What To Make Of Tennessee Baseball’s Pitching Departures To Transfer Portal

Tennessee baseball’s transfer portal departures in the transfer portal continued this week with four more pitchers entering the transfer portal.

The Vols have now lost nine pitchers to the transfer portal since it opened earlier this month. How significant or insignificant are these departures to the portal? Most are of no or little significants. Two of the nine pitchers never threw a pitch for the orange and while three more through less than 10 innings last season.

For Tennessee, only three departures are of much significance— LHP Dylan Loy, LHP Andrew Behnke and RHP Austin Breedlove. All three of those players pitched in at least a few big moments in their Tennessee careers. Behnke as a good situational arm in 2024 but never regained his form in 2025. Breedlove was a junior college transfer who showed promise in his lone year in Knoxville but was never a truly trusted arm.

Loy was the most important pitcher, throwing 20 innings in SEC play last season. The left-handed pitcher was a real loss but Loy wanted a guaranteed weekend starting spot in 2026 and Tennessee was wise not to promise him that. Loy was certainly capable of being a weekend starter but promising him a job would have been unwise.

Outside of Loy, Tennessee’s eight other pitchers in the transfer portal combined to total just seven innings pitched in SEC play this past season.

The transfer portal departures are not overly significant. But combined with the pitchers Tennessee will lose to the MLB Draft then the overhaul is much more significant. Starters Liam Doyle and Marcus Phillips are gone while key bullpen arms Nate Snead, AJ Russell, Brandon Arvidson and Tanner Franklin are all likely off to professional baseball.

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Tennessee’s only key returning arms are Tegan Kuhns and Brayden Krenzel. Tony Vitello and his staff were clearly prepared for the overhaul, adding three transfer portal arms and another junior college arm before the season even ended.

As of today, Tennessee has three Division I transfer pitchers a Division III transfer pitcher and a JUCO pitcher committed. The Vols also have a few highly touted prep prospects signed. On its surface, Tennessee’s staff is in a solid spot despite losing so many arms.

The question is who can Tennessee get to campus? Two of the transfer portal commitments (Clay Edmondson and Mason Estrada) are draft eligible as is the JUCO commit (Matt Barr). Prep commits Kruz Schoolcraft and Cameron Appenzeller are serious draft risks.

All that to say, it’s going to be an incredibly nerve wracking MLB Draft for Tennessee. If the draft does not go Tennessee’s way then its pitching staff could be in a bad spot.

Because of that, Vitello and his staff need to continue being aggressive in the portal and need to add a strong starting contributor. The Vols have shown no sign of slowing down in the portal, hosting a pair of two-way players on visits earlier this weekend.

The x-factor is whether any of the returning arms who pitched little last season can emerge as reliable arms. Michael Sharman and Ryan Combs are two pitchers to watch there. The junior college transfer did not make an impact in 2025 but could with a step forward this season.

Anson Seibert also falls in this category. The former highly touted recruit missed his entire freshman season after undergoing Tommy John surgery but should be good to go by 2026 and could have a major role in Tennessee’s pitching staff.