Tennessee baseball made a splash in the transfer portal Monday night when Northwestern State left-handed pitcher Brody Trosclair committed to the Vols over Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, LSU and Texas A&M.
Trosclair earned Southland Freshman of the Year honors last season and is an important piece as Tennessee looks to rebuild its pitching staff after a disappointing 2026 season on the mound.
However, the most important question surrounding Trosclair’s recruitment is about when he will be able to pitch again. The left-handed pitcher earned freshman of the year honors in his conference despite missing the final two months of the season due to injury.
Trosclair first suffered an elbow injury on April 2 before having surgery on April 27. He described the surgery to RTI as a “makeshift Tommy John.” Trosclair’s ligaments were torn off the bone but not completely torn themselves.
Doctors moved the ligaments back on the bone and put an internal brace on top of the ligaments to stabilize it.
“It’s about a six to eight month recovery with some going to 10 months,” Trosclair told RTI. “But Dr. Savoie, the one I had it with is very good with getting players back early, so I’m sure I’m going to be in the six to eight month range.”
The six month timeline would have Trosclair back on the mound by the end of October. An eight month recovery would have Trosclair back by the end of December. The worst case scenario, 10 month recovery, would put Trosclair back on the mound by the end of February.
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But if things go to plan, Trosclair should be back throwing in time to build up in the winter and be ready to pitch at the start of the season.
“I’m confident (I’ll be ready for opening day),” Trosclair said. “I tell this to everybody. The doctor gave me a goal to accomplish with coming back before the season starts, and I’m going to accomplish that goal because my teammates need me, and I want to win with the guys. I don’t want to be on the sidelines watching them win, although it’d be really nice winning. I want to be playing with them too.”
Trosclair posted a 5-1 record, 1.89 ERA and 1.13 WHIP during his freshman season. He started four games, made six relief appearances and struck out 55 batters in 38 innings pitched.
The Thibodaux, Louisiana currently has a four-pitch mix. His four-seam fastball sits 90-94 mph while his two-seam fastball sits 90-92 mph. Trosclair’s best pitch is a slider that he threw 64% of the time in his freshman season. He also utilizes a curveball with impressive vertical break from the left hand side.
Trosclair wants to be a starting pitcher next season and wants to add a cutter and either a changeup or splitter to his repertoire to better mix speeds on the mound.
“I feel like I could be a really quality starter,” Trosclair said. “I feel like right off of Tommy John, I probably build off of as a reliever piece for a while. Until I get really comfortable back in the game and then maybe at one point I can make that way into the starting rotation.”
