Highly touted Virginia transfer Henry Ford committed to Tennessee baseball Sunday afternoon. Ford chose Tennessee over Mississippi State and Texas. The challenge for Tennessee now becomes trying to get Ford to campus with the star transfer eligible for next month’s MLB Draft.
A draft eligible sophomore, Ford hit .362 with 11 home runs, 21 extra-base hits and 46 RBIs in 51 games played while missing time due to an injury. The Charlottesville native played mostly right field for the Cavaliers but is also capable of playing first base and left field.
The right-handed hitter was even better in a fully healthy freshman season, hitting .336 with 17 home runs, 31 extra-base hits and 69 RBIs.
It will take a minor upset for Tennessee to get Ford on campus for his junior year. MLB.com ranks Ford as the No. 73 prospect in the 2025 MLB Draft making him an extremely early day three draft pick.
Ford entered the transfer portal after Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor left Charlottesville to become the new head coach at Mississippi State. The highly touted transfer visited Tennessee two weeks ago before the 2025 Vols left for the Fayetteville Super Regional.
More From RTI: Hunter Ensley Posts Farewell To Tennessee Baseball
While Ford is a Virginia native, he has East Tennessee ties. The 6-foot-5, 225-pound prospect played his high school baseball at the Baylor School in Chattanooga before returning home to play for the Cavaliers. Ford is one of the very top players in the transfer portal with On3 ranking him as the No. 1 player in the portal at the moment.
Tennessee has now landed seven players in the transfer portal to this point but most have been pitchers including Big South Pitcher of the Year Clay Edmondson, SoCon Pitcher of the Year Brady Frederick, Kennesaw State’s RHP Bo Rhudy and MIT’s RHP Mason Estrada. Bowling Green utility man Garrett Wright and two-way Bowling Green transfer DJ Newman are currently the Vols’ only position player commits in the portal.
Ford, Newman, Edmondson and Estrada are all draft eligible and varying degrees of risks to start their professional careers instead of coming to Tennessee.
Outfield is a major need for Tennessee in the transfer portal. The Vols could lose all three of their starting outfielders to the transfer portal with Hunter Ensley out of eligibility and Reese Chapman as well as Dalton Bargo being draft candidates. Wright is capable of playing outfield as well as catcher. A handful of returning Vols, most notably Chris Newstrom and Jay Abernathy, could start in the outfield next season too.
The Vols have hosted a small handful of other visitors in the portal including Rice two-way freshman Blaine Brown, Rutgers RHP Landon Mack and Cal infielder Jarren Advincula.
