ETSU transfer pitcher Brady Frederick committed to Tennessee baseball on Wednesday morning just two days after entering the transfer portal and a day after visiting Tennessee.
A Knoxville native, Frederick played his prep baseball at Bearden High School before playing his first two college seasons for the Bucs.
“It means everything,” Frederick told RTI. “All my neighbors are Vols fans. I have so many friends that go to UT. I grew up going to these games. I used to go to these games when I was younger. I went to all the sports games. This moment is super huge to me. It’s kind of a full circle moment in my life. I’m super excited about it.”
After a strong freshman season in Johnson City, Frederick was a breakout star for the Bucs in 2025 posting an 8-2 record, 2.67 ERA and 0.89 WHIP in 77.2 innings pitched.
While there were plenty of things that made the homecoming make sense, Tennessee did not take Frederick’s recruitment lightly. Tony Vitello and his staff went all out recruiting Frederick, making sure to lock down the SoCon Pitcher of the Year.
“I think what stood out the most was how interested the coaches seemed,” Frederick said. “It started from when I agreed to come on that visit, I got a text from every coach on the staff. I got to see every coach when I was there. They were all super excited. We ended up all going out to dinner. It was a super cool experience and showed how much they cared, which I think was the coolest part of it.
“You don’t know for sure, what you’re going to get into. Might just be getting a tour from someone in house but that wasn’t the case at all. It was all hands on deck and super cool to see.”
While Frederick comes to Tennessee after a stellar 2025 season, the right-handed pitcher is unconventional. A submarine pitcher, Frederick throws at an incredibly low arm slot.
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Instead of the sinker that most submarine pitchers use, Frederick throws a cut-fastball that sits 85 mph but touches 86-87 “on good days.” He compliments the cut-fastball with an upper 70s slider he throws frequently and a changeup that he used less last season at ETSU.
“I believe what makes me effective is the uniqueness. I don’t think there’s any other way to say it than that,” Frederick said. “I think just the uniqueness and hitters don’t see it often, it makes it harder on them and that’s really the biggest part of what makes me me.”
Frederick first started throwing sidearm almost as a gag during a travel tournament in his freshman year of high school. Mostly a position player at the time, arm soreness while playing second base led to the change that’s taken Frederick all the way to the SEC.
“I was at like a week long tournament,” Frederick said. “At that time, I was an over the top pitcher who didn’t throw that hard but I threw strikes. I pitched one of the first days at the tournament but since these are five day tournaments, my arm was hanging the rest of the week. I was more of primary infielder at the time. Didn’t care too much for pitching. At second base you kind of throw from that lower, three quarter slot a lot. I was doing that to protect my arm.
“Later in the week comes around and coach says listen, ‘man, we’re out of pitchers. We got to come back to you and you’re due up next in the rotation.’ I kind of joked around with him and punched him in the arm and said, ‘if you put me in, I’m going to throw submarine.’ He was like, ‘yeah right.’ He ended up putting me in that game and I did it. … From there, it took off. I started really diving in and working on the mechanics side of it. That’s kind of where it all started.”
That four inning outing started Frederick on the path to the SEC six years later. The 5-foot-11, 190-pound pitcher is excited to keep working on his craft and improving with legendary Tennessee pitching coach Frank Anderson.
“I can’t wait to work with him,” Frederick said. “I know he’s super respected in all of pitching and I think I can learn a lot from him. I’m just super excited. I know whatever he’s going to help me with is in my best interest. I can’t wait to see what he wants to tweak and work on. That’s super exciting to me.”
Frederick is Tennessee’s fourth transfer portal commitment of the cycle with all four being pitchers. He joins Big South Pitcher of the Year Clay Edmondson, Kennesaw State’s Bo Rhudy and MIT’s Mason Estrada.
