Tennessee Baseball hosting Virginia transfer on Wednesday

The Tennessee baseball staff is hosting Virginia transfer Henry Ford on campus Wednesday ahead of the team’s super regional matchup at Arkansas this weekend, sources confirmed to Volquest.   

Ford, who stands in at 6-foot-5 weighing 225 pounds, is draft eligible this summer. He’s currently listed as the No. 73 MLB Draft prosect by MLB Pipeline and No. 70 by Baseball America. He has two years of collegiate eligibility remaining.

Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor left his post to take on the head job at Mississippi State earlier this week. Ford, along with several of his fellow teammates, entered the NCAA transfer portal. The Bulldogs, along with Texas, are also after Ford.    

The Charlottesville, Va. Native, who attended high school in Chattanooga at Baylor School, broke onto the scene as a true freshman in 2024, landing on three Freshman All-American teams after hitting .336 at the plate with 17 home runs, 69 runs batted in and 13 doubles in 61 starts. The home runs and RBI tally were both freshman records for the program.

In 2025, Ford registered a .362 average with 11 home runs, 46 RBI, nine doubles and 42 runs scored across 50 games played. He primarily played first base as a freshman before shifting more towards the outfield as a sophomore. In total, Ford played in 74 games at first base and 34 games in the outfield while at Virginia in two seasons.   Ford was named second-team All-ACC following the 2025 campaign as an outfielder.

Baseball Transfer Portal

The 2025 non-graduate transfer portal opened on June 2 and will remain open until July 1. Players must have their name entered in the transfer portal by July 1 if they want to move on, but new destinations do not have to be made by that time.

The Vols have benefited greatly from the transfer portal in recent cycles, reeling in the likes of Chase Dollander (2022), Griffin Merritt (2023), Maui Ahuna (2023), Zane Denton (2023), Billy Amick (2024), Cannon Peebles (2024), AJ Causey (2024), Chris Stamos (2024), Liam Doyle (2025), Andrew Fischer (2025) and Gavin Kilen (2025).

So far, Tennessee has a pair of portal additions in right-handed pitchers Clay Edmondson (UNC Asheville) and Mason Estrada (MIT). Tennessee has also added junior college players such as RHP Matt Barr (SUNY Niagara) and Tyler Myatt (Walters State) and picked up catcher Trent Grindlinger as a late add to the 2025 class in recent weeks.

Tennessee has lost three players to the transfer portal so far: INF Jack Jones, INF Robinson Martin and LHP Bryson Thacker.