This Week in BaseVols (TWIB)

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TWIB (Taylor’s Week in BaseVols) 3/9/26



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:

.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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#3
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Taylor’s Week in BaseVols (TWIB) 3/17/26

We were fortunate to attend the opening SEC BaseVols series in Athens on what started as a beautiful weekend for baseball. The BaseVols experienced the thrill of victory (Friday), and the painful agony of defeat (Saturday and particularly in epically disappointing fashion on Sunday). The BaseVols lost their sixth straight SEC series. In fact, it’s been almost one full year since TN last won an SEC series—see at Ole Miss during the weekend of April 11th, 2025. That’s simply not getting it done.

BaseVol fans knew it was going to be a battle on the road against GA as they were leading the SEC in virtually every important category including Batting Average, Runs, Hits, RBIs, Total Bases, SLG, OBP, and Fielding Percentage. With that said, despite being ranked #8 by D1 Baseball, GA had played a very soft non-conference schedule as evidenced by their paltry metrics (RPI 123, SOS 243). Regarding Returning Production (a D1 Baseball metric focused on returning ABs and IPs), GA was a paltry 234 out of 300 D1 teams. Conversely, TN came into the series with a very respectable non-conference schedule (RPI 31, SOS 50), but with a very low Returning Production ranking of 167.

UGA’s Hired Guns vs UT’s Hybrid Approach to the Portal:
Like Lane Kiffin in football, GA’s Wes Johnson is the King of the Portal in baseball. Typically, a lack of returning player production and minimal season over season team continuity, doesn’t bode well for postseason success. We will see if this uber talented GA team has the right ingredients to make it to Omaha as it’s been 18 years since they’ve last been there. GA essentially has an “All Portal” team except for SS Kolby Branch and 3B Tre Phelps. Historically Vitello’s and now Elander’s philosophy has been building a culture where top high school recruits like Reese Chapman, Manny Marin, Blake Grimmer, Chris Newstrom, and Stone Lawless “grow up” in the program. Then supplementing the roster with strategic transfers such as Henry Ford, Blaine Brown, and Garrett Wright. This helps build team continuity, experience, and trust while setting the team up for success in postseason play.


UGA’s Foley Field has some unique seating options which basically provides a row of seats on top of both dugouts. (I’m sure Danny Dollars is just drooling over the thoughts of adding premium elite “top of dugout” luxury seats to LNS)! It’s a great setting as long as there are “friendlies” perched in those visitor dugout seats. However it could be problematic with a bunch of barking, supposedly grown men who couldn’t spell DOG if you spotted them the D and the O. Fortunately, my better half and I were perched there for the weekend and, in turn, got an up close look at some of the dynamics of the Vols coaching staff. We all know Coach Elander is calm, cool, and collected, but make no mistake there is ZERO shortage of fire in this coaching staff. It was outstanding to see the passion, fight, and fire from assistant coaches Ross Kivett, Chuck Jeroloman, and surprisingly to me…..Josh Reynolds. On Saturday, I saw Jeroloman passionately arguing with the 1B Umpire (about exactly what I haven’t a clue) which resulted in a warning. On Sunday, I witnessed Kivett pulling the normally mild mannered Reynolds back from getting ejected (flash backs of Frank Anderson anyone) from arguing vehemently with the crew chief while Brayden Krenzel was warming up. (It appeared to be some issue with the umpire not initially granting Krenzel a towel to dry off with as it was a steady, pouring rain for the majority of Sunday’s game).

Incidentally, when Krenzel first took the ball and stepped on the mound to warm up, he looked like Rick Vaughn aka “The Wild Thing” in Major League. Much to the delight of the remaining rain soaked GA crowd, at least 3 of his warmup pitches reached the backstop on the fly. Subsequently, Coach Johnson was incensed that the umpires allowed Krenzel to use a towel to dry off before the inning began. Thus, during following inning, he showed his pettiness by calling timeout to take a towel to Branch right before the first pitch of the inning. He then argued that he shouldn’t be charged a timeout since TN wasn’t charged a timeout the prior inning (before the ball was put in play by the umpire). Regardless, Krenzel was obviously never comfortable, and remained in several batters too long. Candidly, Coach Elander seemingly left Krenzel “out to dry” during the pouring rain in GA.

All in all, it was a clean weekend of baseball for both teams. Some defensive highlights which aren’t evident in the box score include:

*Myatt’s truly incredible play on Friday at 2B diving deep in the hole and making a strong throw from his knees for the 3rd out to end the 3rd inning. Myatt looked very comfortable turning both 4-6-3 and 6-4-3 double plays.

*Chapman continuing to play elite defense in RF while gunning another runner down at the plate.

*GA SS Branch was like a human vacuum cleaner and made a couple of MLB caliber plays.

