After spending one season with Tennessee baseball, right-handed pitcher AJ Causey has been drafted.

He was picked by the Royals in the fifth round. He now joins Drew Beam as Vols pitchers selected by Kansas City in this draft.

This was the No. 138 overall selection.

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Causey spent his first two seasons at Jacksonville State before entering the transfer portal. As a freshman, he appeared in 25 games and made a single start. In this time, he posted a 4-4 record with nine saves on a 2.61 ERA.

The following year, he played the role of Friday night starter and earned a 5-2 record and 5.07 ERA. In 76.1 innings, he struck out 89 batters.

After entering the portal, Causey made his way to Knoxville. He was used as a starter toward the beginning of the year but was moved to the bullpen to close things out. Paired with Chris Stamos, he would go far in games despite not being the actual starter.

Causey excelled in this role. Over the course of the season, he posted a 13-3 record with a 4.43 ERA. This came in 19 appearances and six starts.

His unorthodox style of pitching made him extremely tough for opponents to deal with. Coming from a side-arm and near submarine angle, he used arm-side movement on his fastball to make things uncomfortable for right-handed and left-handed batters.

He is the second Vol pitcher selected so far and the seventh overall player from Tennessee this draft.

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