Vitello vs Elander

#26
#26
rockytop25 said:
Looking back at '24, we were in a very similar spot. We were replacing almost everyone on the field besides CMo, Burke & Ensley (Dreiling, Tears, and Stark, etc., had flashed, but weren't consistent yet). On the mound, we were replacing the entire rotation outside of Beam.

We managed to bridge those gaps by hitting the portal for the right pieces while trusting our internal development for the rest. I see the same blueprint this year. I’m not saying we’re going to win a National Championship, but the staff has done a great job balancing portal additions with player development to fill our needs.
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🍻
 
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#27
#27
Vols330 said:
I don't know how to embed tweets, but you can't watch this and not see how close TV was to returning. He loves it here and it broke him to leave.View attachment 814783
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We all appreciate what he did, but it wouldve been foolish to stay when he had the opportunity that no other college coach has ever had. We’re gonna be ok with Elander and I hope Tony comes back as much as possible.
 
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#30
#30
taylorvol said:
UT Roster retention rankings:
167th out of 300
13th of 16 in SEC
”It’s roster retention, not portal additions that determine the highest increases in winning percentage”. Winning teams need a strong returning core supplemented by key portal additions.

Source D1 Baseball
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I'm aware of all of that, but I've followed D1 long enough to know that if Tony V was still here, they'd be saying things like "The Vols are young, but Tony V will find a way" or something similar. All of the doubts and trepidation are absolutely, 100% due to Tony V leaving. And that's okay, I get it; when we prove them and the rest of the national media wrong, it'll be even sweeter.
 
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#31
#31
rockytop25 said:
Looking back at '24, we were in a very similar spot. We were replacing almost everyone on the field besides CMo, Burke & Ensley (Dreiling, Tears, and Stark, etc., had flashed, but weren't consistent yet). On the mound, we were replacing the entire rotation outside of Beam.

We managed to bridge those gaps by hitting the portal for the right pieces while trusting our internal development for the rest. I see the same blueprint this year. I’m not saying we’re going to win a National Championship, but the staff has done a great job balancing portal additions with player development to fill our needs.
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I agree with your sentiments but TN brought a heck of a lot more Plate Appearances and Innings Pitched for the 2024 team that what the 2026 team is bringing forward. I will see if I can readily find the stats but this is a very inexperienced team compared to 2024. With that said, I agree that TN continues to find superstars out of the portal—Brown, Ford, Mack, and Blanco are elite. I think Rhudy will prove to be as well.
 
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#33
#33
taylorvol said:
I agree with your sentiments but TN brought a heck of a lot more Plate Appearances and Innings Pitched for the 2024 team that what the 2026 team is bringing forward. I will see if I can readily find the stats but this is a very inexperienced team compared to 2024. With that said, I agree that TN continues to find superstars out of the portal—Brown, Ford, Mack, and Blanco are elite. I think Rhudy will prove to be as well.
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I admittedly haven’t looked super close at stuff like innings pitched/plate appearances

I see a lot of similarities to that ‘24 team so far with this current team
 
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#35
#35
rockytop25 said:
I admittedly haven’t looked super close at stuff like innings pitched/plate appearances

I see a lot of similarities to that ‘24 team so far with this current team
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Hey! Yeah, youse… come over here. I gotta job for ya.

@RetroVol Think you could take a moment to throw this data hack into Claude?
 
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#39
#39
chuckiepoo said:
Hey! Yeah, youse… come over here. I gotta job for ya.

@RetroVol Think you could take a moment to throw this data hack into Claude?
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Hmmm... I like baseball. Had a son who played college ball. But got to admit I haven't been following the BaseVols closely enough to confidently check my results. So, I'll let y'all do it.

I didn't even go into Claude Code for this one, just started with the chat interface. (See the AI post in the Lady Vols forum for disclaimers as to my skills.) I gave it the question that was raised and asked it for approaches, then had it follow them to create a couple of JSON files for future analysis. After pulling together the rosters for 2024 versus 2026 and looking at where they had been the year before, I got this response from Claude. If it looks reasonable, and if people want, I can see about moving forward from there. But this may answer the question. If Claude has gone haywire, I will try to figure out why.

