Everything Tony Vitello said leading up to the start of the 2025 season

Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello met with members of the media on Tuesday morning to preview his team and the season-opening series coming up this weekend.

Tennessee begins the 2025 season this Friday with a 4:30 p.m. ET first pitch against Hofstra from Lindsey Nelson Stadium. Catch up on the latest renovations updates to Lindsey Nelson Stadium HERE and find out what fans should know about the ballpark before arriving this weekend.

Below is a written transcript from the Tony Vitello press conference.

On if he has an update on Alberto Osuna’s eligibility status…

“As of now, he’s waiting for clearance to being eligible. I don’t even know the specific terms. The one good thing is to come in halfway through the year and get everyone to like you and be on board with who you are is not easy. But if you’re around that kid, which I think you guys will be, you’ll see why it’s easy for him. He’s an incredible kid. That’s the big thing from my standpoint. The rest is logistics and lawyer stuff and i’m not a lawyer and have no idea on. It’s kind of like when a guy is injured on the field. I want them all to be healthy but I’m staying out of (trainer Jeff Wood) Woody’s way or Doc(tor) Klenck’s way if it necessarily gets to that. The only difference in this case (Diego Pavia case) from the one that took place in the winter is he plays baseball and the other guy plays football. I didn’t really even know about that at the time too. I was at  grocery store in Mexico and Coach Kivett called me and interrupted me with whatever went on with that case in particular. We’ll see what happens on Friday. You win or lose and obviously I like winning more than I like losing but at the very least, especially a kid that’s as good as that, you hope whether it’s his case or someone else’s, you like to see guys be able to use their last year of eligibility.”

On the status opening weekend for Cannon Peebles and Andrew Fischer…

“Those guys are good. Same thing. I guess the one thing where I do butt in on the trainer example is once the docs or Woody (trainer Jeff Wood)  clear a guy, and then it’s up to the coaching staff how much they want to do with a guy or not, and whether it’s Blade Tidwell or Garrett Crochet. Most competitors, once they get the go-ahead and they feel good mentally about where they’re at physically, they want to go from zero to 60. And I’m not necessarily a big fan of that which has made some players angry with me, but I truly am looking out for their own good. Again, I like winning more than I like losing, but one of the things that’s tormented me more than any loss we’ve had here is I think being too aggressive with one of our players in the past. And I don’t want that on my conscience. We got to look out for those guys. And I do think there’s a building up phase not just with a pitcher, but with a position player, so both those guys can throw and swing, but whether we’re going to ask them to play all nine innings for three days in a row in non ideal temperatures, that’s probably not going to happen.”

But they will be available?

“Yes. 100%. Especially if you ask them.

On why they took a risk bringing in Alberto Osuna late, what’s stood out about him…

“I think that was a decision based on what his ambitions are. Most kids talk pro ball or individual first. If you’ve ever visited with him once the portal situation started with him, every comment seems to center, as it relates to his future, or his last year of eligibility seems to center around winning and team and where his team made it— he was at North Carolina last year. Those guys took really good care of him and they have a family relationship, Coach Forbes and him. They went to Omaha and they were there trying to win a National Championship like everyone else. I think all the kids’ ambitions revolve around those team goals and winning and trying to be near the end where you win the last game.”

On the first base battle…

“I’m not sure who that’ll be, to be honest with you. My dad volunteered to be that guy the other day because I forget what family problem that, not a big one, but something to solve. They were talking about and I said, I’m too busy. I’m trying to figure out who’s going to play first base and a bunch of other positions too. Really, we could go first, second, short and third. And part of that is we have a little more inner internal depth or internal competition, I think those are hand and hand, than I originally thought we did with the position player stuff. And I think a part of that is a credit to the way some of these freshmen came back from the winter. There’s a couple that came back with a completely different vibe, in a good way, and there’s a couple that came back where they look like they did their work. The winter is a time where you can really get a little more physical in a short amount of time. And there’s a few guys that I think have created, I don’t want to say problems, but more discussions or debates up in the office. Who goes here, who goes there. So, I think you might see three different, four different guys standing over there at first this weekend, but that may be the case for several positions.”

