Everything Tony Vitello said on the start of Tennessee baseball preseason practice

With Opening Day and the start of the college baseball season just 16 days away, Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello, along with players Hunter Ensley and Nate Snead, answered questions from the media on the start of preseason practice.

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

On if he feels like it’s Dalton Bargo’s job to lose at first base following Alex Perry’s departure, who else factors there…

“About everybody and it was kind of like that in the fall. I think we tried to set up and build confidence in AP (Alex Perry) because he’s never really played that position before. But like a few of the others we’ve had left field and the DH in scrimmages isn’t really as noticeable. Also where the infielders will be positioned. Those are four things that still have not changed and I don’t think as long as everyone’s healthy and not sick, we’ve had a couple guys get the flu and all that, I don’t think they would’ve changed at any of those four spots or those four topics. So all four (are) open competition. I think as the scrimmage innings and the pitch count builds up, we get a better look and more reps to best guess. But I think until Feb. 14, I know we’re supposed to be the coaches and we make the decisions. I think it’s just an educated guess. And then when the season starts, we’ll probably continue to have some movement and hopefully there’ll be a little more come to light come SEC play. But many of the teams, we’ve been blessed here a couple years and maybe been spoiled by it. Most of the teams you have in college, the starting rotation at the start of the year is not that at the end. And certainly the lineup at the beginning of the year is not that at the end.”

On if he views Nate Snead as a starter, his potential role…

“I see him as a Packers fan so he is depressed is what he is, and thinks the chiefs are spoiled. He’s probably accurate there, but he is a guy who still carries the value that he had last year. He’s a fun loving kid that’s a great personality to having it dugout and in the locker room and then he switches, that switch turns on for him into game mode. And he constantly wants the ball, he constantly wants to compete. He’s resilient physically so he always wants to be out there regardless of what day it is or what he did the day before. And so he’s been a Swiss Army knife for us, not just last year but including in these scrimmages. So yeah, I think he’s capable of doing whatever we ask. Most kids kind of get tunnel vision and think starter is this or that. And again, part of it pertains to the draft and as I’ve said here actually in this room, probably an annoyingly amount of times is just because you play position X doesn’t mean they’re gonna draft you to play that position. So pro ball can wait for all these guys. For right now, we have a very small window to be the very best 2025 Vols team we can be. And for guys like Nate Snead, Dean Curley, it might require them to go outside of the norm and hit in a different spot in the order or pitch on a different day or pitch three different types of roles in one month. So he’s a valuable asset for all those reasons and I think he’s a good enough teammate. He’ll be flexible with whatever we see fit for him.”

On what he knows about starting pitching right now…

“I think (pitching) Frank (Anderson) does his thing and gets his guys to understand that throwing strikes is step one. I mean that’s not anything out of the norm for any program, but he’s excelled at that. The numbers back it up and I think our guys realize Kirby’s on our staff for a lot of reasons, the mustache included, but strikes is what got him out there as a freshman early and often. So they see the value in that and I think we do have a lot of guys that either right now are capable of doing it or they’re committed to doing it and, again, there’s always improvement that’s needed. So there’s several guys that can do that and that’s gonna be needed early in the year because whether it’s Drew Beam or whoever, four innings is kind of a good start in February. So as guys get out there more often than they normally would in May when a starter might go seven (innings), it kind of forces you to use more guys is my point. We’ll get more information and March 14 will probably look different than Valentine’s Day.”

On AJ Russell’s recovery, if they expect him to pitch…

“I think so. It’s not like I don’t talk to Woody or watch his bullpens and talk to Frank but my first instinct to answer that question is where he looks physically. Went from a skinny kid and then growing into his body and different transformations, he looks so good physically right now. I think that’s a tribute to him taking care of himself and making his comeback or rehab go as smoothly as possible. And then, also, I see the personality more than I see some of the pitching stuff. With Nate I mentioned early, AJ has really evolved into a kid that’s comfortable in his own skin, which was not the case when he first got here, willing to ask, say, do whatever and also willing to take on a leadership role which is really necessary. I don’t think he really needs to go outside of who he is. But he’s in a different place in those two categories. Physically and also the mentality or personality piece. However you would label that. But when he does come back I think that will only help his pitching. But to directly answer your question, I think he’s in line with what he should be. I made the comment a couple times, by the halfway point he’ll be pitching for us. All of us would like that to be sooner but there’s some steps along the way to knock out.”

