In 2023, Tennessee struggled to find consistent pitching at times.

However, by the end of the year, the unit proved to have the talent to compete with the best teams in the country

Let's dive into how the Vols' 10 most-used pitchers fared statistically during the regular season.

The most popular stat used when looking at pitchers is ERA. It takes into account how many earned runs have been allowed per nine innings.

Recording the best mark on the team is freshman AJ Russell. Despite pitching in his first collegiate season, Russell managed to post an extremely impressive 1.03 ERA. This was over two times better than the next best on the team.

Behind Russell are Zander Sechrist, Andrew Lindsey and Aaron Combs. The group posted ERAs of 2.12, 2.54 and 2.75, respectively. The trio all started in the bullpen for weekend series but Lindsey eventually was moved into a starting role.

Seth Halvorsen also managed an ERA below four out of the bullpen.

Although it's possible to allow hits while keeping the other team off the board, looking at opponents' batting averages while a pitcher is on the mound is also useful.

Earning the most impressive mark is Russell. The freshman allowed a mere 0.096 average to batters while pitching. This mark was crucial as he came out of the bullpen and didn't allow teams to add base runners.

Behind Russell is Combs. He is the only other pitcher to manage a mark below 0.2 on the year. He finished with 0.197 out of the bullpen.

The remainder of the team sat between 0.2 and 0.3 throughout the course of the season. The majority finished well closer to 0.2, though.

The best result a pitcher can achieve is a strikeout. Tennessee's staff did a great job of achieving this at a high rate in 2023. The best way to look at this is to find how many strikeouts a pitcher accumulated per nine innings.

Finishing with the most in this category was Combs. He fanned 16.9 batters per 27 outs. This extremely impressive mark is why he's been useful out of the bullpen. He's been able to shut teams down in hairy situations.

Behind him is a tie between Chase Burns and Russell at 14.8 strikeouts per nine innings. Burns' flame throwing and devastating off speeds have been a tough task for opponents to make contact with. Russell's consistency has also led to a high mark.

The other pitchers to land above 10 are Bryce Jenkins, Chase Dollander and Camden Sewell.

Another metric to look at is WHIP. It takes into account walks and hits per inning pitched.This means that almost any base runner allowed is considered.

To no surprise, Russell leads the team in this category, as well. He sits at just 0.53 WHIP. This is just shy of two times better than the next best player.

At 1.04, Sechrist comes in second. Just 0.02 behind him is Lindsey, as well. Combs is also in the group at 1.07.

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