What's next for Vols' pitching staff after Chase Dollander's return?
Chase Dollander returned to action on Tuesday night in Tennessee’s 14-1 win over Alabama A&M two and a half weeks after his pitching elbow was struck by a line drive against Alabama.
Dollander missed 17 days as he dealt with swelling and soreness, but it was far better than the alternative, a fracture or break, which was initially feared by Tennessee.
The goal for Dollander in his return was simple. Get two outs in 10 or less pitches. He did exactly that, doing so on nine pitches.
“I know that sounds like we hit the nail on the head there,” Tony Vitello said following the game. “It was just to get him out there and in-game action, but have him fresh so we can regroup and plan what we want to do the rest of the weekend.”
Dollander entered with one out in the top of the second and faced three A&M hitters.
The sophomore right-hander recorded the second out of the inning courtesy of a line drive to left field. After he gave up a two-out single, he bounced back with a strikeout to end the inning and his outing.
“I’ve been anticipating this for 17 days now and it feels really good to get back out there,” Dollander said. “My arm felt good and everything felt really good. That’s all I can really ask for.”
Nine pitches isn’t much of a work load, but Dollander feels that he could give Tennessee three, four or five innings on the mound this weekend as the Vols travel North to Lexington for a three-game series with Kentucky.
Though he feels like he can contribute, Dollander still anticipates somewhat of a build up after missing his last two starts.
“I’d say there might have to be a little bit of a build up,” Dollander said. “Obviously not much. I felt really fresh today.”
Dollander isn’t expected to start against Kentucky this weekend, but his return does present quite the conundrum for Vitello and pitching coach Frank Anderson.
The Vols have four terrific starting pitchers in Dollander, Chase Burns, Blade Tidwell and Drew Beam, but there’s only three weekend spots available, so although all four deserve to start, someone is going to have to come out of the bullpen.
“(Chase Burns) will start game one, and then we'll go from there,” Vitello said. “Exactly what (Dollander’s) role is, we’ll see. You know, again, you map out Plan A for the rest of the weekend, and that's happened about zero times since we've been here, but at least we kind of establish what we wanted to do. And I think it was a good step for him.”
According to Tennessee’s game notes, sophomore RHP Blade Tidwell is expected to start game two on Friday night and freshman RHP Drew Beam is projected to start game three on Saturday afternoon.
Vitello admitted, however, that Dollander starting against Kentucky is an option, but it’s most likely that Tennessee sticks with it’s rotation of the last two weekends against Florida and Auburn.
“It’s an option,” Vitello said. “He’ll definitely start again for the season's over.
“It's a great conversation, but I think what we’ve got going on in the clubhouse, probably from the leadership, is, ‘What's the next thing we’ve got to do?’ Vitello explained. “And if you look at this weekend, in particular, we've got a guy in Blade (Tidwell), who's still building up his pitch count. And you've also got a guy in Chase (Dollander) where he's just coming off something, and we used him on a Tuesday night. So neither one of those guys is expected to, or is going to be really capable, of going out there and giving you eight innings as a start.”
One could make the case that the conversation of who will be the odd man out is being a bit overblown. After all, there’s only two more weekends remaining in the regular season after the Vols’ trip to Kentucky.
Then the important fourth starter that is so desperately needed throughout the postseason comes into play. And if you ask Vitello, he thinks that in addition to already having four starters, there’s two other guys that have proven they could fill that role as well.
“Just ask Camden Sewell about last year in the SEC tournament,” Vitello said. “We’ve been in other situations where you could use those guys. We’ve been fortunate enough to win a couple of regionals out of the losers’ bracket, and really you kind of need five starters.
“And I think Zander (Sechrist) has proven he can start a game with composure and with strikes, and then I'll come back to that name, Camden Sewell. I’ve got no problem with him starting a game of any magnitude, if we have to.”
This weekend’s series in Lexington will take place on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Game one is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET, while game two is set for 6:30 p.m. and the series finale will begin at 2 p.m.