Giddy up. He jumped up the board and really the three guys that were at the top of the order have already gone off the board but in the four-hole was Dylan Dreiling. Hits three homers to end the year in the championship series. Was incredible for us. We talk about comps all the time. Our strength coach (Quentin Eberhardt) would call him Honus Wagner. For those that don’t know him, it’s basically just an old school swing. But it certainly works for him. It’s interesting because there’s a scout I know that’s one of the more reputable scouts I’ve ever come across— he loved Dreiling out of high school. Wanted to pay him close to a million dollars. It didn’t work out and now we see what he was talking about. He almost foreshadowed when he saw him earlier this year that Dreiling was going to lead the way for us offensively and down the stretch or in the biggest moments— a huge comeback against Florida State— he was the guy for us.”
On his improvements against left-handed pitching
“Yeah he was close to .400 and in the outfield as well, baserunning— he just matured at a very quick rate. It was only his second year with us and he’s a kid from Kansas. Now, Hays Larks (are) right in his backyard. He played at the collegiate level at a young age, but a kid from a northern state that made a huge jump and in big big moments he’s super competitive and confident but the heart rate stays right where it needs to be.”
