Tennessee baseball had quite the 2025 offseason, the main headline being the departure of head coach Tony Vitello for the San Francisco Giants.
Tennessee baseball had quite the 2025 offseason, the main headline being the departure of head coach Tony Vitello for the San Francisco Giants.
Vitello, who joined the Vols in 2018 and coached the team until 2025, becomes the first coach to make the move from college to Major League Baseball.
Despite his departure, the roster still features a handful of remnants from Vitello’s recruiting efforts, and some of the credit for the roster's retention goes to the new skipper Josh Elander.
Elander arrived on campus with Vitello back in 2018 and has moved up the line of promotions since then, as he spent the last four seasons as the team’s Associate Head Coach.
Elander's crew will make its debut at home Friday against Nicholls State (4:30 p.m. ET).
Some key returning players for the 2026 team include catcher Stone Lawless, first baseman Levi Clark, infielders Manny Marin and Ariel Antigua, as well as outfielders Chris Newstrom and Reese Chapman.
Staying with the lineup, there were some holes the Vols had to fill through the transfer portal, including third base, where the team picked up Henry Ford.
Ford, a junior, enters his third season playing in the NCAA after spending his last two years with Virginia. While starting all 50 games, Ford hit .362, 11 home runs with 46 RBI’s.
Ford projects to be one of the team’s most valuable players on the offense. Ford also projects entering the season as a potential early-round MLB draft pick. While Ford usually played first base, he can slot in many spots on the infield and more than likely will play the hot corner this season.
Another unmentioned returning player is outfielder Jay Abernathy, who will likely play center field alongside Chapman in right and Blake Grimmer in left.
On the pitching side, the Vols lost some big production from guys like Liam Doyle and Marcus Phillips, meaning sophomore Teghan Kuhns gets his shot to be a big factor in the rotation.
Following Kuhns is another transfer from Virginia. Lefty Evan Blanco struggled last season with a 6.23 ERA over 14 appearances. Despite that, the season previously saw Blanco post a 3.62 ERA over 18 starts; he gets the chance to bounce back with the Vols.
Despite an offseason injury that has raised questions surrounding his timeline, Brandon Arvidson will get chances as a starter when healthy, leaving Landon Mack and Cameron Appenzeller for mid-week spots.
The Vols on paper still have the talent to make a College World Series appearance, yet the question marks stem from the bench. Elander enters the year with a handful of promises, as he is remarked in the locker room as a players-coach, but how can it translate to managing the game?
Elander gets to test his luck against the best of the best, as the SEC holds 11 ranked teams on the preseason D1 baseball top 25, where the Vols fall at No. 14.
Matchups at home against No. 2 LSU and No. 3 Texas headline the team's schedule as some of the toughest tests and will be marked as must-see baseball. The Vols have a chance to prove the program is bigger than one man, and it starts this season.