College Baseball - Transfer Portal Tracker

#1,376
#1,376
Aladywhovolunteer said:
Listened to Coach Vitello's interview on the 07/14 Drive Podcast this afternoon. Coach Vitello is always entertaining and shares information freely. Everything Coach Vitello shared could change with the draft obviously but here are my take aways.

Seth Stepenson really wants to come back for one more year at Tennessee. Seth played SS in HS and JUCO and wants to master a position (probably CF) before he has to battle in the "cutthroat" world of MLB.

Reggie Crawford committed to Tennessee via Twitter on Tuesday 07/12/14. Unless the Drive Podcast is pre-recorded something happened concerning recruiting on Thursday 07/14/22. To the question, "Is your roster pretty well set now"? Coach Vitello answered, "With what went on today it is." He said, "I can't really discuss because the paperwork isn't signed, but after today we are done unless a great player expresses interest in our program after the draft."

Cortland Lawson has expressed his desire to move on with his career. Coach Vitello is hopeful he gets drafted. So, the Maui Ahuna signing didn't affect Cortland as he knew he was leaving to further his career. Coach Vitello said it did cause one person to jump ship (signee Dakota Harris).

In discussing Reggie Crawford, Coach Vitello said, "When talking to the big guy from the northeast, I told him if you get drafted in the first round, I will throw my clip board against the wall." He said, "The big guy (still can't officially use his name) is very confident in his ability and understands what that ability is worth and will not compromise."

Zane Denton who is from middle Tennessee and has always been a Tennessee football fan is going to have a great year at Tennessee next year. Ironically, it was Zane's line drive that hit Chase Dollander in the Alabama Series.

Coach Vitello said, " We have positioned our selves well to take some hits in the draft and we are going to take some hits." But in the end, he sounded very positive about the future.
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Yep, the 1st player TV discussed definitely didn’t sound like Crawford if you listen to the interview.
 
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#1,377
#1,377
Aladywhovolunteer said:
Listened to Coach Vitello's interview on the 07/14 Drive Podcast this afternoon. Coach Vitello is always entertaining and shares information freely. Everything Coach Vitello shared could change with the draft obviously but here are my take aways.

Seth Stepenson really wants to come back for one more year at Tennessee. Seth played SS in HS and JUCO and wants to master a position (probably CF) before he has to battle in the "cutthroat" world of MLB.

Reggie Crawford committed to Tennessee via Twitter on Tuesday 07/12/14. Unless the Drive Podcast is pre-recorded something happened concerning recruiting on Thursday 07/14/22. To the question, "Is your roster pretty well set now"? Coach Vitello answered, "With what went on today it is." He said, "I can't really discuss because the paperwork isn't signed, but after today we are done unless a great player expresses interest in our program after the draft."

Cortland Lawson has expressed his desire to move on with his career. Coach Vitello is hopeful he gets drafted. So, the Maui Ahuna signing didn't affect Cortland as he knew he was leaving to further his career. Coach Vitello said it did cause one person to jump ship (signee Dakota Harris).

In discussing Reggie Crawford, Coach Vitello said, "When talking to the big guy from the northeast, I told him if you get drafted in the first round, I will throw my clip board against the wall." He said, "The big guy (still can't officially use his name) is very confident in his ability and understands what that ability is worth and will not compromise."

Zane Denton who is from middle Tennessee and has always been a Tennessee football fan is going to have a great year at Tennessee next year. Ironically, it was Zane's line drive that hit Chase Dollander in the Alabama Series.

Coach Vitello said, " We have positioned our selves well to take some hits in the draft and we are going to take some hits." But in the end, he sounded very positive about the future.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the summary and the clarity. The only returning position player will possibly be Seth (unless he gets drafted high enough). I don’t like practically the whole team turning over from a fan perspective. It sounds like with the transfer portal the days of 3 or 4 year “position player” starters will be outliers. I hope I’m wrong but I feel like it’s changing the game for the worse. Makes me appreciate Evan, Trey, Luc, Drew, etc even more.
 
