Tennessee pitcher AJ Russell made his return to the mound for the Vols on Tuesday night, striking out a pair in a scoreless inning pitched against Tennessee Tech.
It was the first time that Russell had pitched since Feb. 25 against North Alabama. Following his first in-game appearance since undergoing Tommy John surgery, Russell and Tennessee decided to slow down his throwing plan. There were no setbacks but his recovery was so quick that both sides felt it better to play things cautiously.
“Obviously, you want to be out there,” Russell said of the frustration of waiting. “I want to help this team win as much as humanly possible. It is also you’ve got to be smart about it and not rush back and do anything that hurts you in the long run, too.”
Russell’s return to the mound was an effective, albeit short one, against Tennessee Tech. He was efficient, throwing just 12 pitches and 11 strikes while retiring the side around a two-out seeing-eye single. His fastball was between 93 and 95 mph including four pitches that hit 95 mph.
“The fact that it was efficient, and didn’t get to a situation where you got to pull him or anything like that, was great,” Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello said. “I think the benefit of him throwing a ton in this rehab process is, instead of just throwing every pitch like he’s trying to throw it through a brick wall, he can pitch a little bit. You saw the velocity kind of sporadic there, and that’s intentional. It’s not because he can’t repeat his delivery or anything like that. So a lot of positive and I think he even went down to the bullpen and worked on some things off-speed wise, so the more reps, the better for him.”
The 6-foot-6 right-handed pitcher was throwing consistently in the month-plus that he didn’t pitch in games. Russell said postgame that he felt like he could have thrown 20-30 more pitches than he did and even threw some in the bullpen following his outing.
What’s next for Russell after an effective return? The top priority for the junior pitcher is to throw as much as possible this season while Tennessee continues its chase for a SEC Championship and National Championship.
“Pitch as much as possible this year,” Russell said of his goal this season. “I think, for me, I told Q at the start of the year I wanted 40, 50 innings this year. It’s not saving myself for anything or anything like that. The dream is to go to the next level and everything like that. I am here now and I want to pitch here. It is kind of the biggest thing for me.”
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Vitello said that they don’t expect to pitch Russell this weekend against Texas A&M and that next Tuesday against Alabama State is a more likely next outing. Both Russell and Vitello stated the desire for the talented junior to pitch longer next week but that they would have conversations about that leading up to the outing.
The more important question is what Russell’s long term role will be this season.
“I do. But I haven’t discussed that with him yet,” Vitello said on if he has a role in mind for Russell. “I’ll do that with him tomorrow, and then maybe we’ll share that. But, you know, Plan A never works out. … So we’ll discuss what Plan A is, and then fully be ready to adapt and improvise and overcome.”
Tennessee baseball is 26-2 (8-1 SEC) to this point in the season and is the unanimous No. 1 team in the country as they look to go back-to-back as national champions. In their first three SEC series, the Vols have swept Florida and South Carolina with a series win at Alabama.
As good as Tennessee has been to this point in the season, they could use another reliable arm in its pitching staff. Liam Doyle and Marcus Phillips are locked into the Friday and Saturday starting roles, respectively. Tennessee has not announced its Sunday starting pitcher ahead of SEC series but freshman Tegan Kuhns has been effective in that role, especially the last two weeks.
Russell is supremely talented with some MLB Draft experts view Russell as a potential first round selection in the 2025 MLB Draft. How the Vols use Russell when he is fully back in the swing of things is one of the biggest stories to watch over the next month.
