Tennessee baseball has underwent a major overhaul of its pitching staff this offseason with only five pitchers projected to return from the Vols’ 2026 roster. Josh Elander and his staff have been extremely aggressive pursuing pitchers in the transfer portal and have landed five pitchers only and one two-way.
Taking a look at Tennessee’s revamped pitching staff as June winds down.
More From RTI: Tennessee Baseball Transfer Commits To Big 12 School
Potential Starting Candidates
Tennessee retained two top starting pitching candidates from last season’s roster. Right-handed pitcher Landon Mack is back after posting a 4-4 record, 4.67 ERA and 1.49 WHIP while starting 12 games in his sophomore season.
Cam Appenzeller was perhaps the most important retention of the offseason. The left-handed pitcher flashed his sky-high ceiling in his freshman year, posting a 4.76 ERA in 56.2 innings pitched. The Illinois native is poised to step into a weekend starting role next year.
Then Tennessee brought in three transfers with starting experience. Louisville right-handed Parker Detmers started the 2025 season as the Cardinals’ Saturday starter but hasn’t pitched since March 2025 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
South Carolina left-handed pitcher Jake McCoy was the Gamecocks’ Saturday starter in 2025 when he posted a 4-5 record, 6.90 ERA and 1.70 WHIP in 60 innings pitched. Northwestern State left-handed pitcher Brody Trosclair earned Southland Freshman of the Year honors after posting a 1.89 ERA and 1.13 WHIP last season.
Injury Questions Are The Elephant In The Room
Trosclair underwent an internal brace elbow surgery that ended his freshman season in late April. He expects to be back by the start of the season but it’s unlikely that he’ll be built up enough to begin the season in a starting role.
But Trosclair is just one of a handful of pitchers coming off injury. Detmers will be 23 months removed from Tommy John surgery by the time the 2027 season begins so should be ready to roll, but how the right-handed pitcher looks post surgery is to be seen.
McCoy had Tommy John surgery before the 2026 season began and it’s unclear when he’ll be fully healthy. Tennessee does not believe that Mack will need arm surgery after he missed the final month of the 2026 season with arm soreness but time will tell.
Tennessee Is Flush With Left-Handed Arms
Four of Tennessee’s six returning pitchers are left handed. Rising sophomores Chander Day and Will Haas each showed flashes late in the 2026 season. That’s particularly true of Haas who emerged as one of the more reliable arms in an unreliable bullpen by the end of the season.
The Vols were high on Jackson Estes entering his freshman season but the left-handed pitcher did not throw in 2026 due to injury.
Three of Tennessee’s five transfer pitcher commits are left handers with UC Irvine standout Ricky Ojeda (3.77 ERA and 1.13 WHIP in 62 IP) joining Trosclair and McCoy.
There Are Serious Draft Risks
McCoy, Ojeda and Detmers are all transfers eligible for the 2026 MLB Draft with McCoy and Ojeda both being very really draft risks.
Perfect Game’s top 300 draft board pegs Ojeda as the No. 179 draft prospect and McCoy as the No. 188 draft prospect.
There’s even more draft risks amongst Tennessee’s high school signees. Left-handed pitcher Jared Grindlinger, right-handed pitcher Cannon Grant, right-handed pitcher Ty Putnam, right-handed pitcher Gary Morse, right-handed pitcher Shawn Sullivan and right-handed pitcher Kaiden McCarthy all competed in the MLB combine this week.
Putnam and Grant had particularly impressing showings this week while the two-way Grindlinger projects as a second round pick.
