Alright y’all, settle in. Wanted to share how I actually tried to piece together this messy Tennessee baseball lineup for next year. Felt like solving a puzzle with half the pieces missing, ya know?
Digging Through Last Year’s Stats
First thing I did? Dusted off my notes and fire up the laptop. Went straight to the Vols Baseball official site – spent maybe an hour just staring at last season’s final roster and stats. Highlighted names like crazy. Couldn’t find a clean roster sheet they updated recently, figures. Pulled out a worn notebook from ’24 – messy scribbles everywhere.
Jotted down the definite starters that survived:
- Dylan Dreiling (OF): Kid absolutely mashed the ball late season. No way he isn’t back anchoring the outfield. Figured he slots straight back into Left Field.
- Christian Moore (INF): Stats felt consistent all ’24. Leadership vibes. Flipped through old articles – coach always praising his work ethic. Yeah, he stays at second base.
- Kavares Tears (OF/DH): Bat stayed hot through the postseason. Felt trickier though. Does he play Right Field every day? Or is he mostly our big bat at DH now? Leaning towards DH with occasional field time.
Scratching My Head Over Decisions
Okay, now the headaches started. Billy Amick? Powerhouse bat at third base last year. But man, the MLB draft rumors… kept seeing mock drafts putting him high. Asked around a bit in some Vols fan groups I lurk in – no one seems 100% sure either. Flip-flopped like crazy:
- Scenario 1 (Optimism Rules!): If Amick DOES come back? The infield locks down tight. Moore 2B, Amick 3B. Easy.
- Scenario 2 (Realism Bites): If Amick bolts for the pros? Totally reshuffles the deck. Started looking hard at Dean Curley’s freshman year – showed flashes at Shortstop. Do we slide him over to third? Or bring up a younger guy?
Seriously, spent half a morning just staring at names like Curley and Ariel Antigua (solid glove, showed up big defensively sometimes), trying to guess who fits where.
Pitching Staff: The Big Unknown
Hoo boy, pitching rotation time. Major question marks hanging over the mound. Nate Snead threw fire out of the bullpen late last year. Talk around Knoxville is he might get a shot at starting. But who else? Drew Beam and AJ Causey? Both gone pro. Leaves giant holes.
Heard rumbles about Matthew Dallas maybe stepping up? Kid had moments. But honest? Big chunk of the rotation felt like “TBD” in my notes. Circled a bunch of freshman and transfer names I saw on recruiting sites – no clue who actually shows up ready in February. Felt like pure guesswork here, so I just wrote “Strong Bullpen Returns, Rotation = ???”.
New Faces & Wishful Thinking
Okay, time for shiny new toys. Everyone knows Tony Vitello recruits like crazy. Dug into the incoming class rumors. Kept seeing two names pop up:
- Dean Moss (1B/OF): Major power potential. Talk was he could push for first base duty ASAP. Penciled him in at 1B in my later drafts.
- Caton “Cat” Chapman (OF): Speed demon. Folks saying he could challenge for the CF spot if K.T. sticks at DH.
Got kinda excited thinking about Chapman’s speed sparking the lineup. Seemed like a Vitello prototype guy.
Slapping It All Together (Best Guess)
Finally, pushed past the indecision. Grabbed a coffee – way past noon by this point – and just tried building the most likely lineup picture, ignoring the draft what-ifs as best I could:
- 2B Christian Moore (Locked in, leadoff feels right)
- LF Dylan Dreiling (Protection behind Moore)
- DH Kavares Tears (Big RBI bat in the 3-hole)
- 1B Dean Moss (Rookie power gamble)
- SS Dean Curley (Assume Amick gone, Curley slides over)
- RF Logan Chambers (Returning with experience)
- 3B Ariel Antigua / Rookie??? (My biggest uncertainty spot)
- C Cannon Peebles (Solid return, good arm)
- CF Cat Chapman (Speedster down the order)
Rotation: Snead (assuming starter role) + ??? Dallas + ??? Freshman Arm + Transfer Arm
Bullpen: Combs, Loy, Snead/Dennies (if not starting) – actually looks pretty deep!
Stared at it. Erased Moss to 5 and Curley to 4. Put Moss back. Messed with the batting order another twenty minutes. Honestly? Feels like 70% there? Pitching rotation is maybe 50% at best. Practice squad battles will sort a lot of this. But hey, that’s the fun part – seeing how wrong we were come spring! Gotta hit Publish before I second-guess it all again.