Tony Vitello details latest timeline for pitcher AJ Russell
Tennessee pitcher AJ Russell is close to making his return to the mound after missing his past two starts with soreness. Skipper Tony Vitello was asked about the availability of Russell heading into Southeastern Conference play on Tuesday night and it appears he’s just about ready to contribute.
“He’s good. He threw a bullpen and we kind of checked the boxes,” the coach said following Tennessee’s 17-2 win over Eastern Kentucky. “I don’t necessarily know how early in the weekend it will be or when it would be – the situation. But, if we felt like hey we needed to go and get someone tonight or we wanted to get him an inning tonight, we could have maybe pressed the issue there.”
Tennessee begins conference play on the road at Alabama this weekend and the Opening Day starter for the Vols will likely pitch at some point in time. It could be out of the bullpen but it will likely be a short outing as the pitch count will need to be worked back up after the time off. All of this is done out of an abundance of caution this early, according to the head coach.
“Early in the year still. Early and conservative. I get it. It’s a watermark and we are about to start conference play, but if you take a step back and look at the entire picture of the season, we just need to keep progressing as a team,” Vitello continued. “We are still kind of in that mold where we will be kind of conservative with a guy like [Alex] Perry and [Camden] Bates. It’s frustrating to not play those position players tonight but just a little sore in a couple of areas. So, just being conservative.”
The sophomore was removed from his Friday night start against Albany on February 23 after three scoreless innings of 54 pitches. Russell pitched extremely well in the season-opener against No. 21 Texas Tech at globe Life field and it was also the first weekend start of his career as well. The right-handed hurler went on to strike out 10 batters over 4.1 innings pitched where he allowed two runs off three hits.
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“It was kind of weird and they did explain it to me in doctor’s terms, which made it even weirder,” Vitello said in a radio interview on February 26 about Russell’s injury. “It was more kind of on his side or his torso – stemming all the way up to his armpit. It was something kind of unique and really just attributed it to a guy that young – he doesn’t have a very long track record of being at this weight and throwing at this velocity. So, it’s new to his body.
“I’m not a scientist or a doctor, but I’ve seen this before where this is a strain or stress there. Really his body is evolving and something new is going on.”
Entering the 2024 campaign, the sophomore was named a preseason All-American by the NCBWA. After last season’s true freshman campaign, he was named a third-team All-American by the same publication. The right-handed relief pitcher from Franklin, Tenn., lead all Tennessee pitchers (minimum 25 innings pitched) with a 0.89 ERA, a 0.53 WHIP and a .095 opponent batting average in 2023. He was 2-0 this season and had 47 strikeouts against seven walks in 30.1 innings pitched.
He appeared in 24 games last season and allowed only one run on five hits in 10 innings of SEC play.
