Former Tennessee baseball star Drew Gilbert turned in the best performance of his young career Sunday, recording three hits and coming up a home run short of hitting for the cycle in just his 17th career game. Gilbert got that home run just one day later and it was Vol on Vol crime.
With a runner on second and San Fransisco leading 1-0 in the top of the third inning, Gilbert turned on a 2-1 Chase Dollander fastball and hit it into the right field seats at Coors Field.
Drew Gilbert homers off his former Tennessee teammate Chase Dollander 💣 pic.twitter.com/azyHA2NQrQ
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 1, 2025
It marked Gilbert’s second career home run and his eighth and ninth RBIs. Gilbert entered the day hitting just .190 with a .190 on-base percentage. While Gilbert has struggled to consistently get on base, he has made the most of his hits. Six of Gilbert’s 10 hits in his young career have been extra-base hits.
Dollander has had an up-and-down rookie season with Colorado. In 19 starts this season, Dollander has a 2-11 record, 6.55 ERA and 1.60 WHIP. He’s also struck out 75 batters in 88 innings pitched ahead of his Labor Day start against San Fransisco.
The right-handed pitcher spent about a month in AAA from early July into early August. It’s been an up-and-down few weeks for Dollander since returning to the Rockies’ rotation.
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Gilbert was the 10th Tony Vitello era Tennessee player to make it to the MLB in early August, joining Garrett Crochet, Ben Joyce, Andrew Lipcius, Trey Lipscomb, Jordan Beck, Seth Halvorsen, Dollander and Blade Tidwell.
The New York Mets traded Gilbert, Tidwell and relief pitcher Jose Butto to the San Fransisco Giants in return for top reliever Tyler Rogers at the MLB trade deadline back at the end of July. After a red-hot stretch in the minors, San Fransisco called him up to the big league squad.
The Houston Astros selected in the first round of the 2022 MLB Draft. It’s been an adversity filled few professional years for Gilbert. He’s now twice been traded and has dealt with multiple injuries during his career. But Gilbert is now finally headed to the show with the Giants.
Gilbert spent three years at Tennessee and was a two-way starter, helping lead the Vols to the 2021 College World Series and to the 2022 SEC Regular-Season and Tournament Championship.
The centerfielder was good as a sophomore, but developed into one of the SEC’s best players in his junior season. Improving his hard contact rate, strikeout rate and batting average, Gilbert hit .362 with 11 home runs and 70 RBIs in his final collegiate season.
