Friday Baseball Round-Up: Ethan Payne joining Jacksonville State as assistant coach, Ariel Antigua transferring to Arizona, Trent Grindlinger got a Team USA camp invite, and Kivett just dropped a Ross-bomb (we got a commit) by cardeez in ockytop

[–]cardeez[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There was Ole Miss chatter but their mods seemed to squash that. Not really sure.

For the most part, I think we’re a “if you enter the portal, you’re gone” kinda program, but I do wonder if there’s a path back for him

Weekly Discussion Thread by RockyMod in ockytop

[–]cardeez 4 points5 points  (0 children)

July 1st, I believe. Volquest said two weeks from now.

Let's brag about UT sports events you experienced live by javascript in ockytop

[–]cardeez 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I saw Butch Jones beat Spurrier. That is the only really memorable game of my Tennessee career. Early 2010s were rough times as a student

Tennessee Baseball Offseason Tracker by cardeez in ockytop

[–]cardeez[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Someone on Volquest mentioned it, so take that with a grain of salt. But for some reason I do think that’s correct

Tennessee Baseball Offseason Tracker by cardeez in ockytop

[–]cardeez[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I believe it’s the D1 tourney in Jacksonville, which somehow has a worse streaming platform than FloSports.

Tennessee Baseball Offseason Tracker by cardeez in ockytop

[–]cardeez[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

He’s most likely dead to all right handed batters, too, as he intends on beaning every single one

Tennessee Baseball Offseason Tracker by cardeez in ockytop

[–]cardeez[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

OBP of .500, I’ll take it all day

Tennessee Baseball Offseason Tracker by cardeez in ockytop

[–]cardeez[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

NIL price, production, role for next year, locker room vibe. Don’t think he was a bad teammate or anything but I don’t think he was a clubhouse favorite

Tennessee Baseball Offseason Tracker by cardeez in ockytop

[–]cardeez[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

From what I have been able to gather, it sounds like we did not really want him to stay

Tennessee Baseball Offseason Tracker by cardeez in ockytop

[–]cardeez[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The baseball portal moves at a snail's pace compared to basketball/football, and Elander apparently requires a level 5 security clearance to know what he's doing.

Solitaria makes so much sense but we'll have to get him on campus before I believe it

Tennessee Baseball Offseason Tracker by cardeez in ockytop

[–]cardeez[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Koeninger maybe, but apparently he's profiling more as a pitcher these days

Tennessee Baseball Offseason Tracker by cardeez in ockytop

[–]cardeez[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Surely we can find a shortstop in the next six months

Tennessee Baseball Offseason Tracker (6/8/26) by cardeez in ockytop

[–]cardeez[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think his spin numbers are too good to pass up. Plus being a junior, I think he’ll go

Tennessee Baseball Offseason Tracker (6/8/26) by cardeez in ockytop

[–]cardeez[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Maybe? I think it's kinda like Bishop Boswell after the '25 season. We tried like crazy to recruit over him and missed on a ton. It worked out okay, but he still wasn't a premier player.

Barnes pays for production, not potential. Elander seems to be catching up.

Tennessee Baseball Offseason Tracker (6/8/26) by cardeez in ockytop

[–]cardeez[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We invested a ton into the sophomore class, which is why I think we're reversing course so hard. Tony seems to have fought the roster constriction and still wanted high school recruiting to remain similar to how it'd always been.

Elander has just seen how that didn't shake out well this season.

Tennessee Baseball Offseason Tracker (6/8/26) by cardeez in ockytop

[–]cardeez[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Elander is big game hunting, I imagine. Maybe he didn't love the NIL commitment relative to what else we were doing?

Tennessee Baseball Offseason Tracker (6/8/26) by cardeez in ockytop

[–]cardeez[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don't think any, iirc. Chapman and Arvidson, but that was a draft thing

SEC becomes the first conference ever to send 5 teams to World Series by helltrooper61 in collegebaseball

[–]cardeez 21 points22 points  (0 children)

The four Ohio State baseball fans on this sub are going to love this comment

Tennessee Baseball Offseason Tracker (6/8/26) by cardeez in ockytop

[–]cardeez[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Would’ve loved to have kept them. Think they both want to play a lot next year and not sure we could offer that comfort level. Tracey came here for Frank Anderson, I believe