Tennessee baseball added to its transfer class Sunday afternoon, landing Virginia outfielder Henry Ford and Bowling Green two-way star DJ Newman.
The two commitments were perhaps the biggest that Tennessee has landed this cycle. What does the Vols’ transfer class look like after landing the commitments? Who are Tennessee’s top remaining targets and which commits are draft risks? Taking a look here.
Who Has Committed To Tennessee?
Newman and Ford were Tennessee’s sixth and seventh commitments in the portal to date. Pitching continues to be the main takeaway of the Vols’ transfer class.
A two-way player, Newman has a career 3.60 ERA in 85 innings pitched. He joins Big South Pitcher of the Year Clay Edmondson, SoCon Pitcher of the Year Brady Frederick, Kennesaw State reliever Bo Rhudy and MIT right hander Mason Estrada.
All five pitchers are right-handed but both Edmondson and Frederick are submarine pitchers giving them unique looks to batters. The Vols have lost an abundance of pitchers to the portal and will lose more to the MLB Draft. Tony Vitello and his staff are doing a strong job of retooling through the portal.
Tennessee has fewer position players committed but they bring versatility and star power. Newman is a career .388 hitter with 15 homers, 20 doubles, five triples and 64 RBIs. His Bowling Green teammate Garrett Wright both catches and plays in the outfield, hitting .406 with eight homers, 20 doubles and 48 RBIs a season ago.
Ford is one of the very top players in the transfer portal, hitting .348 with 28 home runs, 22 doubles and 115 RBIs in his two seasons at Virginia.
The Draft Is Becoming More And More Significant
The MLB Draft is always a significant event for college programs but the 2025 draft is setting up to be the most impactful of Vitello’s tenure because of the number of draft eligible commits.
Just looking at the seven transfer portal commits, four are draft eligible. Ford projects as a top 100 draft prospect and Edmondson is a major draft risk. While Newman and Estrada are lesser draft risks, there’s also a chance that they could opt for professional baseball.
That’s just the purely transfer portal commits. Junior college pitcher Matt Barr is a major draft risk and JUCO utility man Tyler Myatt is a draft risk to a lesser degree.
A number of commits in Tennessee’s top-ranked high school recruiting class won’t make it to campus. But the question is how many end up going pro instead. There’s less nuance with players on Tennessee’s 2025 roster and the draft, but a few could swing either way depending on when the draft is.
As Tennessee continues to do more-and-more work in the portal, it’s clear that we won’t have a great idea of what the Vols’ roster looks like until after the draft.
Who Else Is Tennessee Targeting?
Tennessee has hosted three other targets on visits who have yet to commit to a school. Cal infielder Jarren Advincula visited the Vols the week after their season ended as did Rutgers RHP Landon Mack.
Rice two-way freshman Blaine Brown visited Tennessee late last week and will visit Oklahoma and Georgia before making a decision.
Mack is a key name to watch because he’s a sure fire starting caliber pitcher. Tennessee’s other pitching commits are good and could potentially start but none are definite starters. Advincula would be a potential middle infield starter while Brown is a talented young bat who earned First Team All-AAC honors as a true freshman.
Ball State infielder Dylan Grego and Wake Forest outfielder Ethan Conrad are also Tennessee targets who have not visited. Both are draft eligible.
