Tennessee baseball left-handed pitcher Brandon Arvidson will return to Tennessee baseball for the 2026 season and forego the 2025 MLB Draft, first reported by Knox News’ Mike Wilson.
Arvidson is entering his redshirt junior season and second at Tennessee. The talented lefty had spent his 2023 season at Texas A&M and redshirted after not seeing any action.
In 2024, the Dripping Springs, Texas native appeared in 17 games and totaled 61 innings pitched with San Jacinto in the JuCo ranks.
Arvidson returning to Tennessee is massive for the Vols’ pitching staff. Tennessee lost a plethora of players to the portal and draft, and only five arms, including Arvidson, are returning from the 2025 team.
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While Tennessee’s depth took a hit with the departures, Tony Vitello and co. have replenished well, bringing in multiple arms that will compete for significant playing time in 2026.
Arvidson figures to be one of Tennessee’s most important pitchers in 2026 and a strong candidate to earn a role in the weekend rotation. Fellow returner and rising sophomore Tegan Kuhns is also a strong candidate to be a weekend starter next season.
Arvidson had an eventful 2025 season. The 6-foot-5, 215-pounder had a lot of hype going into the season but was nothing more than a fringe bullpen arm for the majority of the regular season.
However, the postseason was a different story. Arvidson broke out with a phenomenal 5.1-inning outing in Tennessee’s win over Texas in the SEC Tournament, allowing one unearned run on four hits while throwing a then-season-high 85 pitches.
He followed it up with another stellar postseason outing just over a week later, logging a highly-significant 5.1-inning outing on 105 pitches against Wake Forest in the Knoxville Regional.
Arvidson finished 2-0 with a 4.19 ERA on 30 appearances for the season. He struck out 70 batters in 38.2 innings.
