Everything Tony Vitello said on AJ Russell return, midweek win over Golden Eagles

Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello met with members of the media on Tuesday night following a midweek 7-1 win over Tennessee Tech from Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The following is a written transcript from the postgame press conference.

Up Next: Tennessee welcomes Texas A&M to Lindsey Nelson Stadium this weekend for a rematch of the 2024 College World Series Finals from Omaha.

On his reaction to former Tennessee pitcher Garrett Crochet’s contract extension with the Boston Red Sox…

“It’s incredible to look back on just his recruitment process and the start of our time here was the start of his time as well, and then how he developed. Sorry to sound like recruiting mode, but the good thing about the people that I work with is they treat everyone as an individual and figure out, what do we got to do to get the most out of this guy? And for him, there was ability there. I think it’s even a little overrated about how he went from, you know, just an average stuff guy to phenomenal stuff guy. The stuff definitely got better, but I think he just needed to mature as a baseball player and get routines and really start to figure out what true confidence is, because we all thought he could be real good once we were around him. But I think at times, I don’t think he realized how good he could be, and certainly he does now.

“Essentially what those guys (Boston Red Sox) are doing, are investing in what they see. First, with the trade, and then obviously he’s around them with work ethic and other things, they’re saying, like, ‘oh, we were right with the trade. We want to be right again.’ So kudos to him. And obviously we’re happy for the organization.”

On what he liked about AJ Russell’s second outing of the season as he works his way back from Tommy John Surgery…

“It was good that it was efficient, because right or wrong, and maybe kind of put a little extra pressure on the kid and told him, ‘Hey, it’s gonna be four or five hitters no matter what,’ just because it was — you know, LL Cool J would say, ‘don’t call it a comeback,’ because he’s already thrown once, but we had that little separation in there. And again, all that started just because he really did abnormal things to get himself back. And, I mean, really, it was kind of record time, is not being overdramatic. So we kind of took a timeout and said let’s build up pitch count and get closer to the date that was the target date, which would have been last week. He was a little sick, so we didn’t mess with it. Could have went last week, but this was the restart of everything. 

“So the fact that it was efficient, and, you know, didn’t get to a situation where you got to pull him or anything like that, was great. But also, the ball was coming out of his hand. And I think the benefit of him throwing a ton in this rehab process is, instead of just throwing every pitch like he’s trying to throw it through a brick wall, he can pitch a little bit. You saw the velocity kind of sporadic there, and that’s intentional. It’s not because he can’t repeat his delivery or anything like that. So a lot of positive and I think he even went down to the bullpen and worked on some things off-speed wise, so the more reps, the better for him.”

On what’s next for Russell…

“Probably next week. And  I’m glad he didn’t fight us on the coming out of the game. Again, I think it was 12 pitches in this first inning, so he would have stayed under a reasonable pitch count if we would have put him back out there, I feel. So probably just to get more in a routine where it’s a preparation bullpen and then a competitive day. And you know, more than likely that next competitive day would be next Tuesday. And try and stack another inning on top of another one would be ideal. But you saw tonight, we’re always going to get tested, and we’re trying to win these games too on Tuesday. It’s tough. I talked with another SEC coach two days ago, I talked to Coach Van Horn, and you’re trying to win on Tuesday, but you’re also trying to do some other (stuff). That’s dicey, but it’s also a point in the year where I think every coach in the league says, yeah, that makes sense. That’s what we got to get done. You got to keep guys rested, keep guys involved, try to win, but also kinds of other things. So we want to win next Tuesday, but he’ll pitch.”

On if he has a long term vision for Russell’s role…

“I do. But I haven’t discussed that with him yet, so I’ll do that with him tomorrow, and then maybe we’ll share that. But, you know, Plan A never works out. Like I said, we had Plan A was, you know what it was, hang on, and then another Plan A, and something quirky happens. I mean, he even got hit with a foul ball on his foot a while back, on his toe. So we’ll discuss what Plan A is, and then fully be ready to adapt and improvise and overcome.”

On what he can say about Blake Grimmer at this point…

“He’s good, and he deserves everything he gets. I mean, there’s no— that’s not like a good coaching move to put him in the lineup. It may look like that if you are a young kid in the stands or something like that. But if you’re at practice or anything like that, or you know the kid from high school, blue chip recruit, always been a good hitter. Was a really good shortstop, but he got injured a bunch, and had to overcome that. And he’s from Michigan, great place, but you need reps when you’re from the north. And so all that combined, last year’s team was good. I’ll go ahead and throw it in one more time. You got games being cut short, seven innings. So he’s now where he wanted to be, and we wanted him to be. And he deserves to be out there, so he’s good. So no smart move there, which is kind of a hot topic. Because, I don’t you know if I could send out an Instagram or, which I’m not traveling so I’m not using it or on twitter. Don’t send me some of that stuff that’s on the internet. That’s very goofy. Yeah, we’re still trying to figure things out here.”  

