Tennessee’s 9-0 start is the program’s best since 2014. The most impressive part of the Vols hot start is Tennessee’s pitching. Tennessee has shut out six of its first nine opponents and have given up only five runs.
Counting backwards from the 2018 season you’d have to go all the way back to March 30th of 2016, when the Vols defeated UNC Asheville 11-0, to find six Tennessee shutouts.
You’d have to go back to 2005 to find the last time that the Vols recorded six strikeouts in a single season.
The fact that Tennessee already has six shutouts in this young season doesn’t mean that Tennessee is going to finish the season in Omaha like the 2005 team did, but if Tennessee wants to return to the NCAA Tournament the pitching is going to need to be the one to carry them.
Head coach Tony Vitello can hardly talk about any of his pitchers without bringing up Frank Anderson.
Anderson joined Vitello’s inaugural staff at Tennessee leaving Houston after helping the Cougars reach the NCAA Tournament in each of his three seasons.
Anderson has had stints at Texas and Texas Tech as assistant coaches as well as spending eight seasons as head coach at Oklahoma State.
It’s not hard to see why Vitello is excited with the work that Anderson has done. Where the benefits are best seen are with the improved strikeout numbers.
Tennessee currently sit at 12th in the country with 11.8 strikeouts per nine innings. This is almost a five strikeout improvement from last year when the Vols struck out only 6.9 batters a game.
Junior Garrett Stallings is the poster boy for this growth. The 6-2 right hander struck out only 37 batters in 2018, but is already at 17 after only two starts this year. That’s .47 strikeouts an inning in 2018 to 2.64 an inning in 2019. Vitello believes Stallings improved off-speed stuff has developed him an out pitch.
Striking batters out has never been a problem for Zach Linginfelter. The hard throwing righty struck out 77 batters last season but had major issues with his command. Linginfelter walked 38 batters as a sophomore and wasn’t a reliable arm for Tennessee.
Vitello is high on the Sevierville native though, praising Coach Anderson, Vitello has credited Linginfelter’s ability to pitch and not just throw it now.
The junior hasn’t allowed a run this season and took home SEC Pitcher of the Week this week after striking out 13 batters in the Vols’ win over Indiana Saturday.
The command still remains an issue, though a smaller one, as Linginfelter has only pitched 11 innings in his two starts and has walked five batters. His walk per-inning numbers are down from .69 in 2018 to .45 this season.
Despite Will Neely’s poor performance against Indiana Sunday don’t forget about him. The senior isn’t going to blow you away with his stuff, but he’s a consistent and reliable arm for this pitching staff.
Perhaps the most impressive thing from Tennessee’s pitching staff thus far is how dominant the bullpen has been. The group has surrendered only one run this season in its 29.1 innings of work.
Sophomore Garrett Crochet has been impressive in his two appearances. The lefty has thrown 9.1 innings of relief and surrendered only one run and two hits.
The Mt. Juliet native was crucial in the Vols’ win over Indiana Sunday steading the Vols after a shaky start and striking out nine.
Andrew Schultz was erratic in 2018 but has been elite for Tennessee in 2019. The hard throwing righty has two saves and nine strikeouts in 2.2 innings of work.
Tennessee’s gotten reliable bullpen work from four other pitchers, and when you throw in the work from midweek starters Sean Hunley and Camden Sewell the Vols have a deep group of pitchers that can contribute.
It’s going to be a tough task for this team to get back to the NCAA Tournament in 2019. The SEC is loaded as it is every year and nearly every Tennessee opponent is ranked in the top 25. Tennessee doesn’t need its pitching to be nearly perfect like it has been, but they need it to lead them.
It’s a unit whose weekend starters are a pair of juniors and a senior, but a bullpen full of young faces. The group has proven they have talent, the question now becomes if they can hold up in the gauntlet of conference play.
