Elander makes bold statement about bats.

#26
#26
taylorvol said:
UT’s offensive rankings in SEC’s 16 teams. With almost 30% of regular season completed, this team ranks last or at the bottom of nearly every offensive metric in the SEC. They are 3rd in Doubles which is the one bright note.

BA .268. 16th (LAST)
Runs 95. 16th (LAST)
Hits. 137. 16th (LAST)
Doubles. 38. 3rd
HR. 22. 11th
RBIs. 89. 16th LAST)
Total Bases. 245. 15th
Slugging %. .479. 14th
Walks 71. 14th
Ks. 105. 12th
OBP. .374. 16th (LAST)

On the defensive side, TN is 5th in FP at .981
Click to expand...
I think our offensive stats place a premium on defense we just aren't good enough right now to be giving runs to anyone.

I think some of the offensive struggles is youth, new players and new staff gelling. The good news is we aren't making a bunch of errors and are pitching pretty good so if the bats come around we have a chance at making a run late in the season.
 
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#31
#31
THEONLYTENISEE said:
I know the stats are what they are. Would you agree that the schedule of competition is better than previous seasons?
Click to expand...
Yes but you could likely argue that for most of the SEC as the mid majors have gotten better due to roster restrictions and Portal. I initially thought those factors would weaken mid majors but think the opposite has happened. Perhaps due to former P4 players “moving down” and the mid majors generally being older, more experienced teams. In general, through the first 30% of season, TN has good pitching, good defense, but a very poor offense. This is a young and inexperienced team (13th in SEC) that should get better as the season progresses.
 
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#32
#32
lukeneyland said:
Yeah our hitting sucks so far. I’m not sure why. Hitting a baseball is a high variance activity and is very hard to coach. Maybe this group of guys just isn’t good enough. Maybe they are and they will come good eventually. I don’t know. I just resent the whole positioning narrative as an explanation.
Click to expand...
I’m glad E acknowledged it publicly. You can certainly use the pine. It’s not as if they don’t have guys wanting a shot. I think we’d all do better not to take comments on a sports forum personally and then make it our personal mission to insult, belittle and attack the person we disagree with.
 
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#33
#33
rockytop25 said:
I was never arguing the stats. They are what they are, not good.

Elander being on 3rd or in the dugout wouldn't change the stats very much (if any)
Click to expand...
You’re probably right. I’m thinking more situational hitting. More along the lines of, we don’t need to try and get it back in one swing. There’s a lot of over swinging. It’s obviously a problem it Elander points it out publicly.
 
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#34
#34
THEONLYTENISEE said:
I know the stats are what they are. Would you agree that the schedule of competition is better than previous seasons?
Click to expand...
Our record is better than you’d expect with those stats. We were a frog’s hair away from getting swept by KSU. We could have easily lost the series against Wright State. None of those pitchers looked anything like the stats they put up. This is without question the worst offense I’ve seen since Vitello arrived. You can’t look at the recruiting and make any sense of it. It’s a smallish team in areas so you have to wonder why they haven’t adjusted to hit for contact.
 
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#35
#35
taylorvol said:
Yes but you could likely argue that for most of the SEC as the mid majors have gotten better due to roster restrictions and Portal. I initially thought those factors would weaken mid majors but think the opposite has happened. Perhaps due to former P4 players “moving down” and the mid majors generally being older, more experienced teams. In general, through the first 30% of season, TN has good pitching, good defense, but a very poor offense. This is a young and inexperienced team (13th in SEC) that should get better as the season progresses.
Click to expand...
I'm not holding my breath.
 
#38
#38
WaywardVol said:
I’m glad E acknowledged it publicly. You can certainly use the pine. It’s not as if they don’t have guys wanting a shot. I think we’d all do better not to take comments on a sports forum personally and then make it our personal mission to insult, belittle and attack the person we disagree with.
Click to expand...
Every man becomes his own genius on this board when things don’t go right for UT. It is infuriating. I’ve not seen any comments on here that have crossed the line. I’m usually fairly civil until football season. At that point I’m a lost cause
 
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#39
#39
Batman1948 said:
It kinda looks like our keyboard coaches are proficient in baseball, basketball and football. How did we ever become so blessed to have these superstars in our midst o_O o_O o_O o_O o_O o_O
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Maybe they're all actually Chinese bots, programmed to lower American morale by making us lose confidence in our fellow man.


Or maybe they're all Alabama bots, programmed to... 😄😅😂🤣🤣🤣

Sorry.
I couldn't stop laughing to even finish the sentence.
 
#41
#41
1773153879389.png

s/o to Cardeez on Reddit (must follow if you love Vols baseball).
Do you see Finley Bates ever getting some run if this slow start continues or does E stick with these core 12-13 guys? Just do not see how you can continue to watch so many pop ups early in the count. I have never seen so many to start a season by every spot in the order... Eventually you just have to go with the contact and small ball approach if continue to not execute or hit many HRs.
 