On Reese Chapman being a different player heading into his junior year…

“Yeah, I think it’s fun to watch the evolution of a guy like KT [Kavares Tears] who played in front of him. KT went through the same thing freshman year, kind of drinking from a fire hose with all the new information and then the new competition and you got to lean on the guy that maybe is next to you in the outfield for a little bit of advice or learned how to do things. Jordan Beck is out there at the time, so there’s this kind of lineage and C-Scott [Christian Scott] has been over there. Those guys have all helped each other and learned from each other and I think Reese has had some great moments including playing in Omaha. Having success in Omaha and great players to lean on.

So, he’s obviously more mature physically and mentally because he’s older. I’d like to speak for everyone in the room and say we’re a lot less nerdier or foolish as juniors than we were as freshmen, but he’s also got all that stuff behind the scenes that falls under the label of experience that I think will truly help him. He seems to be in a good spot and ran into one yesterday, but like all of our guys, I think it’s a definite that there needs to be improvement between now and the first game and then once the season starts, we’ll be looking for our best brand of ball.”

On how Dean Curley has handled success and what he wants to see from him leading up to the season…

“He’s the same, to be honest with you. I think he was able to be in that position last year because he was physically ready. Part of it was genetic and just where he was at in high school. He came in that way but then he worked really hard to become a guy who looked – he looked like all the other guys out there in our lineup, even though many days he was the only freshman. And then he’s always been a guy that’s willing to be outspoken or you can crack a joke at him, or he can crack a joke to you. He asks very intelligent questions. So to me on the surface, I don’t think much of that has played into it at all other than he’s usually pretty quick with a retort to shut down any, you know, someone trying to tease him about now he’s a leader or a captain or you got to do this or that.

Unless he’s fooling me. I just don’t see that. And part of that is him being a special player because that’s not the norm. And I think I was speaking with John Wilkerson this morning about, maybe Vince [Ferrara] asked the question, what do the freshmen got to do to have success this year compared to playing in high school? It’s just all the externalities, it’s you guys. I like you so I won’t call you rat poison or anything evil like that. They do that in other states, but you know, there’s externalities there with social media and other fans knowing you know, what he did or what he or what your girlfriend’s name is or any of that stuff.

And a lot of it, at the end of the day, doesn’t have anything to do with the job you’re trying to do between the lines. And Dean was able to do that as a freshman. I don’t see why he wouldn’t be able to do it this year.”

On the lefty-heavy batting order and if that plays a role into position battles…

“Partly I think with how crazy analytics are and pitch shaping and kind of the new age of baseball, which some of it might even be over my head. I think the day and age of the true switch hitter like Cannon [Peebles] is kind of fading away it seems like. And then also the value of some of those splits do. Maybe it’s diminishing. I don’t know if that’s fair to say or not. I guess ultimately that’s my opinion and I think having balance in our lineup is just the number one thing we’re looking for.

So, if it’s six and three or you got the switch hitter in there a lot of the days that helps, or if it’s more balanced where it’s five and four – I think you just want to achieve some sort of a balanced look. It’ll be fun at the beginning of the year to be able to experiment and see, do these two guys back-to-back even though they’re lefthanded work well together.

And again, I’m no smarter than anybody, we don’t have those answers. You just observe what you see. And then we want to leave no stone unturned between February 14 and the start at SEC play.”

On what has stood out about the group of junior college pitchers…

“Well, I think the way Tanner Franklin threw the other day. He stood out. I think there’s been a lot of work with him behind the scenes with Frank [Anderson] and the other guys helping out that he’s starting to pay off on me. He’s starting to buy in.