On if he knew anything about Hofstra entering the weekend…

“Obviously we are losing greatly the battle between coaches, because Frank [Anderson], he was a big leaguer for a long time and really successful, and I clearly was not. But I’ve also heard from people that I trust in the college baseball community, that they [Hofstra] really do things the right way. They play the game the right way. They got some guys who could swing it last year. They had a bunch of guys with high stolen base numbers. So, I think offensively, you’re going to see a group that’s capable and has a good approach. Pitching wise, it’s kind of interesting. We’ve already tried to do our homework like they are. There’s a lot of guys that will need to dig up information on because they’re new to the school this year. But I’ve been in that situation before at Missouri, where you’re just dying to get outside. So, even though you all may be bundled up this weekend, it may seem like they’re in the Bahamas. I don’t know what exactly they’ve had temperature wise up there, but you would have a better understanding it’s cold, is the bottom line. So, I know they’ll be fired up to get outside, as every school that’s playing an SEC school, or ACC for that matter. Whatever conference, they’ll be fired up for the opportunity to have something they can hang and hang their hat on. But the biggest thing that stood out is several people just say they really play the game the right way, which in my mind, means they’ll play smart too – which means they’re not going to hand you anything.”

On who the starting rotation will be this weekend…

“Liam [Doyle] will start on Friday and then Marcus Phillips will start on Saturday. We will not announce our Sunday starter – kind of how we’ve done it. Drew Beam stands out because he kind of, not accidentally, it was last minute decision to start on Sunday his freshman year opening weekend and [he] never relinquish that. So, going into opening weekend with these pitch counts being the way they are, we want to have everyone available and focused on winning opening day or winning on Friday, and then worry about the rest of the weekend. Having said that, you’d like to give someone like Marcus [Phillips] the just do of preparing properly and not sitting there all Friday waiting to go in the game when he’s actually the starter the next day.”

On what he likes about Phillips as a starter; what he’s done over the offseason to earn this role…

“More mature, more under control. The self belief is more real. I think last year we went through ups and downs of, it was there, then it wasn’t there. And then sometimes it was trying too hard to be somebody he’s not. He dang near started a fight one game, which, fortunately, we won. We were able to joke about it in the outfield, but I think a lot of it was just him searching for that formula of what’s the best version of himself. 

“And I guess ultimately, what I like most is he’s no longer that guy I would mention all the time last year, kind of having his back like, realize, yeah, this guy’s ultra talented, but he’s from a northern state. He was a position player. He’s young. He really should only be a second-year college student, so because of last year’s experience, all of those things are behind him, which is a positive. You can also say, hey, it’s also no longer an excuse or a reason why you wouldn’t have success. 

“But I think he’s worked hard in a bunch of different areas. He’s much more well-rounded as a pitcher and a competitor.”

On where pitchers Dylan Loy, Brandon Arvidson and Tegan Kuhns are at after being limited this past weekend during Tennessee’s Pizza Series…

“A lot of that, like Teagan for example, that was trying to get everybody action in the weekend, so they’re fresh going into next weekend. So some of those guys, ideally, we were playing with a scoreboard and, you know, we were trying to win technically, the internal scrimmage there. But a lot of those guys, it was just nature of how the game was. 

“But to me, a guy like Tegan at this point and some of those other guys too, it’s more about them being physically fresh and ready to go out there. We know who those guys are. And Tegan has been in a ton of different situations. I know he’ll be confident when he pitches. So really, it’s about making sure they’re good physically going into that weekend and no reason to crash and burn those guys or utilize them too much last weekend.”

On where RHP AJ Russell is at in his rehab from Tommy John Surgery…

“Yeah, he continues to bother me about throwing more. So it falls into that basket we were talking about earlier. I think he has reached the stage where it’s no longer a building up through a throwing program, or you wouldn’t call it rehab anymore. Now we start to throw a little bit. So it won’t be long. There’s still some, some stages or steps to knock out, but it won’t be long before he’s that guy saying, you know, I’m ready to close the game or start a game, or let me throw 100 pitches even though he hasn’t thrown one pitch in a game yet. Which, again, you want guys to have that want too, but you got to pick your spots with that. 

“Again, I’m no patron saint. Think I’m a bad guy on social media, some people say or whatever, but it’s not the time of year to do that stuff. I think we used Kirby (Connell) eight of our last eight games, and there were some days off. So we’re not that abusive, but that’s the time of year you do that.

“But some of these other guys you mentioned earlier, Peens, Fischer, they have pro careers down the line, and we have an entire season to play, and it actually benefits our team when there are some nicks and nacks because or a pitch count, for instance, because it forces you to use more guys. And leading into SEC play, we want to leave no stone unturned, so we at least have the best guesstimate to who can do what and who can’t, so we can put our best foot forward in whatever that first conference game is, but for now, obviously the most important game is Friday against Hofstra.”