*GA C Daniel Jackson threw a missile to 2B to throw out Ford by 10 feet attempting to steal 2B. Jackson also created several called strikes by his framing skills. His bat is tremendous as well, and the dozen plus scouts in attendance had to be drooling over his MLB potential. (TN’s C Stone Lawless returned the favor by throwing out Daniel Jackson at 2B—which was Jackson’s first caught stealing in 12 attempts of the young season).

Some random observations from this weekend’s series:

GA’s Foley Field was a historical natural grass playing surface until last season. If not for the newly installed year-old artificial turf, Sunday’s game would have been a rain out.

Seemingly every TN check swing this weekend was a strike, so thankfully that umpiring crew wasn’t in Omaha in 2024 vs FL State.

TN and GA played the Series about as evenly as possible.

Offensive Stats for TN v GA Series:

Avg SLG. OB%. FP. HRs. Hits. Errors Ks Walks. Doubles HP

TN. .255. .491. .331. .990. 6. 27. 1. 34 9. 7 3

GA .284. .453. .370. .991. 5. 27. 1. 28 12. 1. 1



One thing I’ve always appreciated about the BaseVols is there are no participation trophies with UT’s program. For example, when a Pitcher is pulled for a subpar performance, there’s no line outside of the dugout giving him high fives. Instead, the ball is taken from said pitcher, and they “high tail it” to the dugout alone and with ZERO adulation or applause from his teammates. The exact same thing happens when a hitter strikes out or has a poor at bat. It’s absolutely crickets from the dugout. A culture built on accountability and high standards while not sugar coating poor performance. On the contrary, GA lined up outside the dugout to congratulate every pitcher—literally every pitcher receiving high fives. (I can assure you Krenzel received no such greeting from TN’s dugout). These gestures by GA were met with laughter and mockery by the players in the UT dugout, as it’s totally foreign to their culture and reeks of Little League days of “everyone gets a game ball”. Anyway, just a small glimpse into the vastly different mindsets of the two programs and “chirping” that goes on during games.

On Friday, while standing in the dugout and refusing to concede an inch in UT’s dugout to GA’s defense, freshman Trent Grindlinger took a pop fly foul ball to the upper extremity. The umpiring crew rightfully ruled no interference and the TN dugout erupted. It was a beautiful thing to witness. Conversely on Sunday, Stone Lawless hit a laser into GA’s dugout that struck a GA player squarely in the chest. The GA player hardly flinched and began flexing which made the GA dugout erupt in jubilation. This passion and youthful exuberance is one of the many reasons why college baseball is so NEXT LEVEL and truly outstanding!

GA Head Coach Wes Johnson, who could easily be mistaken for the team’s bat boy, argued and whined with officials all weekend. He was warned at least once and stopped play on numerous occasions for timeouts on both offense and defense. Much like Corbin at Vanderbilt, Johnson is in the running for the most unlikable and whiney coach in college baseball.

I saw a couple of “lack of hustle” plays that need to be corrected on the base-paths. Unless there’s a “lower extremity” injury that I’m not aware of, Manny Marin has to hustle all the way to the plate—-especially when there’s 2 outs and he’s on 2B. On Saturday, Garrett Wright stroked a double to deep LF but reached 2B before Manny reached the plate. It was a quick relay to 2B as the LF’er played the carom off the wall very well, but the quick footed Wright made it standing up ahead of the throw. A less fleet of foot player would have been out at 2B negating the run due to the lack of hustle by Marin to home plate. As you’d expect, he was “coached up” by Jeroloman upon entering the dugout.

Finally, Marin hit into a 6-4-3 double play on Sunday and eased up about 1/2 down the line. With the wet baseball, the 2B threw wide of 1B but Marin was tagged for the out. He would have easily beat the tag if he had not eased up. This isn’t acceptable, and UT has previously been adamant about hustling down the line even on so called routine plays to apply constant pressure to the defense. On a positive note, Marin crushed the ball all weekend and continues to remain sizzling hot at the plate while playing excellent defense at SS. As Coach Elander would say, Marin’s got to control the controllables, and effort and hustle are non negotiables for this fan.

All in all, the BaseVols showed great grit and determination against a top 10 program on the road. They punched, took the blows, and counter punched all weekend however an epic SEC Series and Sunday win proved to be elusive yet again. When the ball left Stone Lawless’ bat in the 9th inning on Sunday, I celebrated like a champ (or perhaps a chump) thinking that ball was hit over the trees. Instead, I heard grown men barking like the simpletons that they are. A proverbial “tip of the hat to GA” as it was a heck of an opening weekend of college baseball! Let there be many more but with more Series wins and Sunday victories! GBO!


Taylor
 
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