SEC Baseball: Tennessee Volunteers 2023 Team Preview

There’s no doubt that it will be tough to mimic the Tennessee Volunteers success from last season. In 2022 they compiled a program record of 57 wins, an SEC baseball championship, four D1Baseball.com All-Americans, and a regional championship. But it is obvious what is missing from this stellar resume: a trip to Omaha. The boys of Rocky Top coasted through pretty much the entire season before they met their match with 17th ranked Notre Dame. Coach Vitello looks to end the 22-year drought of the College World Series with a new-look team in 2023.

Tennessee Volunteers 2023 SEC Baseball Team Preview

Negatives:

Looking at the depth chart in the field, the MLB draft was not nice to the Vols as they lost five out of the nine everyday starters from 2022 – CF Drew Gilbert, RF Jordan Beck, LF Seth Stephenson, 3B Trey Lipscomb, and SS Cortland Lawson. Not to mention career home-run leading first baseman Luc Lipcius and catcher Evan Russell both graduated. In total, the Vols lost seven out of their nine starters leaving numerous holes in their line-up, especially in the outfield. The only two underclassmen that saw significant playing time last year were Christian Moore and Blake Burke who are both infielders.

On the pitching side, the Vols lost a starter in Blade Tidwell who missed the first half of the 2022 season with shoulder tightness. They also lost big bullpen pieces in Ben Joyce, Will Mabrey, and Mark McLaughlin to the draft. Joyce was key for the Vols last year with a 2.23 ERA with 53 strikeouts in 32.1 innings. This leaves a giant hole in the Tennessee bullpen as those three were arguably their best arms and threw a significant amount of innings.

Positives:

The good news, Vols fans, is that starting pitching will be the least of your worries this season as long as everyone stays healthy. Tennessee will enter the season with probably the best rotation in the country with Chase Dollander, Chase Burns, and Drew Beam. The three-headed snake features the reigning SEC Pitcher of the Year in Dollander, the National Freshman of the Year in Burns, and the SEC Freshman of the Year in Beam.

Offensively, the Vols were able to bring in a couple of experienced transfers to fill those big shoes from last season. Maui Ahuna comes in from Kansas and will replace Cortland Lawson at shortstop. Ahuna demonstrated he is an elite hitter slashing .396/.479/.634 in 2022 to go along with solid defense. Filling one of the outfield spots could be junior college transfer, Colby Backus. Similar to Beck, Backus is 6-foot-4, 235 pounds, and extremely athletic. Hailing from Walters State, he put up 16 HR’s, 62 RBI’s, and 57 runs while hitting .412 through 50 games. These two should be able to provide sparks at the top of the lineup.

Spin Zone:

This Tennessee team has one single thing they need to do: score runs. Their pitching will be able to carry them to wins this year with Dollander, Burns, and Beam. The bullpen should be able to hold its own despite the departure of key pieces. The Vols picked up Ben Joyce’s brother Zach who had previously quit the game for good. Recovering from Tommy John, he looked really good in the summer and should be able to be a key piece in the absence of his brother.

Offensively, the Ahuna pickup was massive for the Vols as he is a shoo-in first-rounder in the 2023 MLB draft. Colby Backus will also play a big role in reloading the star-studded outfield we saw last year.

All in all, pitching can carry this team to an Omaha birth, but the offense will need to provide run support to compete in the always-tough SEC baseball.