I now have a comprehensive picture from all the sources. Let me build the JSON.

Here's the 2026 roster JSON. Even before pulling the actual career stats, the roster composition alone tells a dramatic story that strongly supports the VolNation poster's argument. Here's the side-by-side:

**2024 roster entering the season:**
- 26 returning from Tennessee's 2023 roster
- 4 new transfers
- 10 true freshmen from high school

**2026 roster entering the season:**
- 13 returning from Tennessee's 2025 roster
- 10 new transfers
- 13 true freshmen from high school (plus 2-3 I couldn't confirm)

That's half the returning players, and more than double the new transfers. The 2025 MLB Draft absolutely gutted the roster — four first-rounders (Doyle, Kilen, Fischer, Phillips) plus Curley, Russell, Peebles, Ensley, and Snead. Then Bargo transferred to NC State, and Dylan Loy plus 15+ other pitchers entered the portal.

Among the 13 returners, most were freshmen in 2025 with limited roles — guys like Marin, Abernathy, Clark, Newstrom, Kuhns, and Krenzel. The only players with more than two years of Tennessee experience are Chapman and Arvidson. Compare that to the 2024 team that brought back Moore, Burke, Beam, Amick, Sechrist, Connell, Ensley, and Payne — all with substantial career stat lines.

The next step would be pulling the actual career PA and IP numbers from the stat pages to quantify the gap. Want to go there?
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#40
#40
RetroVol said:
Hmmm... I like baseball. Had a son who played college ball. But got to admit I haven't been following the BaseVols closely enough to confidently check my results. So, I'll let y'all do it.

I didn't even go into Claude Code for this one, just started with the chat interface. (See the AI post in the Lady Vols forum for disclaimers as to my skills.) I gave it the question that was raised and asked it for approaches, then had it follow them to create a couple of JSON files for future analysis. After pulling together the rosters for 2024 versus 2026 and looking at where they had been the year before, I got this response from Claude. If it looks reasonable, and if people want, I can see about moving forward from there. But this may answer the question. If Claude has gone haywire, I will try to figure out why.
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Excellent! For my part, your work is done! ✅

I appreciate your help. Hang around if you have a mind. Gamethreads are great (unless we fall behind or heaven forbid, we should lose a game…🤣) but be careful of the Dugout. 😉🤙🏼🧡
 
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#41
#41
RetroVol said:
Hmmm... I like baseball. Had a son who played college ball. But got to admit I haven't been following the BaseVols closely enough to confidently check my results. So, I'll let y'all do it.

I didn't even go into Claude Code for this one, just started with the chat interface. (See the AI post in the Lady Vols forum for disclaimers as to my skills.) I gave it the question that was raised and asked it for approaches, then had it follow them to create a couple of JSON files for future analysis. After pulling together the rosters for 2024 versus 2026 and looking at where they had been the year before, I got this response from Claude. If it looks reasonable, and if people want, I can see about moving forward from there. But this may answer the question. If Claude has gone haywire, I will try to figure out why.
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Interesting to read for sure

Although Amick transferred in and wasn’t a returning player for that team
 
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#42
#42
rockytop25 said:
Interesting to read for sure

Although Amick transferred in and wasn’t a returning player for that team
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Nice catch! That’s where the value of natural intelligence gets inserted. He is forever warning to review for accuracy and cross checks. A “tool” only!
 
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#44
#44
chuckiepoo said:
Excellent! For my part, your work is done! ✅

I appreciate your help. Hang around if you have a mind. Gamethreads are great (unless we fall behind or heaven forbid, we should lose a game…🤣) but be careful of the Dugout. 😉🤙🏼🧡
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...as well as the c-poo!
He'll be asking you to wield your AI skills to conjure up Lilly in cutoffs, tank top, and a Daddy hat.
Purely as a "rally charm," mind you. ;)
 
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