On who impressed him the most coming out of the bullpen tonight…

“That’s a tough one, and a good jacket too. It would have been [Nate] Sneed if he would have pitched, because he’s a big time Brewers fan as well [reporter wearing Brewers jacket]. But I think there was a glimpse of a little bit for everybody. D-Loy [Dylan Loy] was himself. I think the last two times out, he wasn’t as good as he’s capable of being. But we also throw him in the fire nonstop. So, he was very sharp. But I was just glad we were able to score enough and play good enough defense, and everybody was able to hand the baton off to the next guy that we’re able to get a bunch of guys involved. I would have even liked a couple more guys. It could have been [Bryson] Thacker. He just hasn’t done well against lefties. I mean, I haven’t said that to him, but I’m saying it now. So, maybe I need to say that as another meeting tomorrow. I liked the way he was throwing the ball the best. It’s just those lefties have got in there and he needs to do better against those guys.

On Reese Chapman as a right fielder…

“That’s pretty good. It’s pretty good out there. It’s funny how these high school kids get to – I don’t know the formula. I mean, Dominic Fletcher is in the big leagues. There’s a couple guys that, they got it. It’s natural or they’re from the south and they’ve got a bunch of reps, but most high school outfielders don’t get the work in that they need. And Jay [Abernathy] and Newey [Chris Newstrom] – those guys weren’t even outfielders in high school. So, it’s a position that is under looked or undervalued defensively, but it is huge when you got a guy out there like Jordan Beck, Christian Scott, KT [Kavares Tears] and now Reese. We’ve had four defenders, C-Scott was already pretty good, but those other three guys have had to start from scratch. Almost if you’re going like, where they were at to Frank Anderson’s expectations [raises hand], you know? So, I just like the fact he’s worked himself into a guy that can impact the game. That’s what Ariel [Antigua] has got going on. It’s one thing to have a shortstop you can trust on defense. It is another deal when it can kind of change the course of the game. And Reese can do that.”

On the difficulty of facing a team that is more talented than their record…

“Yeah, it kind of brings out the question, ‘Who’s your rival in the league?’ All of them. And, ‘Who’s the toughest? Where’s the toughest place to go play?’ It’s all of them. It’s the same thing this weekend, so I don’t even know what their record is, you mentioned that, and it really doesn’t matter once you start the series. It’s only about what’s going on on Friday, and you can’t even worry too much. I mean, ‘TBA’ will kind of be, maybe, thrown out the window this weekend. But, sometimes we don’t even announce a starter on Sunday because – it may not come because of the rain – so it’s all about just what’s going on Friday. 

“What you’ll have is two teams that, to me, are still both trying to find themselves a little bit. We’ve been fortunate enough to have success, but we’re still trying to find ourselves. Maybe (AJ) Russell kind of brings something new to it, too, and it’s an addition, but there’s other subtractions and (Blake) Grimmer and still trying to find out our best version of ourselves. And they’re obviously doing the same thing, too. But I know two no-doubters are there’s no doubt [that] there’s a reason they were picked number one in the country. They don’t just hand that out willy-nilly. They got a lot of oil money down there, but I don’t think they paid anybody for that to happen. I’m being facetious, obviously. But they were given that for a reason. And then there’s a reason those kids wanted to play for that coach, and there’s a reason why those coaches on that staff – one of which I recruited the kid and signed him – they’re good dudes. But they’re also good coaches that are proven. They’re just trying to find that formula, I think, where they’re having as much success yielded on the scoreboard as you’d like, but sometimes the scoreboard doesn’t tell the whole story. So again, the talent part and the coaching part are there. It’s not our responsibility or any of our business [regarding] what else is going on, but it is similar to us trying to find our best version of ourselves.”

On how difficult Ariel Antigua has made it to potentially take him out of the lineup once Gavin Kilen comes back from injury…

“It’s kind of back to my Sunday thing. [We’ll] worry about, really, Saturday when Saturday comes as far as game two against our SEC opponent, and then Sunday is even further down the road. So, I think right now, the thing for us is to get Gavin (Kilen) in the lineup, and then probably next would be defense. I don’t know if it will come together.

“So, I get the question, it’s a good one, but that problem has been there from the start. Newy (Chris Newstrom) was out there in left (field) doing something goofy tonight. We were kind of communicating from the dugout, and it made me think of all the guys we’ve had out there. Fischer (Andrew Fischer) is one of them, and that’s all just been a part of the process of this good problem we have of, ‘How do you keep (Blake) Grimmer, (Chris) Newstrom involved and Ariel (Antigua) and Manny (Marin) and and both catchers and Levi (Clark), it’s a good problem to have. It’s a deep group. It’s an unselfish group on offense, and there’s also a lot of interchangeable parts. (Dalton) Bargo [is] example number one. You can kind of stick him wherever you want and expect them to show up and play ball.”