Tony Vitello raves over Dylan Dreiling's calming presence
In his second season with the program, Tennessee Volunteers outfielder Dylan Dreiling has become one of the team’s most important players. He’s also a player who head coach Tony Vitello raved about for his calming presence.
The Volunteers got a mid-week win over Queens. In that game, Dreiling hit a go-ahead home run in the seventh-inning. That led to Vitello joking that his heart rate never goes over 50.
“No. It’s annoying because my heart rate is about as high as Frank [Anderson’s], and you can imagine what that is,” Tony Vitello said. “So, to have a calming influence on the mound is big in those jam situations we’re talking about, but it is equally important in the box.”
Dylan Dreiling is batting out of the five-hole in the Volunteers’ lineup and playing the outfield. This season, he’s been excellent, with a .316 batting average, a .440 OBP, and a .715 slugging percentage. In 47 games, he has 16 home runs and 30 total extra-base hits to go with 54 RBIs.
As Tony Vitello explained, he’s been vital in the middle of Tennessee’s lineup. In particular, he helps the team win when the lineup as a whole is struggling.
“And, again, I think when some of these guys one through nine are just pressing to do what they have to do to help us win the game — it’s a fun lineup, but it’s not a good enough lineup to have two or three spots disappear on you. I’d have to watch tape and analyze it, but I’ve kind of picked up anytime that does happen,” Vitello said.
“We’ve been able to win some games in an ugly fashion when it does happen but it’s usually two or three guys start out the day maybe trying to do too much or something other than just win the game and it boils into a big ball of frustration and you end up with a spot where you don’t get anything out of it.”
Vitello broke down why having good at-bats, like the ones that Dreiling provides, are so valuable to any team.
“Again, we used examples where Reese [Chapman] probably doesn’t want me to bring up a strikeout but that one sticks out of an at-bat where he drains the pitcher and Cal Stark hits a home run behind him. That’s a team effort. In a weird way. Probably in a way the fans don’t notice. Chris Burke is the one who was telling me this past weekend that when he used to play in the big leagues the whole deal was take a bite out of the pitcher. Take a little piece of him with you even if he does retire you.”
At 40-9 on the season, Tennessee looks like it’s heading for postseason play. If the Volunteers do want to make a deep run this year, Dylan Dreiling needs to be a part of it.