One of the biggest wins of Tennessee baseball’s offseason came when freshman pitcher Cam Appenzeller announced that he was returning to Knoxville for his sophomore season.
Appenzeller followed up his strong freshman season with an invite to the USA Collegiate Baseball tryouts. The left-handed pitcher made two appearances in scrimmages against Appy League teams, combining for two scoreless innings while zero hits and one walk. He struck out a pair of batters.
But Appenzeller is not on the official USA Collegiate Baseball roster for next week’s World Collegiate Baseball Championship in Taiwan. So what will the rest of Appenzeller’s summer look like? Josh Elander gave us some details last week in an appearance on SportsTalk with John Wilkerson and Vince Ferrara.
“Now, I know Appy is now done for the summer,” Elander said. “We wanted to be very careful with him. He was so good for us this year, and really was an incredible difference maker, but we have to keep the big picture in mind with him. So he’s already back at home, he’s going to have the weekend with the family, then we’re going to lock him up in the weight room and in the kitchen until next fall, so he gains some weight and he’s ready to go. Him and (strength coach) Keegan (Knoll) have a really good plan, so he’ll be back after the weekend.”
Appenzeller posted a 6-1 record, 4.76 ERA and 1.15 WHIP in his freshman season, striking out 64 batters and walking 15 in 56.2 innings pitched.
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While the overall numbers were good, it was an up-and-down freshman year for Appenzeller. He was one of the best pitchers in the SEC the first half of SEC play. The left-handed pitcher didn’t allow an earned run in his first 20 innings pitched in SEC play. Through five appearances in five series, Appenzeller allowed just two earned runs in 23.1 innings pitched (0.77 ERA).
But in his final five series in SEC play, Appenzeller allowed 20 earned runs in 11 innings pitched (16.36 ERA) as he struggled to recreate the success he had in the first half of SEC play.
Appenzeller settled in during in the postseason, allowing three earned runs in 8.1 innings pitched in three appearances. He ended the year strong, retiring all eight batters he faced in Tennessee’s season-ending loss against VCU.
Now as a sophomore, Appenzeller is poised to move into a weekend starting position. The Vols are looking to add to Appenzeller’s wiry 6-foot-5, 195-pound frame entering his sophomore season. Elander never explicitly said that an increased workload led to Appenzeller’s second half struggles, but a year of experience and more strength should better equip the talented lefty to sustain success over the course of the entire season.
