Tennessee right-handed pitcher AJ Russell is making his 2025 season debut and starting for Vol baseball on Tuesday afternoon against North Alabama.
The junior will likely throw just one inning in more of an opener role than as a true starter in his season debut against the Lions.
Russell is returning to the mound 259 days after he had Tommy John surgery the week between Tennessee’s super regional win over Evansville and its College World Series opener. It’s an inordinately quick return to the mound off of the surgery. Fortunately for Russell and Tennessee, the right-handed pitcher’s UCL join was not fully torn leading to the quicker recovery time.
Meeting with the media before the start of the season, Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello provided optimism that Russell would be back pitching in games sooner rather than later.
“I think he’s in line with what he should be,” Vitello said. “I made the comment a couple times, by the halfway point he’ll be pitching for us. All of us would like that to be sooner but there’s some steps along the way to knock out.”
Russell was Tennessee’s Opening Day starter a season ago and struck out 10 batters in an overpowering 4.1 innings against Texas Tech. But Russell exited his second start of the season with arm soreness and was never able to fully recovery.
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The 6-foot-6 right-handed pitcher returned briefly at the start of SEC play and then again for two appearances in the SEC Tournament. But Russell’s velocity was down in Hoover and he felt soreness again afterward, leading him to shut things down and have season-ending surgery just over two weeks later.
In 44.2 career innings pitched, Russell’s posted a 2.22 ERA, 0.81 WHIP and has struck out 68 batters. He has as high a ceiling as any pitcher in Tennessee baseball’s staff. Some MLB Draft experts view Russell as a potential first round selection in the 2025 MLB Draft with his high-90s fastball with movement and elite sweeper.
“(He) Went from a skinny kid and then growing into his body and different transformations, he looks so good physically right now,” Vitello said. “I think that’s a tribute to him taking care of himself and making his comeback or rehab go as smoothly as possible. And then, also, I see the personality more than I see some of the pitching stuff.”
Tennessee baseball is off to a 7-0 start this season with weekend sweeps of Hofstra and Samford as well as a midweek victory over UNC Asheville. The Vols pitching has been strong to start the season with Ole Miss transfer Liam Doyle holding down Friday nights and junior Marcus Phillips turning in solid outings in the first two Saturday’s of the season.
Russell has more than enough talent to grab the reigns of the Sunday starting job but he will continue ramping things up before that becomes a more clear reality.
