The Cleveland Guardins selected Tennessee baseball infielder Dean Curley with the No. 64 pick in the 2025 MLB Draft on Sunday night. Curley is now the sixth Vol to be drafted this year, joining LHP Liam Doyle, infielder Gavin Kilen, 1B/3B Andrew Fischer, RHP Marcus Phillips and RHP AJ Russell.
Curley spent just two seasons with Tennessee before becoming draft-eligible. He was a consistent starter in the infield at multiple positions throughout this time, primarily at shortstop and second base. He also spent time at third base and tried out first base for a game.
Over this two-year span, he was a part of extremely successful teams. This included the 2024 campaign that saw the Vols win the SEC regular season and tournament titles before running the table all the way to the program’s first-ever national championship.
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As a sophomore, Curley hit at a .315 clip in 65 appearances, all of which he started. He also added 14 home runs, eight doubles, a triple, 67 runs and 51 RBI to his stat line for the season.
The result was the middle infielder being placed on the NCAA Knoxville Regional All-Tournament Team for his play during the event. In the quarterfinals against Cincinnati, he had a great game, recording two hits and a home run to account for four RBI.
By the end of the season, Curley had cemented himself in the middle of the lineup as the daily second baseman. However, he also spent a portion of the year as a lead-off hitter and at shortstop.
As a freshman, he settled in as the team’s starting shortstop. In the title year, Curley hit .285 with 12 home runs, 10 doubles, one triple, 51 runs and 50 RBI.
He was promptly named to the All-SEC Freshman Team, Freshman All-American Second-Team and Men’s College World Series All-Tournament Team. In the following offseason, he was a USA Baseball Collegiate National Team Participant.
Curley is from La Verne, California, where he starred for Northview High School. He was considered the No. 33 shortstop in the country out of high school by Perfect Game and the No. 6 player out of California.
