Three Vols named D1 Baseball Top-100 impact transfers for 2023 season
As Tennessee retooled its roster over the offseason after saying goodbye to several impact players from the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament, Tony Vitello and staffed welcomed transfers from the portal hoping to pick up the slack for the Vols.
Three of the said transfers have been highlighted by D1 Baseball prior to the start of the 2023 season. Former Kansas Jayhawk short stop Maui Ahuna, former Cincinnati Bearcat outfielder Griffin Merritt and former Alabama Crimson Tide third baseman Zane Denton represent the Vols on the publication’s Top-100 Impact Transfer List.
Ahuna, one of MLB Pipeline’s top draft prospects for the 2023 cycle, comes in at No. 4 on the list following an All-Big 12 First-Team performance as a sophomore. The short stop, who started every game as a freshman and sophomore, posted a .396 average with eight home runs, 48 RBI and 13 stolen bases in 2022. He led the ballclub in average, on-base percentage (.479), slugging percentage (.634), hits (80), triples (4), walks (28) and stolen bags.
The infielder finished the campaign riding a 20-game hit-streak and tallied 23 multi-hit days, including 10 three-hit performances. Defensively, Ahuna made SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays twice for his work on the dirt. The new Volunteer spent his sophomore summer with the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team.
Tennessee’s next representative on the top-100 impact transfer list from D1 Baseball is the reigning AAC Player of the Year, Griffin Merritt. The outfielder checks in at No. 14 in the rankings after leading the conference with 19 home runs while batting .315. Merritt led the Bearcats with 17 doubles, 53 RBI and 139 total bases in 2022 and his .695 slugging percentage ranks ninth in Cincinnati single-season history.
Merritt recently caught up with Volquest to discuss his transition as a new Volunteer.
The Vols new third baseman comes to Knoxville by way of Alabama where he led the Tide in home runs (13), RBI (48) and total bases (112) in 2022. Zane Denton appears at No. 47 on the list from D1 Baseball after the solid campaign. He broke out during the 2021 season where he totaled 10 home runs, 10 doubles and 40 RBI and runs scored – all while hitting .308. Denton is a Volunteer Sate native, hailing from Brentwood, Tenn.
The SEC, as a whole, loaded up on transfers this offseason with LSU taking the top-two on this list in third baseman Tommy White and right-handed pitcher Paul Skenes. Florida righty Hurston Waldrep ranks third – right in front of Ahuna – while Mississppi State outfielder Colton Ledbetter is tagged in fifth.
Tennessee, along with its three impact transfers on this list, will kickoff the 2023 campaign at the MLB Desert Invitational on the weekend of February 17-19.