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#42
#42
senorb19 said:
View attachment 818944

s/o to Cardeez on Reddit (must follow if you love Vols baseball).
Do you see Finley Bates ever getting some run if this slow start continues or does E stick with these core 12-13 guys? Just do not see how you can continue to watch so many pop ups early in the count. I have never seen so many to start a season by every spot in the order... Eventually you just have to go with the contact and small ball approach if continue to not execute or hit many HRs.
Click to expand...
Be nice to get him in line up. But, he’s going to take a spot from either Marin or Ariel. Both of their bats seem to have woken up. Ford is the only guy I see who is fixed in the lineup. I think you’re going to see continued experimentation.

I’d like to see Wright in the lead off.
 
#43
#43
It should be noted that Bargo is hitting .429 with 5 homers. This team desperately needs upper classman leadership. Huge strategic error letting him go. And they absolutely let him go. I get the limited rosters, but you can’t cut loose a guy that can start at four different positions and hit 14 HRs.
 
#45
#45
WaywardVol said:
It should be noted that Bargo is hitting .429 with 5 homers. This team desperately needs upper classman leadership. Huge strategic error letting him go. And they absolutely let him go. I get the limited rosters, but you can’t cut loose a guy that can start at four different positions and hit 14 HRs.
Click to expand...
Since @Freak wouldn’t hire me 😀🍊👍👊🤣👍🍊🍊, I wrote about that very topic and UT’s inexperience and offensive struggles in a guest blog The Tony Basilio Show (See TWIB (Taylor’s Week in BaseVols) near bottom of blog).
If you don’t want to read the whole blog, here’s a small part of my guest blog below…

“How’s Bargo doing at NC State? Well, Bargo’s already hit 5 HRs, batting .371, 1.254 OPS, .829 Slugging %, .429 OBP, and 14 RBIs in only 9 games at NC State. (He missed a few games due to a strained quad sliding into 2B, but hit a massive HR/#BargoBOMB during his first AB back). Heck, even in 7 less games played, he would be tied with Ford and Brown as Vol leaders in HRs and only one RBI off the before mentioned dynamic transfer duo in RBIs. Furthermore, his new head coach (Coach Avent is celebrating his 30th year at NC State so this isn’t his first rodeo) raves about Bargo’s leadership and veteran presence in the clubhouse and dugout. The BaseVols could certainly use more of that!”



Taylor's Week in BaseVols​

'Bottom Line ... you just don’t win at a high level in college baseball with youth and inexperience. According to D1 Baseball, Tennessee is 13th in experience in the SEC and 167th out of about 300 college baseball programs.

It’s no coincidence that UCLA is ranked #1 in experience as evidenced by their exceptional play, and if you watched last Friday’s game in Arlington where they dominated our BaseVols. A solid core of returning veterans plus some key portal additions is the winning formula to have a successful postseason run. Why not rely on top 100 freshmen and sophomores? Well, too many “Showcase” freshmen and sophomores are still learning how to win as a team vs “going for the launch angle and big stats” in Travel Ball/Perfect Game tournaments. They seemingly get tight in midweek games and even stud “draft eligible” sophomores tend to get “wide-eyed” and allow the game to “speed up” on them even on non conference weekend series—much less in uber competitive SEC series.

The reality is the majority of underclassmen just aren’t ready to compete at a consistently high level in the SEC. Sure, there’s always an exception as UT won a National Championship with a true freshman at SS. Of course, he was surrounded by experienced veterans who didn’t wilt under the bright lights in SEC play, and certainly not in Omaha! This inexperienced 2026 Tennessee squad had a chance to bring back another senior experienced veteran bat (who by the way can play five different positions) yet decided to ride with inexperienced freshmen and sophomores.It’s inexplicable to me that coach Tony Vols did not use a spot for Dalton Bargo. And no, I don’t buy that reduced scholarship nonsense as Tennessee used up to six DSA‘s to essentially have a roster of 40 for the 2026 season.

How anemic has the BaseVols’ offense been? Well after 16 games and almost 30% of the regular season already over, UT’s offensive stats compared to the rest of the SEC are….OFFENSIVE! Keep in mind, there are now 16 teams in the SEC so UT is performing at the very bottom of the SEC in several key hitting metrics against mostly inferior non-conference opponents (exceptions being UCLA, AZ St, and VT).

