Chase Dollander reveals how he handles lofty expectations entering the season

Coming into the 2023 season, very few baseball teams have the same type of expectations as the Tennessee Volunteers, who are expected to make a run at the College World Series. One of the key players in that run is going to be pitcher Chase Dollander.

Ahead of the season, Dollander spoke about managing lofty expectations entering the season.

“I mean, it’s kind of like the whole draft predictions and stuff like that as well. You kind of have to address it and move on. Because it’s a real thing,” Chase Dollander explained.

“People are obviously going to talk about it all over social media and stuff, and when you see it you just kind of have to address it and move on so you can stay day-by-day and just keep focused on what the team is trying to accomplish.”

Chase Dollander is one of the best pitchers in the country. He had a 10-0 record with a 2.39 ERA in 2022 and he enters this season as a First-Team Preseason All-American. He is a candidate to be the first player taken in this year’s MLB Draft.

Tennessee opens its season against Arizona in the MLB Desert Invitational on Friday night. Dollander is expected to be the starter.

Tony Vitello is excited to see what Tennessee is about

Tony Vitello expects to learn what his Tennessee Volunteers team is about during an opening weekend invitational, starting with a talented Arizona team.

“Well, I know Arizona’s probably been looking forward to this game. I assume our guys have, too. We haven’t built things up too much. You love when an SEC comes to your place, I mean they’re playing in a conference that’s comparable to ours, anyway. And it’s a program with a ton of history, so it’s not like they don’t have a lot to stick their chest out about. But, when you get an opportunity to meet an SEC team, I like to think you get kind of geeked up,” Vitello explained.

“And you know, this team is going to have a different personality, but when you’ve got the — whatever the theories were that were thrown out about our team last year, people are probably going to be excited to beat us and say, you know, stick their nose up at us or whatever emoji you want to use, at the start of the year, anyways. So, I think all that’s going to be a part of the storyline. But really, I think what it’s going to be is we’re kind of going down there, towards their home turf — not on their home field — and everyone’s going to be excited, across the country, to start opening. You got a fresh, clean start. So it’s going to be all the excitement you can imagine and let’s see what we’re all about. And no better way to do it than to challenge yourself against an Omaha-caliber club, in Arizona. And then for us, obviously we’ve done some good things lately, so that’ll come with that.”