The college baseball season is just over a month away and outlets are starting to release their preseason rankings. D1Baseball, considered the top poll in the sport, is the latest pegging Tennessee as the No. 14 team in its preseason rankings.
D1Baseball is much lower on the Vols than Perfect Game, who pegged Tennessee at No. 3 in its preseason rankings last week.
Tennessee is one of 11 SEC teams in D1Baseball’s preseason rankings, coming in behind No. 2 LSU, No. 3 Texas, No. 4 Mississippi State, No. 7 Arkansas, No. 9 Auburn and No. 13 Florida. The Vols come in ahead of No. 15 Georgia, No. 18 Kentucky, No. 23 Vanderbilt and No. 25 Texas A&M.
Josh Elander’s first Tennessee team has home series against LSU and Texas while heading on the road for series against Georgia, Vanderbilt and Mississippi State. The Vols also have a lone non conference matchup against top-ranked UCLA as part of the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series in Arlington, Texas.
It’s been a turbulent offseason of change for Tennessee baseball. Highly successful head coach Tony Vitello left to be the manager of the San Fransisco Giants taking with him a small handful of assistants and staffers including Frank Anderson and Quentin Eberhardt.
More From RTI: Pair Of Vols Land On Preseason All American List
Danny White tabbed associate head coach Josh Elander as the program’s new head coach. Elander retained a number of assistants including Ross Kivett. He promoted Josh Reynolds to replace Anderson, hired Florida associate head coach Chuck Jeroloman to replace himself as associate head coach and hired Keegan Knoll to replace Eberhardt.
On the field, Tennessee returns veterans Reese Chapman, Ariel Antigua and Stone Lawless in the field and is hoping rising sophomores Levi Clark, Chris Newstrom, Manny Marin and Jay Abernathy take a second year step forward.
The Vols added a number of transfers who could make an impact at the plate led by Virginia’s Henry Ford and including Rice’s Blaine Brown, Bowling Green’s Garrett Wright and San Diego State’s Finley Bates.
Tennessee’s pitching staff projects to be even better than its offense. Sunday starter Tegan Kuhns is back and looking for even more after a solid freshman season. LHP Brandon Arvidson also projects as a weekend starter after a strong back half of the 2025 season. Rising sophomore Brayden Krenzel is another returnee after impressing during his freshman campaign.
The Vols are also active with their pitching staff in the portal, adding Virginia’s Evan Blanco, Kennesaw State’s Bo Rhudy, Rutgers’ Landon Mack and ETSU’s Brady Frederick. Freshman LHP Cameron Appenzeller could also make an impact in his debut collegiate season.
