Tony Vitello updates the status of shortstop Maui Ahuna
Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello gave an update on the status of shortstop Maui Ahuna while speaking on an in-game interview with the SEC Network during the bottom of the fourth inning of Friday’s game two against Florida.
“He was penciled in [to the lineup originally], but at some point during pregame – the other coaches, as I was with the outfielders, the other coaches recognized on the infield that it just wasn’t what it needed to be,” Vitello reflected. “They had a conversation with him and then our trainer told us he couldn’t go.
“Rather than give you a Bill Belichick answer, I’ll at least tell you it is something to do with the backside of his body. I honestly don’t know. I just knew we had to scramble and change our pregame stuff and come up with a new lineup. Last night he had a play in the six-hole he normally makes. So, he’s been ailing a little bit for a few days and battling through it. But tonight, we have to go with the guys we have out there.”
The skipper will likely speak on the matter during postgame interviews as well.
Ahuna is hitting .278 on the season in 20 games played with 72 at-bats. The shortstop has logged five home runs, driven in 21 runs and crossed home plate 19 times himself. Transferring over from Kansas, Ahuna missed the first eight games of the season while awaiting eligibility clearance from the NCAA. He ended up making his debut as part of a 1-for-4 effort against Charleston Southern on February 28.
In game one of the series with Florida on Thursday, the leadoff man was 1-for-4 with a single in the third inning and a walk. However, he struck out twice – once with the bases loaded in the sixth inning.
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Postgame QUOTE Update:
“From what I know and I’ll go in there right after this and see what our assessment is for tomorrow. He’s been kind of fighting some discomfort. I mentioned on the television broadcast that there was a play I thought he would make and it was kind of like, ‘oh yeah, he’s not moving as well as he can’ and tonight it kind of reached a breaking point. I don’t know if the weather or the grind of the last few days of him battling through that got to him, but I got word that he was a no-go and needed to switch things on the fly. So, I got to it as fast as I can.
“I don’t want to say back and be wrong, but something on the back-side of his body.”
Maui Ahuna at Kansas
Ahuna, one of MLB Pipeline’s top draft prospects for the 2023 cycle, is playing throug his first season in Knoxville by way of Kansas through the transfer portal. The short stop, who started every game as a freshman and sophomore, posted a .396 average with eight home runs, 48 RBI and 13 stolen bases in 2022. He led the ballclub in average, on-base percentage (.479), slugging percentage (.634), hits (80), triples (4), walks (28) and stolen bags.
The infielder finished the 2022 campaign riding a 20-game hit-streak and tallied 23 multi-hit days, including 10 three-hit performances. Defensively, Ahuna made SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays twice for his work on the dirt. The new Volunteer spent his sophomore summer with the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team.
