Northwestern State transfer pitcher Brody Trosclair had already seen Auburn, Florida and home state LSU before taking his official visit to Tennessee. Trosclair was slated to visit both Arkansas and Texas A&M following his trip to Knoxville. But those visits never happened with Trosclair committing to the Vols a day after his visit.
“They made it feel like home,” Trosclair told RTI of his decision. “I feel like that’s as best as I could put it. They made it very comfortable. They made me feel comfortable. And it makes me feel like I’m going to another place I can call home.”
Tennessee recruiting coordinator Ross Kivett laid the groundwork in the Vols’ recruitment of Trosclair but his official visit allowed him to grow closer with both Josh Elander and new pitching coach Austin Knight.
“Boy, they made it known that they wanted me, and that’s what I liked about him,” Trosclair said. “So he grew their relationship in that way. And they also— I don’t really know how to explain how it felt to me to know that they cared about me. Like, they made it known that they cared about me without having to say it.”
Trosclair had already scheduled his official visit to Tennessee before Josh Elander had filled the Vols’ pitching coach vacancy. But Tennessee officially announced the hire of East Carolina pitching coach Austin Knight on Saturday allowing Trosclair to familiarize himself with his new pitching coach on the visit.
Ironically, Knight already had a previous relationship with the Trosclair family from his first job in baseball. Knight was a volunteer assistant at Louisiana Tech from 2013-15 where he met Trosclair’s dad who as then the head coach at Thibodaux High School.
“They got to grow a connection through talking about there,” Trosclair said. “So Coach Knight’s a really good dude, so he built a lot of good relationships through the Louisiana coaching staffs and everything like that.
“He knows how to handle Louisiana kids.”
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Knight has quickly risen up the ranks since his time at Louisiana Tech, most notably spending the last five years as the pitching coach at East Carolina. The Hattiesburg, Mississippi native was highly successful in his role with the Pirates, consistently churning out top 25 pitching staffs and developing MLB star Trey Yesavage.
“I feel like what he did at East Carolina is something not everybody could do,” Trosclair said. “He developed players. He developed them into men, he developed them into stars in the MLB. He was definitely the best hire, and I also asked him a bunch of stories about how he developed like Trey Yesavage and all them. And I liked the way he talked about development and how he developed those players. I want to be the same story as those guys”
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 has aspirations to be a weekend starter for Tennessee, but for now his focus is on rehabbing the left elbow injury that cost him the back half of his freshman season. He detailed the surgery and recovery timeline here.
Pitching was Tennessee’s biggest bugaboo a season ago. The first pitching addition in the portal, Trosclair is looking to prove an important boost in his sophomore season.
“I’m going to bring energy,” Trosclair said. “I’m coming to win. I want to make great relationships with them. I want them to know me even when I leave and when I’m done with it, and I want them to know that I’m playing for them, not just for myself or for my teammates. I want to play for everybody around it, and I want them to know that, win or loss we’re coming out there and we’re going to have energy and we’re going to be a family and we’re going to make it to Omaha.”
