While the LSU Tigers were the talk of the sport on Sunday afternoon after capturing the College World Series championship, Tony Vitello’s Tennessee Volunteers quietly had themselves a day by adding two standout players from the portal.
D1 Baseball’s Kendall Rogers teased on Saturday morning that he was “hearing it’s about to be a big weekend on the Transfer Portal front for [Tennessee Baseball].” By the end of the weekend, he was right.
Within half an hour of each other on Sunday afternoon, Tennessee had landed commitments from Bowling Green’s DJ Newman, a talented two-way player at the plate and on the mound, and Virginia’s Henry Ford, a hard-hitting outfielder.
As a junior, Newman hit .419 with four home runs, nine doubles, and 16 RBIs in just 25 games. He also pitched 14.1 innings for the Falcons, with a 3.77 ERA. Ford, on the other hand, hit .362 with 11 home runs, 21 extra base hits, and 46 RBIs in 51 games as a sophomore, though he did miss some time due to injury.
The challenge will be for Tennessee to keep both draft-eligible players on campus through the MLB Draft in July, but the two commitments were encouraging news for Vitello’s program.
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Tennessee has now added seven players in the portal with an emphasis on pitching. The Vols’ additions include Big South Pitcher of the Year Clay Edmondson, SoCon Pitcher of the Year Brady Frederick, Kennesaw State’s RHP Bo Rhudy, MIT’s RHP Mason Estrada, Bowling Green C/OF Garrett Wright, Bowling Green RHP DJ Newman, and Virginia OF Henry Ford. Tennessee has lost a handful of pitchers to the portal, but the additions are strong candidates to retool the Vols’ lineup.
As previously mentioned, though, the Vols will have to battle to keep some of those guys around. Four of Tennessee’s additions are eligible for the MLB Draft coming up during All-Star Week in July: Ford, Newman, Edmonson, and Estrada.
The highest-rated name out of the quartet is Ford, who lands as the No. 73 overall prospect in MLB.com’s prospect rankings. For comparison, notable Tennessee names on the list include LHP Liam Doyle at No. 9, 2B Gavin Kilen at No. 17, INF Andrew Fischer at No. 29, INF Dean Curley at No. 58, RHP Marcus Phillips at No. 65, RHP AJ Russell at No. 69, RHP Tanner Franklin at No. 119, and RHP Nate Snead at No. 143.
The 2025 MLB Draft will take place in Atlanta from July 13-14 during All-Star Week.