So, he looked really exceptional. We’re just going to go most recent news, but if you’re going to go overall news, [Brandon] Arvidson has shown as good of ability as anyone on our staff to get guys to swing and miss or just feel uncomfortable in the box.

So, for him, I think he’s been that kind of Swiss army knife. He’s capable of fulfilling a lot of roles but the thing we notice in those fall scrimmages is, he wants the ball when the competition appears to be a little higher on a level. He wants the ball out there. So, I think those are two guys that can help us.

Combsy [Ryan Combs], he’s looked good for us. He’s had moments too where he’s been one of the better guys out of the day and there’s moments where he is not. So, I think consistency is something to unlock there.

So, it is a good group of guys that we’ve got. Depth wise, we’re looking for some separation, which I think we were kind of saying that last year too with our pitching staff and it worked out for us.

So, hopefully some guys sense that yeah they’re good enough to get some action but we’re looking for separation as well.”

On guys like Jay Abernathy and Tegan Kuhns continuing their progression from fall to spring…

“I think progress is something you always want. Improvement is something you always want. We gave a shout out to Kaizen, if they want to give me a free meal, that’s a restaurant here in town but that stands for continuous improvement. You want that. But in a weird way, my coach’s brain or the coach in me wants to say, just hold your horses.

Just because the season is coming around the bend doesn’t mean you need to start freaking out. I don’t think our guys have seen Tommy Boy, but there’s a line in there – it was on the other night and I had it on for background noise – ‘Joe, Joe the circus clown or boy’, whatever phrase he uses about freaking out a little bit. Some guys will do that when they see the season coming around the corner, in particular freshmen think they need to do something new or step up, anything like that. I think they just need to be who they are. Both those guys have performed against guys that are in pro ball right now at a high level and they’re going to see more of that in non-conference, SEC – it doesn’t matter.

So, they just need to do what they do.”

On the one thing to know about the makeup of the team…

“Well, it’s new to me because the fall was good. It was unlike last fall, where everything was kind of hunky dory from the get go. It was almost like, well, don’t mess this up. Or how can we add to this? Or we got to get creative. This was more of a traditional building up phase. And I think there was a lot of positives out of the fall. It ended well, but when they came back in January, I didn’t say anything to them — maybe Hunter Ensley did or (someone) — I don’t know, but they just seem to have a little more personality and a little more energy to them. So it’ll be interesting to see if they can keep that level of those two things or other positive traits, or, even better build off it.

“But I think they’re the 2025 team, and they kind of want to put their own stamp on this particular year with, this is our personality, and now that time has passed, it’s easy for everyone in the room to see, okay, we’ve built a little bit of a brand here, but you guys know our teams well. ’21 was a little different than ’22, maybe kind of similar. ’22 was way different than ’23, and ’24 had characteristics of all three, but was very unique to themselves. And I think this group kind of wants a fresh start. 

“I think this sounds wild, but the first-pitch banquet, hopefully, was the final cut off for last year’s stuff. I think our guys are ready to move on. The one positive about Vol fans, they’ll celebrate better than anybody in the country. The one other caveat that comes with that is they’ve celebrated so much and talked so much about things, I think our guys are ready to move on and kind of use this blank canvas they have and start splashing some paint on there. If I could go crazy with the analogy there. Picasso.”

On what the last six to seven months have been like since Tennessee won the national championship… 

“Well, I’ve already said it o if anyone was like, ‘well, that’s dumb to say,’ then it’s already been said, but it was pretty taxing on our group of coaches. You don’t realize how much an added one week or two weeks, what it does to you when you lose that in the summer. You’re playing catch up, and then you sprinkle in, well, let’s go to this event or that event, which are great to experience, but now that’s one more day you lose progress.

“Without boring you, the recruiting rules had changed about 18 months ago, but really where it affected was this fall, or where you felt the effect. So December, everybody needed to hit the reset button, and you could sense it when the players came back, like I said, with that renewed energy, even though some of them are new. And then with our coaching and support staff, you could sense it was great to hit the reset button. And again, I joked about there being a fine line between last year and the start of next year. I think in house, that fine line for us was that first day we all rallied together. You could feel a sense of hitting the refresh button and getting after it.

