Tennessee pitcher Chase Dollander selected by Colorado Rockies in 2023 MLB Draft

Tennessee pitcher Chase Dollander was selected by the Colorado Rockies with the No. 9 pick in the first round of the 2023 MLB Draft.

Dolalnder pitched for the Volunteers over the last two seasons after starting his college career at Georgia Southern in 2021.

He went 10-0 and had a 2.39 ERA with 108 strikeouts in a fantastic 2022 season. This past year, Dollander went 7-6, had a 4.75 ERA over 89 innings pitched (10 more than ‘22) and had 120 strikeouts.

For the most part, Dollander was a projected top-10 pick across MLB mock drafts.

The scouting report on Dollander is pretty top notch and worthy of a high selection.

“You’re going to hear ‘when he’s at his best’ a lot because when he is at his best, Dollander has as much potential as any arm in this draft,” Edward Sutelan of Sporting News wrote. “You can’t teach velocity, and Dollander has exhibited big-time velo. His fastball can reach as high as 99 mph and it regularly sits in the mid- to upper 90s with movement.

“Dollander’s slider looked like one of the best offerings in baseball when he had it working. In 2022, the pitch had late bite and plenty of sweeping action. It sat in the mid- to upper 80s and touched the low 90s, making it a devastating offering. This year, the pitch hasn’t been as consistent. It has lacked deception, breaking earlier and not getting as many batters to chase it out of the strike zone.”

More on the 2023 MLB Draft

The 2023 Major League Baseball Draft will begin during All-Star week, with the first two rounds getting underway at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 9. Rounds 3-10 will then begin at 2 p.m. ET on Monday, July 10, with rounds 11-20 starting at 2 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 11.

This year’s MLB Draft is a historic one, as a draft lottery was used to determine the order for the first time. The Washington Nationals, Pittsburgh Pirates and Oakland Athletics each had a 16.5% chance to receive the No. 1 overall pick. Ultimately, Pittsburgh won the right to have the first selection, with Washington finishing right behind them at No. 2. Oakland, however, fell all the way down to No. 6 overall.

While the MLB Draft is always unpredictable, the consensus is that this year’s top prospects both hail from LSU, who won the 2023 College World Series. Pitcher Paul Skenes and outfielder Dylan Crews headline this year’s class, which is considered a deep one.

Within the first ten rounds of the draft, each slot is assigned a certain value. Each team has a bonus pool that they are able to spend on these picks, and players will sign at, above or below their assigned slot value.

In rounds 11-20, there is no assigned slot value and MLB teams are free to spend up to $150,000 to sign their picks from the second half of the draft. If they exceed the $150,000 mark, that added amount will be deducted from their bonus pool.

Following the final day of the 2023 MLB Draft, selected players will have until August 1 to sign a contract.