Tennessee baseball head coach Tony Vitello is watching the Men’s College World Series from afar this June, but that doesn’t mean the work from the season is over. Vitello is preparing several of his 2025 players for the MLB Draft this July as excitement rises regarding the next crop of players the Vols could send to the next level this summer.
The Vols, for instance, have three players projected to go in the first round alone in MLB.com’s latest mock draft with Liam Doyle (No. 8), Gavin Kilen (No. 21), and Andrew Fischer (No. 27).
Tennessee has eight players set to participate in the combine this week in Phoenix, AZ: SS Dean Curley, LHP Liam Doyle, 1B Andrew Fischer, RHP Tanner Franklin, 2B Gavin Kilen, RHP Marcus Phillips, RHP AJ Russell, and RHP Nate Snead.
With all the excitement about Tennessee’s potential draft before the combine, MLB Network had Vitello on the show on Monday to discuss his thoughts on the draft. In a quick segment posted to X, Vitello was asked about his message to his players during this transformative time and what he thinks some clubs are looking for out of the combine showcase this week in Arizona. Vitello, as expected, gave thoughtful and insightful answers to both questions.
See everything Vitello said below and keep scrolling for video of his appearance on Monday’s MLB Network interview:
Tony Vitello on his message to players entering the MLB Draft…
“I think we’re in a day and age where everyone’s got to look out for themselves more than ever. It doesn’t mean you’re not a good teammate, but you do kind of have to look out for your own career. Your own brand is what the kids say now these days. So, consult with your family, reflect internally. Do you want to go out there and just do meetings or do you want to go out there and also try and perform a little bit physically? I think it’s different than the NFL combine where we’re looking for, you know, numbers and results and explosiveness. I don’t want to speak for MLB folks, but I think where they really get a lot out of this is just being up close and personal with the guys and getting to know them. Hey, baseball has got a lot of downtime. So you want to make sure you got a guy that’s going to fit in a clubhouse and be adaptable to coaching and cultures.”
Vitello on MLB Combine Showcase skills…
“Yeah, I think movements, and again, each organization relies on analytics differently and everything, but I think we’re all looking for movements. It’s just within those movements. It’s interesting. Some MLB teams might have something in a pitching delivery that they, even though the guys are great pitcher, they might immediately just kind of take him out of their group. So, I think as long as you got some beliefs, doesn’t matter if they’re right or wrong, you should probably stick to them, so you have an approach that your organization has adopted and is rolling with. But there’s so many different ways to look at these movements. And for us at a high school, we’re looking for guys who we see are nowhere close to their ceiling, their movements are good enough, they can compete at a high level, but there’s a lot of room for improvement. You get to the point where guys are 21, 22, you want a little bit more of the finished product, especially in this day and age where guys like C-Mo (Christian Moore) or Alex Bregman, Andrew Benintendi, those guys, it was basically a formality in minor league baseball for them. They essentially went straight to the big leagues.”
.@Vol_Baseball head coach Tony Vitello previews the 2025 @MLBDraft Combine and shares advice for his players who are taking part.
📺 Coverage on MLB Network begins tomorrow at 12pm ET pic.twitter.com/nnLBRpA45G
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) June 16, 2025
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The MLB Draft Combine will take place from June 17-21 in Phoenix, AZ.
The 2025 MLB Draft will take place from July 13-14 in Atlanta, GA, during MLB’s All-Star Week.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for full Tennessee-related MLB Draft coverage next month.