Metric .. Result .. SEC Ranking

Batting Average .268 16th (LAST)

Runs Scored 95 16th (LAST)

Hits. 137 16th (LAST)

OB%. 374 15th (Almost LAST)

Slugging %. 479 14th (Still Awful)

RBIs. 89 16th (LAST)

Home runs. 22 11th

Total Bases. 245 15th (Next to LAST)

Walks. 71 14th

Strikeouts. 105 12th
Source: SEC Sports (updated as of 3/9/26)
On the positive side, UT ranks 5th in Fielding Percentage at .981. And, the season is still relatively young so lots of room for improvement on the offensive side! So would Bargo make a difference? During 2025 SEC games, Bargo was one of the top hitters for TN in virtually every offensive category. Sure, Bargo struggled in 2025 postseason play but was a top hitter for UT in SEC play. According to UT Sports:

Dalton Bargo 2025 SEC Games:
spacer.gif
.312 in BA (3rd)

.988 in OPS (2nd)

24 in Runs (3rd)

11 Doubles (1st)

7 HRs (3rd)

22 RBIs (3rd)

.624 Slugging (2nd)

How’s Bargo doing at NC State? Well, Bargo’s already hit 5 HRs, batting .371, 1.254 OPS, .829 Slugging %, .429 OBP, and 14 RBIs in only 9 games at NC State. (He missed a few games due to a strained quad sliding into 2B, but hit a massive HR/#BargoBOMB during his first AB back). Heck, even in 7 less games played, he would be tied with Ford and Brown as Vol leaders in HRs and only one RBI off the before mentioned dynamic transfer duo in RBIs. Furthermore, his new head coach (Coach Avent is celebrating his 30th year at NC State so this isn’t his first rodeo) raves about Bargo’s leadership and veteran presence in the clubhouse and dugout. The BaseVols could certainly use more of that!

Per recent history, the BaseVols nailed the portal by acquiring studs like Ford, Brown, Wright, Mack, and Frederick. So why did the BaseVols pass on the returning vet from Omaha? Wasn’t losing Hunter Ensley, Gavin Kilen, Andrew Fischer, Cannon Peebles, and Dean Curley enough? Did they think they could win by likely starting 4 or 5 Sophomores in the everyday lineup? BTW, 4 of those “super sophomores” combined for 0-30 at the plate during the recent Wright St series. Much like starting that game at LNS during a brutal thunderstorm vs Auburn, Tony Vols simply made a mistake. How big? Let’s check back in a couple of months…. I personally think the 2026 BaseVols could really use some more veterans and Bargo Bombs if they want to experience a postseason of consequence. GBO!


Taylor'
 
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#46
#46
WaywardVol said:
Be nice to get him in line up. But, he’s going to take a spot from either Marin or Ariel. Both of their bats seem to have woken up. Ford is the only guy I see who is fixed in the lineup. I think you’re going to see continued experimentation.

I’d like to see Wright in the lead off.
Click to expand...
If Abernathy can get the bat on the ball, I would keep him leading off, but he has been inconsistent leading off. Wright would certainly be my choice as he will do anything to get on base. His teammates call him “the soldier” because they know what he can do.
 
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#47
#47
Evidently the folks questioning some of Elander’s tactics don’t read Volquest. They treat the guy like he’s the second coming.

I guess getting inside information comes with a price.
 
#48
#48
cardvolfan said:
If Abernathy can get the bat on the ball, I would keep him leading off, but he has been inconsistent leading off. Wright would certainly be my choice as he will do anything to get on base. His teammates call him “the soldier” because they know what he can do.
Click to expand...
Jay has hit the ball well, just right to the opposition. Been a lot of that. I’d be more concerned if there was more swing and miss. I believe he did take 3 strike at bat without swinging on Sunday. The problem is he doesn’t run the bases all that well. He’s been thrown out multiple times.

Reese has a decent average, but he strikes out without making contact. Levi is just lost. He’s golf swinging everything and continues to chase both high and low.

I think these guys are feeling the pressure of the HR success of previous teams and are pressing at the plate. Elander needs to get them to decompress.
 
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#49
#49
taylorvol said:
Since @Freak wouldn’t hire me 😀🍊👍👊🤣👍🍊🍊, I wrote about that very topic and UT’s inexperience and offensive struggles in a guest blog The Tony Basilio Show (See TWIB (Taylor’s Week in BaseVols) near bottom of blog).
If you don’t want to read the whole blog, here’s a small part of my guest blog below…

“How’s Bargo doing at NC State? Well, Bargo’s already hit 5 HRs, batting .371, 1.254 OPS, .829 Slugging %, .429 OBP, and 14 RBIs in only 9 games at NC State. (He missed a few games due to a strained quad sliding into 2B, but hit a massive HR/#BargoBOMB during his first AB back). Heck, even in 7 less games played, he would be tied with Ford and Brown as Vol leaders in HRs and only one RBI off the before mentioned dynamic transfer duo in RBIs. Furthermore, his new head coach (Coach Avent is celebrating his 30th year at NC State so this isn’t his first rodeo) raves about Bargo’s leadership and veteran presence in the clubhouse and dugout. The BaseVols could certainly use more of that!”



