London Vol
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THIS WEEK’S NEWS
During the football offseason we will run a blog here at aviewfrombigben.com every Sunday called “This Weeks News.” It will cover any news from the Football, Basketball and Baseball world at Knoxville. But this week I am going to concentrate on the early impressions of the Baseball team with a little bit of 2024 Football Recruitment.
This time of year is really exciting because having planted a number of bulbs in the garden I wait with anticipation to see if the flowers are going to be as good as they look on the packet or if they are a disappointment. This is also the time of year when it is the start of the Baseball season and with it an influx of new talent. I accept that the season is only 7 games in but already my impressions on what talent we have in store for 2023 and beyond, are forming
BATTING
Top of the order
Dickey, Moore, Blake and Ahuna. The first three are known players from last year and I think we will need to rely on them, especially in the early part of the season. As for Ahuna, I can only go on his reputation, just about every other team in the country wanted him. Let’s hope, after the self-administered suspension of Coach Vitello this weekend, Ahuna will become available at last.
Middle order
Denton and Merritt have both come with strong resumes and both Denton (with his switch-hitting capability) and Merritt (with quite a bit of power) have so far shown that they are both serviceable, although not improvements on Lipscomb and Beck
Depth chart members
Booker, Scott and Hunter have not yet shown any obvious improvement and that should be of concern for all of them, see my next category.
Newbies
Here is where I start to get excited, when the flower bed is starting to look like it could be a really good year. Despite so few at bats, Ryan Miller, Kavares Tears, Jake Kendro, Austen Jaslove and Dylan Dreiling, have all showed plenty of potential and plenty of pop. It will be very interesting to see if any of these can hold down a regular place in the bottom of the order when the SEC games come around.
CATCHERS
Evan Russell’s bat was a big loss at the end of last season but Charlie “cult hero” Taylor has surprised everybody, probably even including himself, with his ‘hot’ start to the season, increasing his ERA from 0.50 to 3.15. Cal Stark is a very useful alternative, if fact he is even the designated DH, so we have good cover here.
PITCHING
Weekend starters
Dollander, Burns and Beam are surely the best weekend starter combination in the country. Already the ‘Strike Outs’ are racking up fast and it is anybody’s guess which one of these will finish with the lowest ERA by the end of the season. What I do know is that they will all be contenders for All American honours this season.
Midweek starters and relievers
We have an embarrassment of riches here as Halvorsen, Sechrist and Fanning would be weekend starters for many of our opponents. Another reason to be pleased with this group is that when you come to the business end of the season you need 4 or even 5 starters. Finally, they would all be capable replacements if any of the starting three get injured.
Closers
It is not very easy to shine as a closer when the team scores 23 and in fact, it is also not easy to get the ball off any of the starters as they will often be able to go deep in the game. The returning Kirby “Poirot” Connell and Cam Sewell (when fit) will be just fine and it is pleasing to see another “flame throwing” Joyce donning the Orange and White.
Newbies
Like the batting, we seemed to have struck rich with some of the newcomers. AJ Russell, (this guy has been particularly impressive) Jason Bimbi, Arron Combs, Bryce Jenkins and Jake Fitzgibbons have all flashed real talent and even though it is a small sample size so far, ALL have an ERA of 0.00.
To summarize, we are well stocked for another very successful season as well as some useful building blocks for beyond and let’s hope the Vitello and Ahuna issues blow over this week.
MARCUS GOREE JNR
The Vols snag another very talented Instate Defensive Back. With the 2023 intake, we are recruiting clearly to need and Martinez should get some credit for another recruiting win. We all know that DB is our weakness at present and credit to the AD and Head Coach for showing patience with Martinez, lets hope there will be enough improvement to avoid this conversation again.
GO VOLS
During the football offseason we will run a blog here at aviewfrombigben.com every Sunday called “This Weeks News.” It will cover any news from the Football, Basketball and Baseball world at Knoxville. But this week I am going to concentrate on the early impressions of the Baseball team with a little bit of 2024 Football Recruitment.
This time of year is really exciting because having planted a number of bulbs in the garden I wait with anticipation to see if the flowers are going to be as good as they look on the packet or if they are a disappointment. This is also the time of year when it is the start of the Baseball season and with it an influx of new talent. I accept that the season is only 7 games in but already my impressions on what talent we have in store for 2023 and beyond, are forming
BATTING
Top of the order
Dickey, Moore, Blake and Ahuna. The first three are known players from last year and I think we will need to rely on them, especially in the early part of the season. As for Ahuna, I can only go on his reputation, just about every other team in the country wanted him. Let’s hope, after the self-administered suspension of Coach Vitello this weekend, Ahuna will become available at last.
Middle order
Denton and Merritt have both come with strong resumes and both Denton (with his switch-hitting capability) and Merritt (with quite a bit of power) have so far shown that they are both serviceable, although not improvements on Lipscomb and Beck
Depth chart members
Booker, Scott and Hunter have not yet shown any obvious improvement and that should be of concern for all of them, see my next category.
Newbies
Here is where I start to get excited, when the flower bed is starting to look like it could be a really good year. Despite so few at bats, Ryan Miller, Kavares Tears, Jake Kendro, Austen Jaslove and Dylan Dreiling, have all showed plenty of potential and plenty of pop. It will be very interesting to see if any of these can hold down a regular place in the bottom of the order when the SEC games come around.
CATCHERS
Evan Russell’s bat was a big loss at the end of last season but Charlie “cult hero” Taylor has surprised everybody, probably even including himself, with his ‘hot’ start to the season, increasing his ERA from 0.50 to 3.15. Cal Stark is a very useful alternative, if fact he is even the designated DH, so we have good cover here.
PITCHING
Weekend starters
Dollander, Burns and Beam are surely the best weekend starter combination in the country. Already the ‘Strike Outs’ are racking up fast and it is anybody’s guess which one of these will finish with the lowest ERA by the end of the season. What I do know is that they will all be contenders for All American honours this season.
Midweek starters and relievers
We have an embarrassment of riches here as Halvorsen, Sechrist and Fanning would be weekend starters for many of our opponents. Another reason to be pleased with this group is that when you come to the business end of the season you need 4 or even 5 starters. Finally, they would all be capable replacements if any of the starting three get injured.
Closers
It is not very easy to shine as a closer when the team scores 23 and in fact, it is also not easy to get the ball off any of the starters as they will often be able to go deep in the game. The returning Kirby “Poirot” Connell and Cam Sewell (when fit) will be just fine and it is pleasing to see another “flame throwing” Joyce donning the Orange and White.
Newbies
Like the batting, we seemed to have struck rich with some of the newcomers. AJ Russell, (this guy has been particularly impressive) Jason Bimbi, Arron Combs, Bryce Jenkins and Jake Fitzgibbons have all flashed real talent and even though it is a small sample size so far, ALL have an ERA of 0.00.
To summarize, we are well stocked for another very successful season as well as some useful building blocks for beyond and let’s hope the Vitello and Ahuna issues blow over this week.
MARCUS GOREE JNR
The Vols snag another very talented Instate Defensive Back. With the 2023 intake, we are recruiting clearly to need and Martinez should get some credit for another recruiting win. We all know that DB is our weakness at present and credit to the AD and Head Coach for showing patience with Martinez, lets hope there will be enough improvement to avoid this conversation again.
GO VOLS
