Tennessee pitchers Luke Payne, Brayden May and Dane Bjorn enter transfer portal

Tennessee baseball lost a trio of pitchers to the transfer portal on Monday. On3’s Pete Nakos has learned that Luke Payne, Brayden May and Dane Bjorn have all entered their names.

Payne saw the most action of the three players this past season, but still appearned in only five games. May played just one game while Bjorn did not make any appearances as both were freshmen this past year.

Payne pitched 3.2 innings in his appearances this past season, throwing five strikeouts while allowing one hit and walking four batters. He played two years for the Volunteers and will now look to finish out his college career at a place where he could potentially carve out a bigger role.

Tennessee is coming off of a loss in the Super Regionals of the NCAA Tournament following a 46-19 record. With the recent entries of Payne, May and Bjorn, the Vols have now lost 16 total players to the portal this offseason.

Tennessee has also added seven players through the transfer portal thus far, including five pitchers. That includes former UNC-Asheville right hander Clay Edmondson, who was 5-1 this season with a 2.20 ERA over 81.2 innings pitched, with 87 strikeouts.

This is a Vols team that has enjoyed plenty of success over the past eight seasons under coach Tony Vitello. Tennessee reached the College World Series in three of those years, including in 2023 and 2024, and will aim to get back to Omaha in 2026 despite the transfer portal losses.

The Transfer Portal for NCAA Baseball

College baseball has two separate windows for players to enter the Transfer Portal. The main window is open now. That’s starting in late May, while the NCAA Tournament is underway, and it remains open for a total of 45 days. The other window that college baseball has is open for 15 days in December.

Unlike sports like football, baseball has unique challenges relating to scholarship distribution that coaches need to manage and could impact players as they transfer. With the house settlement passing, roster sizes are about to shrink.

NCAA Division I baseball teams currently get between 11 and 12 scholarships despite the rosters being more than double that size. It means players receive partial scholarships. That means that coaches need to find a way to balance those scholarships with players already on the roster and who they’re bringing in.