Taylor's Week in BaseVols​

'Bottom Line ... you just don’t win at a high level in college baseball with youth and inexperience. According to D1 Baseball, Tennessee is 13th in experience in the SEC and 167th out of about 300 college baseball programs.

It’s no coincidence that UCLA is ranked #1 in experience as evidenced by their exceptional play, and if you watched last Friday’s game in Arlington where they dominated our BaseVols. A solid core of returning veterans plus some key portal additions is the winning formula to have a successful postseason run. Why not rely on top 100 freshmen and sophomores? Well, too many “Showcase” freshmen and sophomores are still learning how to win as a team vs “going for the launch angle and big stats” in Travel Ball/Perfect Game tournaments. They seemingly get tight in midweek games and even stud “draft eligible” sophomores tend to get “wide-eyed” and allow the game to “speed up” on them even on non conference weekend series—much less in uber competitive SEC series.

The reality is the majority of underclassmen just aren’t ready to compete at a consistently high level in the SEC. Sure, there’s always an exception as UT won a National Championship with a true freshman at SS. Of course, he was surrounded by experienced veterans who didn’t wilt under the bright lights in SEC play, and certainly not in Omaha! This inexperienced 2026 Tennessee squad had a chance to bring back another senior experienced veteran bat (who by the way can play five different positions) yet decided to ride with inexperienced freshmen and sophomores.It’s inexplicable to me that coach Tony Vols did not use a spot for Dalton Bargo. And no, I don’t buy that reduced scholarship nonsense as Tennessee used up to six DSA‘s to essentially have a roster of 40 for the 2026 season.

How anemic has the BaseVols’ offense been? Well after 16 games and almost 30% of the regular season already over, UT’s offensive stats compared to the rest of the SEC are….OFFENSIVE! Keep in mind, there are now 16 teams in the SEC so UT is performing at the very bottom of the SEC in several key hitting metrics against mostly inferior non-conference opponents (exceptions being UCLA, AZ St, and VT).

Metric .. Result .. SEC Ranking

Batting Average .268 16th (LAST)

Runs Scored 95 16th (LAST)

Hits. 137 16th (LAST)

OB%. 374 15th (Almost LAST)

Slugging %. 479 14th (Still Awful)

RBIs. 89 16th (LAST)

Home runs. 22 11th

Total Bases. 245 15th (Next to LAST)

Walks. 71 14th

Strikeouts. 105 12th
Source: SEC Sports (updated as of 3/9/26)
On the positive side, UT ranks 5th in Fielding Percentage at .981. And, the season is still relatively young so lots of room for improvement on the offensive side! So would Bargo make a difference? During 2025 SEC games, Bargo was one of the top hitters for TN in virtually every offensive category. Sure, Bargo struggled in 2025 postseason play but was a top hitter for UT in SEC play. According to UT Sports:

Dalton Bargo 2025 SEC Games:
spacer.gif
.312 in BA (3rd)

.988 in OPS (2nd)

24 in Runs (3rd)

11 Doubles (1st)

7 HRs (3rd)

22 RBIs (3rd)

.624 Slugging (2nd)

How’s Bargo doing at NC State? Well, Bargo’s already hit 5 HRs, batting .371, 1.254 OPS, .829 Slugging %, .429 OBP, and 14 RBIs in only 9 games at NC State. (He missed a few games due to a strained quad sliding into 2B, but hit a massive HR/#BargoBOMB during his first AB back). Heck, even in 7 less games played, he would be tied with Ford and Brown as Vol leaders in HRs and only one RBI off the before mentioned dynamic transfer duo in RBIs. Furthermore, his new head coach (Coach Avent is celebrating his 30th year at NC State so this isn’t his first rodeo) raves about Bargo’s leadership and veteran presence in the clubhouse and dugout. The BaseVols could certainly use more of that!

Per recent history, the BaseVols nailed the portal by acquiring studs like Ford, Brown, Wright, Mack, and Frederick. So why did the BaseVols pass on the returning vet from Omaha? Wasn’t losing Hunter Ensley, Gavin Kilen, Andrew Fischer, Cannon Peebles, and Dean Curley enough? Did they think they could win by likely starting 4 or 5 Sophomores in the everyday lineup? BTW, 4 of those “super sophomores” combined for 0-30 at the plate during the recent Wright St series. Much like starting that game at LNS during a brutal thunderstorm vs Auburn, Tony Vols simply made a mistake. How big? Let’s check back in a couple of months…. I personally think the 2026 BaseVols could really use some more veterans and Bargo Bombs if they want to experience a postseason of consequence. GBO!


Taylor'
Click to expand...

Very nice job! Agree 100%

To me he was a keeper even if his bat was just serviceable. Utility players like him aren't a dime a dozen....especially veteran ones!
 
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