“So for me personally, you know, I love this place. I love dang near everything about it. I love Mike (Keith), that you’re back in God’s country here. And you know, I just want to make sure that I’m contributing in a way that I should and I want to make sure our guys are playing in a way that Vol fans can say, I’m proud of that product on the field, and I want to cheer for them. I got their back, regardless of wins or losses, because we learned — you can pick out the year. No one’s invincible, especially in this league. So you win, you lose, it’s part of the deal that we signed up for, literally when you sign the contract, but just want to make sure I’m doing my part, and therefore the program is doing our part to make Vol fans proud and get to see what they deserve to see.”

If he sees any similarities in freshman RHP Tegan Kuhns and previous pitchers who had great success as a freshman like Blake Tidwell, Chase Burns and Drew Beam…

“Yeah, I think with Tegan, he does have the ability, and Tidwell is the guy we’ve most compared him to. And I’ll tell you what, the one thing about Blade because he was a really unique personality, was as a freshman from a smaller town, Loretto, Tennessee. Shout out. And being around, even though he’s around great baseball people and absolutely loved his dad who I know steered him in the right direction, you didn’t expect him to be as professional as he was as a freshman. And I think Teagan and some of those other guys have good work habits, but that was a really high standard of a guy like Blade Tidwell. We’ve had other ones too, like Drew, that just were so professional with how they went about their routines. And I think the more those guys pick up on that, including Tegan, which he’s good, but he needs to get better at it, the more we’ll probably be talking about them in five years, about their names being plopped in for whoever’s next.”

If Ole Miss transfer LHP Liam Doyle has the presence on the mound that he likes to have set the town for the weekend…

“Liam and (Andrew) Fisher, obviously, kind of came together because they’re buddies. Those two need to start a podcast. I prefer it start when their time is done here, so they just focus on playing. So you ain’t short on personality or attitude with that guy. I mean, you wouldn’t have liked what we were saying about him in our dugout when we were facing him last year, because you could see all that kind of coming off in his presence when he’s pitching against us.

“Chad Dallas was a guy I talked about. Had coffee with somebody this morning, and I’m not so sure Chad’s — I don’t know how you decide this — he’s definitely one of the best clubhouse guys we’ve had since we’ve been here and that I’ve ever been around. Again, a lot of it stems from the family that he came from, but you do want that vibe going into battle.

“(Chris) Stamos kind of became that guy for us last year, is, alright, it’s Friday, conference or non-conference, it’s probably going to be close after four or five innings. So why not get a guy out there that’s going to make you feel like this is the guy you want the flag charging across the field, you know, in Braveheart, or whatever it is.

“Are they doing Braveheart 2? Can we not do that? If they’re still filming and production, I vote stop that. You guys can tweet about it later. Let’s just leave greatness where it belongs.”

On junior catcher Cannon Peebles dealing with an arm injury, his status as first pitch approaches…

“He’s looked good. He got sick, and then because he missed some days, came back like a ball of fire, as he always does, and probably tried to do a little too much. So was sore. Throwing, swinging type deal. Gets with Woody, and he’s doing his protocol. And then now I’m the bad guy, because I want to peak in May or June, not earlier in the year. So we’ve held him out of some things, but I think he’s really worked hard behind the scenes, and he always has a sense of urgency, like Drew (Gilbert) or Jordan Beck or some of these other guys that have been really fun to coach. Connor Pavolony at that position. It’s fun when you got to tame the guy down. And I don’t mind him giving me some grief if we’re trying to do that, as opposed to trying to light a fire. But he’s got a sense of urgency at all times to him.

“And the good thing about having one more year in the program and one more year just in college, because NC State’s as good of a program as anybody, too. He’s got a lot of experience behind the scenes too, like Reese, and that sense of urgency is a little more under control. Everything is a little bit, you know, just more mature for brevity’s sake, and that’s crucial to be in a leadership position like he’s going to be, not just on the field catching, but just in the locker room with his presence.”