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#1,378
#1,378
taylorvol said:
Thanks for the summary and the clarity. The only returning position player will possibly be Seth (unless he gets drafted high enough). I don’t like practically the whole team turning over from a fan perspective. It sounds like with the transfer portal the days of 3 or 4 year “position player” starters will be outliers. I hope I’m wrong but I feel like it’s changing the game for the worse. Makes me appreciate Evan, Trey, Luc, Drew, etc even more.
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Well, I don’t think Tony likes the entire lineup turning over either, but it’s not like we lost a bunch of players to the portal. We had a very experienced and senior team. We lost all of our lineup either to graduation or to the MLB draft. Guys getting drafted will only help us long term.
 
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#1,380
#1,380
taylorvol said:
Thanks for the summary and the clarity. The only returning position player will possibly be Seth (unless he gets drafted high enough). I don’t like practically the whole team turning over from a fan perspective. It sounds like with the transfer portal the days of 3 or 4 year “position player” starters will be outliers. I hope I’m wrong but I feel like it’s changing the game for the worse. Makes me appreciate Evan, Trey, Luc, Drew, etc even more.
Click to expand...

Meh. With the MLB draft, baseball has always seen more turnover than other sports. Look at the 2020 team to 2021…lost Rucker, Pence, Ferguson, Pavloney, Dallas, and Heflin among the starters. Lost the DH, Derkay. Would’ve also lost Russell and Lipcius off it weren’t for Covid. So basically, but for an abnormal pandemic, Tennessee would have lost 6 of its 8 position starters, it’s DH, and 2 of 3 weekend starters. Oh, and it’s closer (Hunley). None of those guys transferred out. They either were drafted or were out of eligibility. That’s just normal college baseball.

Same going into next year…UT isn’t really losing any contributors to the portal, although they’re replacing losses to the draft/graduation with portal guys. But there would be new faces there either way.
 
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#1,381
#1,381
GregAmsler said:
Correct me if I’m wrong, but if Crawford is pitching, UT can’t let him bat and DH for a position player, correct?

If I am right and that is the rule, the NCAA should change that rule for the betterment of the game, instead of worrying about fur coats on the field.
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The DH can be used for any player so if the pitcher wants to bat, that’s perfectly fine
 
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#1,382
#1,382
GregAmsler said:
Meh. With the MLB draft, baseball has always seen more turnover than other sports. Look at the 2020 team to 2021…lost Rucker, Pence, Ferguson, Pavloney, Dallas, and Heflin among the starters. Lost the DH, Derkay. Would’ve also lost Russell and Lipcius off it weren’t for Covid. So basically, but for an abnormal pandemic, Tennessee would have lost 6 of its 8 position starters, it’s DH, and 2 of 3 weekend starters. Oh, and it’s closer (Hunley). None of those guys transferred out. They either were drafted or were out of eligibility. That’s just normal college baseball.

Same going into next year…UT isn’t really losing any contributors to the portal, although they’re replacing losses to the draft/graduation with portal guys. But there would be new faces there either way.
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The point I was trying to make was having roster turnover filled almost exclusively by transfer portal vs “homegrown” talent / the players currently on roster. See Trey replacing Rucker, Jorel replacing Max, Cortland replacing Liam, etc. which were good stories to see the players rewarded for their hard work and loyalty to the team.

it just feels like college baseball is free agency run amuck with a bunch of one year rentals. I’d prefer the NCAA limit transfers to 20% or 25% of roster and focus on developing and rewarding your loyal and talented players. Not faulting anyone—-as CTV is doing a superb job under current rules and environment. Personally, I don’t think the current NCAA rules with transfers is good for the game long term.
 
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#1,383
#1,383
TheMookieMonster said:
Well, I don’t think Tony likes the entire lineup turning over either, but it’s not like we lost a bunch of players to the portal. We had a very experienced and senior team. We lost all of our lineup either to graduation or to the MLB draft. Guys getting drafted will only help us long term.
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I agree. I’d just rather see the majority of replacements come from our current roster and not one-year rentals from transfer portal. Not complaining about the incredible team the staff has assembled for 2023, I just don’t like the current rules which encourage raiding the transfer portal vs player development and scouting and recruiting young high school talent.
 
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#1,384
#1,384
GregAmsler said:
Correct me if I’m wrong, but if Crawford is pitching, UT can’t let him bat and DH for a position player, correct?

If I am right and that is the rule, the NCAA should change that rule for the betterment of the game, instead of worrying about fur coats on the field.
Click to expand...
He can always DH while pitching, right?
 
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